Fratricidal war in Jenin as Palestinian Authority security forces clash with militia alliance

Fighters in the refugee camp in the Palestinian city of Jenin, located in the northern West Bank, ask about the color of the car trying to enter their territory, so they don’t mistakenly shoot it as it approaches. Tensions have always run high in Jenin. This is where battle broke out in 2002, resulting in the deaths of 52 Palestinians and 23 Israeli soldiers. Since October 7, 2023, when Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis in the Gaza border area, the Israeli army has conducted multiple raids in the camp, some leading to dozens of deaths and arrests. However, now, the fighting is taking place between the Palestinians themselves.

The Jenin camp, home to around 23,000 people, was established like many others in the West Bank and Gaza in 1948, following the Nakba (catastrophe) — the mass exile of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians after the founding of the State of Israel, an event that has displaced nearly six million people over the decades. Today, the camp is riddled with 150 anti-personnel mines, according to the Palestinian government. As a car approaches the fighting zone, the so-called iron hedgehogs emerge — an anti-tank defense obstacle made of angular bars. It’s Saturday afternoon, and gunfire can be heard in the distance. On one street, about 15 militiamen are stationed, all armed with M-16 rifles. They joke among themselves, seemingly unbothered by the nearby shots.

Quais, 33 (he does not provide his surname), is the leader. He insists that no photos be taken of anyone in the group, not even from behind. He and the dozen fighters around him are bearded and armed, with some beardless teenagers carrying rifles as well. A Palestinian woman and man, both wearing bulletproof press vests, are permitted to film. The militiamen set their weapons on the ground and begin to pray. Meanwhile, the others film the scene in a way that ensures the rifles are clearly visible. After five minutes, each militiaman picks up his weapon and resumes position.

Since December 15, the Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has been attempting to disarm what it refers to as “outlaws,” and “criminals.” The operation has so far resulted in the deaths of six PA soldiers, four militants, and three civilians. One of the victims is 21-year-old journalism student Shatha al-Sabbagh, an active social media user and supporter of the militants. Al-Sabbagh was shot in the head on December 28 while with her mother in the Jenin camp. No one has claimed responsibility for her death. Another victim was a young man riding his motorcycle unarmed; a video of his death has circulated on social media. In this case, the PA has acknowledged the “mistake” and taken responsibility.

Quais claims to be a member of Hamas. “But this one is from Islamic Jihad, and that one over there belongs to another group… What really bothers the Palestinian government is that we are all united now.” Quais explains that the clashes are due to the fact that the PA, in collaboration with Israel, wants to end “the fighting situation” in the occupied West Bank. “The Israelis have told the Palestinian government that if it wants to take control of Gaza one day, it must first end the resistance in the West Bank. They have cut off our water, our electricity, they don’t let food suppliers through here, and they threaten them with reprisals.”

More than an hour and a half south, in Ramallah, the administrative capital of the West Bank, Brigadier General Anwar Rajab, spokesperson for the Palestinian General Intelligence security forces, offers his perspective. “Israel’s strategy, especially since October 7, is to weaken the PA. The extremist ministers [in Israel] want to change the demographics of the West Bank. To do this, they are trying to show that we cannot control these criminal groups, which are financed by Iran. We even know how much many of them are paid. They also have the support of Hamas’ social networks, Islamic Jihad, and, above all, Al Jazeera.”

Last week, the Palestinian government banned Al Jazeera from broadcasting in the West Bank following its coverage of clashes in the Jenin camp, accusing the network of “stirring up sedition.” However, Quais and his group say they are delighted with the coverage. Al Jazeera’s Ramallah office was raided and closed by Israeli troops in May.

Military spokesman Rajab believes that the “outlawed” groups are attempting to change the mindset of children regarding “the true Palestinian cause.” He claims that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is using Iran to weaken the PA. “Iran wants to impose its Shiite ideology here, through its branches, Hamas and Islamic Jihad [despite the fact that these organizations are Sunni]. These criminal groups have no ability to harm Israel; they are simply given a reason to enter our territories. These outlaws kill Palestinian soldiers, steal PA cars, put Iranian and Islamic Jihad flags on them, and post it on the internet.”

Rajab shows on his phone a map illustrating the distribution of anti-personnel mines planted by fighters in the camp. “They say they do this to protect themselves from Israel. But what is the point of placing them within reach of any child? And why are they storing explosives in health centers? They are criminals. They have used a floor of Jenin hospital to set up shop. They have raped nurses. And we have all the information about the money they are receiving from Gaza, Iran, and Turkey.”

The spokesperson for the Palestinian security forces refuses to give an exact number of the “outlaws” arrested but insists there are “many.” “We also have others who have been wounded, and we are treating them in prison. However, others shoot at the ambulances we send to treat them.” Rajab says his greatest fear is that the Israeli army will “interfere” before the PA has completed its disarmament efforts.

“Iran helps us”

Back in the Jenin camp, along a road lined with at least a dozen Israeli settler settlements, Quais admits: “We have financial help and support from Iran. They are our friends. But I am not Shiite, nor do I work with them or with their agenda.” He also acknowledges that they have planted mines. “But we warned the PA beforehand that we would do it.” He denies, however, that they have taken over a floor of the hospital. “That’s what they do — they look for any pretext to get in and shoot from there,” he says.

The militant has never had faith in the Palestinian authorities. Regarding Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who died in 2004, he says that Arafat made a grave mistake by signing the Oslo Accords, which led to the creation of the Palestinian security forces, their coordination with the Israeli forces, and the division of the West Bank into three zones: one, the cities, under the administrative and security control of the PA; another, mixed, in the surrounding areas; and the largest portion (more than 60% of the territory), under full Israeli control. “These agreements killed us,” says Quais. As for the current Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, 89, he states: “He has already expired,” that he has no role to play.

On a nearby street, Murad Sadi, a 48-year-old resident, says the camp is surrounded by PA forces. “There is no school for the children, no prayers in the mosque. Food isn’t coming… We just want the government soldiers to leave us alone.”

Five minutes away from the camp, Um Mutasim al-Sabbagh [she uses the Arabic name that means she is Mutasim’s mother], 52, the mother of the journalism student killed on December 28, is at a relative’s house. She says that what hurts her most is that she was with her daughter and couldn’t do anything for her.

“We went shopping at a shop opposite our house. It was 11 p.m. My daughter was carrying a one-year-old baby in her arms, from a relative, and a two-year-old boy by her hand,” recalls al-Sabbagh. “The bullet entered below her ear and went through her head. When I saw her, she was on the ground, with the baby still on top of her. I screamed, and they kept shooting at me, so I had to go into my house with the baby. I cannot accuse anyone, but from the angle from which they shot her, there were only PA forces. A couple of days earlier, my daughter had posted a photo of two martyrs on her social media. The PA asked her to remove them. Not only did she not remove them, but she also wrote that they had asked her to delete them.”

The mother says that on that same street, in front of her house, her 21-year-old son Mutasim died under fire from the Israeli army on March 7, 2023. She has another younger son, Mosad, who works as a paramedic with an ambulance service. On December 28, Mosad went to help a victim.

“We knew someone had been shot. We were five minutes away, but the PA wouldn’t let us in because they said it was dangerous,” says Mosad. “After half an hour, they let us in. Then I saw that the victim was my sister. I took her pulse, and it was already very weak. I can’t express how hard it was to see her die.”

Military spokesman Rajab claims the bullet that killed al-Sabbagh came from an Israeli-made M-16 rifle, the type used by the “outlaws.” Quais, however, insists that everyone in Jenin knows she was killed by the PA.

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