King Salman orders extension of Citizen's Account Program and additional support for a full year    Al-Falih: 1,238 foreign investors obtain premium residency in Saudi Arabia    Irish PM apologizes for walking away from care worker    Several dead as Storm Bert wreaks havoc across Britain    Most decorated Australian Olympian McKeon retires    Adele doesn't know when she'll perform again after tearful Vegas goodbye    'Pregnant' for 15 months: Inside the 'miracle' pregnancy scam    Ukraine losing ground in Russia's Kursk region, says military source    Hezbollah fires rocket barrages into Israel after deadly Beirut strikes    Al Ittihad claims top spot in Saudi Pro League after victory over Al Fateh    Do cigarettes belong in a museum?    Saudi Arabia allows licensed flour milling companies to export flour    Saudi Arabia joins international partnership initiative to boost hydrogen economy    With 25 million monthly active users, Snap Inc. expands presence in Saudi Arabia to serve thriving community of creators, partners and clients    Riyadh Emir inaugurates International Conference on Conjoined Twins in Riyadh    Saudi delegation participates in the 7th U20 Deans Summit in Brazil    Saudi Arabia to host 28th Annual World Investment Conference in Riyadh    Al Khaleej stuns Al Hilal with 3-2 victory, ending 57-match unbeaten run    Al Khaleej qualifies for Asian Men's Club League Handball Championship final    Katy Perry v Katie Perry: Singer wins right to use name in Australia    Order vs. Morality: Lessons from New York's 1977 Blackout    India puts blockbuster Pakistani film on hold    The Vikings and the Islamic world    Filipino pilgrim's incredible evolution from an enemy of Islam to its staunch advocate    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Palestinians fear escalation after destructive West Bank assault
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 05 - 07 - 2023

JENIN — The atmosphere in Jenin refugee camp feels like one I have witnessed elsewhere — in Gaza, after wars with Israel.
But this is the occupied West Bank; where the dynamics are very different. Now it seems like a fast descent into something far more dangerous is already happening.
The destruction in the camp following the Israeli army's biggest assault there in 20 years is massive.
As hundreds of troops entered the camp on Monday morning, the army fired missiles from drones — air strikes have not been used in the West Bank for two decades — and tore up roads to clear them of what it said were militants' roadside bombs.
Fierce gun battles broke out between the troops and Palestinian militants and continued until Israeli troops withdrew on Tuesday night.
Now for the first time in safety since Sunday, thousands of residents pour into the streets to see the destruction themselves.
They clamber over rubble, take photos on their phones of the wreckage and compare experiences, pointing out which homes were raided, whose sons have been detained, and where the dead fell.
One man walks up to me saying it reminds him of pictures from Turkey and Syria earlier this year — after the earthquake.
Cars lie crushed and tossed aside where they were hewn out of the path of Israel's D9 armored bulldozers. The tarmac is torn up, lying everywhere in huge chunks. We walk along what was underneath the streets: rubble, sand and dust.
Many homes have no water or power. Aid volunteers bring crates of bottled water. They join the recovery workers — some driving the few diggers available.
One is removing a downed tree from the top of residential building. It shears away part of the facade of a shop on the ground floor, falling perilously close to us.
The Israeli armored convoys pulled out overnight amid intense gunfights with militants. Despite today's calm, everyone fears more is coming.
Israel says it will keep doing these kinds of operations "as long as necessary to uproot terrorism" while Palestinian militant groups are claiming "victory" and vowing revenge.
We continue our way through the camp and the funeral processions begin. Thousands of mourners' chant as they carry stretchers holding the bodies of some of the 12 Palestinians killed since Monday. Four of them were aged under 18. Israel said it was targeting militants.
Columns of people join. As they march, some men are masked and carrying guns; others wear Islamic Jihad headbands and Hamas flags flutter over a nearby building. Anger grips the crowd as it makes its way towards the homes of the dead, where their mothers and wives await.
But the displays of firepower — in public at least — feel less intense than previous funerals.
I have been coming to Jenin repeatedly over the last year and a half, as a new generation of armed militants has formed, rejecting the aging Palestinian leadership and shooting at the Israeli army during its growing raids into the city.
This is a generation that believes the official Palestinian Authority (PA) sold out on their future and became little more than a security company for Israel's military occupation, which secures the expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank, built on the land Palestinians want for a future state and illegal under international law.
Less gunfire today, but the frustration only intensifies. Overnight young Palestinian men also clashed with the formal security forces of the PA. Jenin is a city that had already slipped well out of its limited control.
Now the institutional remnants of a three-decades old peace process in the occupied West Bank are being tested to destruction.
Israel says it will continue to root out what it calls "a city of refuge for terrorism" in Jenin, but the Palestinian militant factions say they will intensify their activities.
A car-ramming and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv on Tuesday that wounded seven Israelis was described by Islamic Jihad as the "first response" to what was happening in Jenin.
The growing violence is a further sign of the collapse of any political horizons. Some fear that Palestinian cities in the West Bank will see more intensive military attacks and security crackdowns — more akin to the plight of people in Gaza, which is governed by Hamas and blockaded by Israel.
More Palestinians reject their own internationally recognized leadership and back armed resistance, while Israel remains in the grip of the most extreme government it has ever known, which has vowed to extend what it calls exclusive Jewish rights to all the land. — BBC


Clic here to read the story from its source.