[News] Armed Palestinian resistance building in West Bank refugee camps over Israeli raids

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeasteye.net
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/west-bank-palestinian-resistance-building-refugee-camps-israeli>
Armed Palestinian resistance building in West Bank refugee camps over
Israeli raids
By Leila Warah in Tulkarem, occupied West Bank
24 June 2023
------------------------------
[image: image.png]

A handful of young men, three with guns casually strung across their
bodies, stood outside a supermarket. They stared warily at anyone who was
unfamiliar entering the refugee camp, on the watch for undercover Israeli
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel>forces who could invade at
any moment.

The scene could easily be mistaken for one in Jenin or Nablus, two Palestinian
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine>cities in the north of
the occupied West Bank that have received international attention for their
armed resistance against Israel's occupation.

While the young men are from the north, they are from neither Jenin nor
Nablus. They are from the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem, further to
the west, and are members of a newly emerged armed resistance group in the
area.

In a back alley of the camp, the 24-year-old leader of the Tulkarem
Brigades, Mohammad, told Middle East Eye he believes Israel's occupation
has left the West Bank's youth with no choice but to turn to armed
resistance.

"[The Israeli occupation] are the enemies of God, and so I fight to get
back our land in the name of God," he said. "Our problem is not that they
are Jewish, it is that they are occupying our land.

"If you come to us with violence, our only option is to respond with
violence. The occupation doesn't leave us any space for negotiations, only
guns."
'A harsh reality and a dark future'

The Tulkarem Brigades emerged in February and are headed by the Al-Quds
brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement.

They are made up of 15 fighters from Nur Shams camp between the ages of 16
to 25 who are committed to "defending themselves" against Israel's military
occupation through armed resistance.

"We are at the start of the resistance. Everything that has happened is
only the beginning. New generations are coming, and freedom will be in
their hands and be made by them," said Mohammed.

Locals say the Nur Shams refugee camp experiences near-daily Israeli
military incursions, including five large-scale operations this year.

[image: The Nur Shams refugee camp, 3km from Tulkarem (MEE/Leila Warah)]
The Nur Shams refugee camp, 3km from Tulkarem (MEE/Leila Warah)

"This generation was born into a harsh reality and a dark future. Every day
the occupation raids the camp and arrests their fathers. They kill their
friends and destroy everything," Ibrahim Al-Nimr, 51, an activist who works
for the Palestinian Prisoners Society, told MEE.

The group set up checkpoints at all the entrances to the camp and keeps
them closed between midnight and noon to counter the frequent incursions
and weed out undercover Israeli officials.

Niya Jundi, a resident of Nur Shams, said the community "encourages the
efforts of the young, resilient generation that aims to live in a free
country".

"Of course there are drawbacks to the resistance. It makes our access to
services more difficult, but it is our right to bear arms until we are free
from occupation."
A network of armed resistance

Locals say the Tulkarem Brigades' existence was spurred on by the
"martyrdom" of Nur Shams resident Saif Abu Libda.

Born and raised in the camp, Abu Libda joined the Jenin Brigade and hoped
to one day bring armed resistance to his home in Nur Shams, which would
complete the northern "triangle of resistance" between Jenin, Nablus and
Tulkarem.

Israeli forces ambushed and killed
<https://mondoweiss.net/2022/12/231-palestinians-were-killed-this-year-these-are-their-stories/#:~:text=Saeb%20Abahra%2C%20Khalil,as%20an%20%E2%80%9Cassassination%E2%80%9D.>
him along with Saeb Abahra, 30, and Khalil Tawalbeh, 24, while they were
driving in Jenin on 2 April 2022. All three were members of the Al-Quds
Brigades, but reportedly weren't engaged in armed confrontations at the
time.

"All the resistance groups in the West Bank are in contact with each other.
We all have the same goal," said Mohammed.

Jamal Huweil, a political science and international relations professor at
the American Arab University in Jenin, said that, like Abu Libda, people
from all over the West Bank - including Tubas, Nablus, Balata and Hebron -
went to Jenin to learn about the armed struggle.

'All the resistance groups in the West Bank are in contact with each other.
We all have the same goal'

*- Mohammad, Tulkarem Brigades*

With the increase of armed resistance in the West Bank, Israel publicly
initiated the Break the Wave campaign
<https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-702782> in March 2022,
enabling near-daily military raids across the West Bank and an escalation
in Israel's shoot-to-kill policy, resulting in mass arrests and the
deadliest year for Palestinians in
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/palestine-west-bank-deadliest-year-second-intifada>the
occupied territories since the Second Intifada two decades ago.

Huweil believes Israel named the operation after Jenin, where the "wave"
began.

"Israel considers the Jenin refugee camp as an incubator of resistance. The
wave continues and has reached Nablus, the Nur Shams refugee camp in
Tulkarem and Aqbat Jabir refugee camp in Jericho. Jenin is the source of
Palestinian resistance and, in turn, a problem for Israel," he told MEE.

Even with the growth of the armed resistance, Huweil pointed out that the
power dynamics between Israel's world-class military and the young fighters
are highly disproportionate.

"There is no comparison when they have Apache helicopters, observation
planes and special units against a group of fighters with the bare
necessities," he said.

As Palestinian armed resistance expands, Israeli leaders have called
for "Operation
Defensive Shield 2
<https://mondoweiss.net/2023/02/ben-gvir-calls-for-operation-defensive-shield-2-following-jerusalem-operation/>",
referencing a large-scale military invasion of the West Bank in 2002 during
the Second Intifada.

"There are internal discussions on whether Israel should expand their
operations, but I suspect, if they go forward with it, the resistance will
only become stronger and fiercer," said Huweil.
Palestinian and Israeli security coordination

Palestinian and Israeli officials have met twice this year, in Aqabat,
<https://www.state.gov/aqaba-joint-communique/> Jordan and Sharm el Sheikh,
<https://il.usembassy.gov/joint-communique-from-the-march-19-meeting-in-sharm-el-sheikh/>
Egypt, to discuss the Palestinian economy, de-escalating the violence and
the role of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in dissolving armed resistance
in the West Bank.

<https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/palestine-israel-jenin-letter-grief-gunfire-songs-freedom>

A letter from Jenin: Motherhood, grief and freedom songs

However, many Palestinians are disillusioned by peace talks and diplomacy
between officials and look down on the PA's security coordination with
Israel to suppress the armed resistance, which has caused tensions to rise
in places like Nur Shams.

"[PA President] Mahmoud Abbas doesn't believe in armed resistance. He meets
with Israeli political people to discuss the security situations and the
economy because these are factors that help people revolutionise," Huweil
said. "They are scared of the Jenin camp wave spreading and reaching all
over the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon."

Mohammed told MEE "that the political speeches do nothing. We've tried them
and they result in arrest. The only way to get back our freedom is by
force."

"While the PA put pressure on the armed resistance here, trying to offer
them money to leave the armed resistance and join the police, it will not
make a difference," he said.

"The Israeli army doesn't go by international rules, they aren't ruled by
anything."
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