Palestinian Authority fails to secure Jenin camp after attacks on Israeli checkpoint

PA 'waiting for a pretext' to carry out its over month-long siege of Jenin refugee camp, expert says

Palestinian Authority security troops in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank. Reuters

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The Palestinian Authority is in an "embarrassing position" having failed to secure the Jenin refugee camp after besieging it for more than a month, experts have said. It comes after three men from the area killed three Israelis at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank on Monday.

The PA began a siege on Jenin camp on December 5, where it said it was cracking down on “outlaws”, who had outstanding arrest warrants against them for murder, theft and destruction of military and civilian property. At least 14 people have been killed since the crackdown began, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

But Monday's shooting attack on a car and bus in the Palestinian village of Al Funduq, close to the illegal Israeli settlements of Kedumim and Karnei Shomron, has exposed the powerlessness of the group to stop violence.

“Today's militant operation complicates things and places the Palestinian Authority in an embarrassing position,” a Palestinian security consultant told The National.

The PA was established as part of the Oslo Accords in 1994 and was meant to be a transitional government but has since outgrown this status. The US and regional governments have all called for its reform amid accusations of rampant corruption within its ranks.

Jenin refugee camp has become a hotbed for militant activity and houses members of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), which on Monday criticised the PA incursion and said they would switch their position from “defence to offence”.

Senior research fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, Kobi Michael, said the PA security apparatus has “not succeeded in taking control over the refugee camp”, which he says represents “the heart of the problem”.

While a war rages on in Gaza, where more than 45,900 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli bombardment and at least 109,000 others have been injured, the PA has received push back and criticism for killing its own people in the West Bank. Journalist Shatha Al Sabbagh's family is among those who accuse the PA of killing their daughter.

The Palestinian security troops have denied this accusation, placing the blame on militants in the Jenin camp. The PA also insists its attacks are not against “legitimate resistance fighters” but armed criminals who are using the umbrella of resistance groups as cover.

The Palestinian consultant said the timing of the Palestinian security operation in Jenin also comes ahead Donald Trump's return to the White House to showcase its ability in quashing non-state actors in the West Bank.

“The PA is doing its homework. It wants to show the Americans that it can take on this challenge of Jenin and win there so it can become a credible option in the administration of Gaza after the war,” the consultant said.

The siege on Jenin came after Palestinian security troops arrested men wanted by Israel. In response, militants seized two vehicles that belonged to the Palestinian security troops, prompting the crackdown on Jenin.

Jenin represents the “belly of the beast” for the PA, said senior Palestine analyst at the Crisis Group Tahani Mustafa, and destroying the network of armed groups there would mean “destroying the phenomenon from the root”.

The Palestinian Authority's security apparatus is armed and trained by the US and has become increasingly seen as aligned with Israel, especially after its closure of Al Jazeera network offices in Ramallah for the Qatar-based broadcaster's coverage of the Jenin camp operations.

The Palestinians used the theft of the vehicles and ensuing confrontation between security troops and militants there as a justification to carry out the siege, Ms Tahani said.

“The PA was waiting for a pretext … it started with Tubas back in October where militants were much easier to get to grips with. They're not as dogmatic and committed [as the ones in Jenin]. When the PA went in and did a similar thing there, on a smaller scale, 80 people surrendered themselves.”

Local media and activists reported that the Palestinian Authority made arrests among militant groups in Tubas, including the commander of the PIJ Tubas battalion, who is wanted by Israel.

Mr Michael said Israel has an interest in seeing the PA succeed in Jenin because it would then mimic that experience in other parts of the West Bank. But it could not do that without support from the Israeli army, he said.

“Without the IDF support, the PA wouldn’t have succeeded in surviving in the West Bank,” he said. More broadly, however, Mr Michael said that the PA's success in Jenin would not automatically give it the credibility it is seeking to run the Gaza Strip once a ceasefire is reached there.

“The Palestinian Authority needs to be reformed and revitalised and there are other conditions that should be realised in order to enable the PA to run the Gaza Strip,” he said, adding that while Israel is “pro” alternative governance to Hamas in Gaza, it is also seeking a “reliable, effective and responsible” PA to govern.

“Not the current one,” he said. “I believe that we're too far from the realisation of that option.”