Key Developments (September 8 – 11)
Palestinian resistance groups carried out a number of operations across the West Bank over the weekend, including the firing of a rocket towards an illegal Israeli outpost in the northern West Bank. Notably, the Hebron district has also seen the emergence of new “brigades’,’ seemingly modeled after the armed militias that have been cropping up across Jenin, Nablus, Tulkarem, and Jericho over the past two years.
According to local reports, a local militia targeted a permanent Israeli military checkpoint at the entrance of the Hebron-area town of Beit Ummar in the early morning hours of Friday, September 8. In a statement, the Hamas-affiliated “Bani Naim Brigade,” named after the Hebron-area village of the same name, claimed responsibility for targeting the checkpoint with an explosive device, adding that its members escaped the scene unharmed. In the northwestern West Bank district of Tulkarem, an Islamic Jihad-affiliated militia, the “Tulkarem Brigade,” released a statement saying its fighters conducted an operation around 3:25 am Friday, firing a “heavy and successive barrage of bullets” towards the Nitzanei Oz military checkpoint. Later on Friday night, more incidents were reported of resistance activity in Jenin, Nablus, Tulkarem, and Tubas. The Tulkarem Brigade claimed responsibility for another two operations the next morning, September 9, targeting Israeli military checkpoints. On Sunday and Monday, more militias claimed responsibility for shooting and explosive operations in Bethlehem, Jericho, and Jenin. A major development came on Sunday the 10th, when the Al-Ayyash Brigade in Jenin released a statement that it had fired a rocket towards and “struck” the Israeli town of Ramon, on the other side of the separation wall, with a ‘Qassam 1’ rocket, a type of projectile first made and developed by Hamas in the besieged Gaza Strip. Israeli media claimed that the rocket did not cause any damage or injuries and that the site where the rocket launcher was found was located by the Palestinian Authority. “Israeli troops were not planning to investigate the site, but instead leaving it to the PA security forces,” the Times of Israel said in a report. The brigade hit back at alleged Israeli claims that its fighters had been arrested, saying “what the occupation promotes is marketing for a fictitious victory to cover its failure and appease its extremist right-wing audience.” The brigade went on to say “the path we walk is not easy and requires a lot of work and effort. We succeed, we fail, but we will continue, Allah willing, until we achieve our goal.”
The Palestinian Authority has ramped up its attacks on dissidents, with students and journalists among the targets of recent arrest raids.
In recent days and weeks, PA security forces (PASF) have arrested dozens of Palestinians, including former political prisoners held in Israeli jails, lawyers, and others who are involved in political organizing or who have publicly expressed their anger towards the PA’s campaign of politically-motivated arrests. Over the weekend, PA forces arrested a student from the al-Najah University in Nablus, as well as students from al-Quds University in Abu Dis, and Birzeit University in Ramallah. A journalist was also arrested. The students are the latest among at least nine university and higher education students who have been abducted by the PA over the past several weeks. Students from the Islamic Bloc at the Al-Najah University have been staging a sit-in for close to two weeks in protest of the PA’s actions, and demanding the university take action to protect its students. On September 9, plain-clothes PA officers assaulted and wounded several students at Al-Quds University, who were protesting the recent arrest of their fellow student by the PA. Among those present at the demonstration were students from both the Islamic and leftist Marxist-Leninist blocs of student government. Hamas has condemned the PA’s targeting of students, saying in a statement last week that it “serves the occupation and deepens the wounds of our people.”
Palestinian Authority Security Forces faced off with local resistance groups in Tulkarem and Jenin over the weekend, as tensions continue to rise over the PA’s targeted arrest campaign in the West Bank.
In the Tulkarem area, local reports said undercover PA security forces had set up flying checkpoints and were stopping and searching vehicles. The incident took place just days after a gunfight broke out when PA security forces reportedly opened fire on a vehicle in Tulkarem that was carrying a number of local resistance fighters. In response to the searches in Tulkarem over the weekend, the PIJ-affiliated Tulkarem Brigade released a statement, saying “we understand and know what you are doing and that you are targeting us…but we are sincere with God, that our compass points only to the [Israeli] occupation.” On Friday evening, another gunfight was reported in the Qabatiya area of Jenin, reportedly between PASF and local resistance fighters. Among the dozens of Palestinians currently being held are tens of Palestinian resistance fighters, including those affiliated with Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other non-factional groups like the Lions’ Den in Nablus.
Israeli forces shot and killed a 15-year-old boy on Saturday in the Al-Arroub refugee camp in the Hebron district of the southern West Bank.
Milad Monther Wajih Al-Ra’i, 15, was shot by Israeli forces in the back at the entrance to the refugee camp, according to Defense for Children International Palestine (DCIP). DCIP said in a statement that al-Ra’i was shot during confrontations that took place between Israeli forces and local youth outside a permanent Israeli military tower that stands at the entrance to the camp. He was shot in the back from a distance of about 20 meters (66 feet). Following the funeral procession of al-Ra’i, more confrontations broke out, in which Israeli forces used live ammunition, injuring five Palestinians, including children. According to documentation collected by DCIP, 45 Palestinian children were killed in 2023. Israeli forces also conducted several search and arrest raids over the weekend, which resulted in armed confrontations in the Jenin, Qalqiliya, and Jericho areas. At least 20 Palestinians were arrested during the raids.
Important Figures
- Israel has killed at least 234 Palestinians since the start of the year.
- 5,100 Palestinian political prisoners are currently being held in Israeli jails, including 1,200 administrative detainees.
The title mentions the30th anniversary of the Oslo accords. In my opinion this recent 972 article accurately captures the problems with Oslo:
https://www.972mag.com/oslo-accords-plo-trap/
There are three central problems in the wording of the Oslo Accords…The first problem is an imbalance in the two sides’ recognition of each other’s legitimacy. The PLO recognized Israel and its right to exist, and recognized Security Council Resolutions 242….But in return, Israel did not recognize the Palestinian people’s right to a state or their right to self-determination. Instead, it simply recognized the PLO as the sole representative of the Palestinian people….Two years after the Accords were signed, the PLO committed to annulling the sections of the Palestinian National Charter that do not recognize Israel….The annulment of the Charter’s statements was done without any action by Israel in return, which still refused to commit to recognizing a Palestinian state in the occupied territories or the right of self-determination of the Palestinian people and other national rights in their homeland.