On December 14 the head of UNRWA wrote that the UN organization “has been forced to suspend services in Jenin Camp, in the northern West Bank, for yet another day, as violent clashes between Palestinian Security Forces and Palestinian armed actors continue. Children remain out of school, and camp residents are unable to access primary healthcare & other critical services.”
The Palestinian Authority Security Forces had launched an offensive in Jenin in order to crack down on the slow takeover of the area by various terrorist groups. Over the last several years, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other groups have slowly sought to take over Jenin and other areas of the West Bank. This is fueled by a large flow of smuggled weapons, primarily M-16 style rifles, to the northern West Bank.
Today, many young men throughout areas near Tulkarm, Jenin, and elsewhere have access to recently smuggled rifles with the latest sights and other equipment. They are often more well-armed than the Palestinian Authority Security Forces. They pose a clear and present danger to Palestinian and Israeli civilians.
This is an attempt to turn the northern West Bank into another Gaza. In essence the same model is being used that was done in Gaza two decades ago. Even under Israeli control, Gaza was an armed camp with terror groups controlling large parts of it. The terror groups smuggled weapons and made their own weapons. They began all the processes that led to October 7, back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, before Disengagement.
The Gazafication is clear from the statements by UNRWA. This is because these statements mirror similar types of statements about Gaza and “armed groups.” The UN has never mandated that its organizations report on which “armed group” is present, enabling terrorists to hide behind this anonymity. Nevertheless, the evidence is clear that terrorist groups are taking over. On December 21, UNRWA wrote on social media that “on 17 December, UNRWA West Bank office became aware of the forced entry and presence of Palestinian armed actors in its Health Centre in Jenin Camp, in the West Bank. This is a blatant disregard of UN premises. The Jenin Camp Health Centre must be vacated immediately to restore its humanitarian character and to continue serving Palestinian Refugees.”
The fact that armed men took over a health clinic illustrates how the terror groups feel they are in control now. They know that the international community will not push back. Even though many Western governments and some local and regional governments support the Palestinian Authority, no one will do much to prevent the collapse of parts of Jenin into the hands of terrorism. This is because of the Gaza model. The terror groups slowly take over, tunnel under, and utilize civilian areas.
The fact that armed men seem to have taken over a health center for several days and the UN didn’t do anything, and neither did any local authorities, illustrates how far along ‘Gazafication’ has become.
Exploiting the international community
One of the method that the terror groups has learned to use is to exploit the failure of the international community and UN to even name the groups involved. This isn’t because “non-state” actors cannot be named. They can. When groups in places like the Congo have committed abuses, they have been named. It’s a conscious decision not to name those involved in crimes in Jenin, much as happened in Gaza.
In Gaza, this enabled Hamas to build a parallel state and also to exploit hospitals and schools. The lessons of Gaza have not been learned. Instead of international organizations looking at Gaza and seeing the ruin that Hamas brought, it is instead replicating the whitewashing of the “armed actors” in Jenin.
Jenin may be facing a turning point. It is in the interests of Israel and the Palestinian Authority to prevent Jenin from slipping into the hands of terror groups and having them use health centers and civilian areas for terrorist purposes. Unfortunately, the UN statements show the hesitancy of the UN in naming these groups and holding them accountable.