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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Jenin's bereaved residents left in a 'war zone' following Israeli raid</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">By Leila Warah in Jenin, occupied Palestine - January 30, 2023<br></div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div><p>The
last time Arwa Mousa saw her 17-year-old son alive was Thursday
morning, just before he rushed out of their house in the Jenin refugee
camp.</p>
<p>At 7am on the 26 January, Abdullah Mousa heard gunshots ringing
through the camp. He leapt out of bed, rushing out the front door to
“defend” the camp from what would become the deadliest Israeli army raid
to take place in the West Bank in years.</p>
<p>But Abdullah never came home. His mother has not slept since he was
killed. “I just stay up all night praying for him. All I can do is
pray,” Arwa told Middle East Eye.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>'He's watched his friends die. He grew up in this camp, seeing violent attacks on Palestinians every day. It took over his life'</p>
<p>- <em>Arwa Mousa, mother of slain Palestinian </em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>After <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel" target="_blank">Israeli</a>
armed forces shot her son, she said, he was left bleeding on the floor
for an hour and a half, as the soldiers blocked off all entrances and
entrances to the camp, preventing medics from treating the wounded. </p>
<p>“It should have only taken two minutes to get him to the hospital,”
she said. "Every day there are martyrs on top of martyrs. They don't
show mercy to anything. Not to the elderly, the young, the trees, the
houses, nothing," she continued.</p>
<p>Between prayers for her son, Arwa said that Abdullah always knew he
would end up a “martyr”, and that growing up surrounded by so much pain
and death inflicted by Israel's occupation had “consumed him”.</p>
<p>"He's watched his friends die. He grew up in this camp, seeing violent attacks on <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine" target="_blank">Palestinians</a> every
day. It took over his life. He didn't want to study or work. He didn't
want to have a house and get married," she said. “He just cared about
resisting.”</p>
<h3>Warzone </h3>
<p>Israeli forces shot dead nine Palestinians during Thursday morning's
large-scale assault on Jenin camp. A 10th Palestinian was shot dead
later that day near al-Ram, north of Jerusalem. </p>
<p>Among the Palestinians killed were two children, Arwa Mousa's son
Abdullah Mousa and 16-year-old Amjad Aref Abu Jaes, according to Defence
for Children International - Palestine. Along with the two boys,
61-year-old Majida Obaid was shot while sitting and reading the Quran
inside her home. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>'Who is the terrorist? The one who invades people's homes in an army and attacks them'</p>
<p>- <i>Jenin Brigades fighter</i></p>
</blockquote>
<p>"Israel says they want peace but have made our homes a war zone. How
can we live in peace when you are not even safe in your own home," said a
Palestinian fighter with the Jenin Brigades, a group of armed
resistance fighters in the camp affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic
Jihad movement.</p>
<p>“Yes, we are resistance fighters fighting against them, but they also
target unarmed civilians, as we saw the day before,” he continued,
referring to the killing of Obaid. </p>
<p>Standing in a layer of wet mud on the street, staring at the charred
remains of his house that once belonged to his brother, Mohammad
al-Sabbagh, head of the popular committee for providing services in the
camp, described his home that morning as a "warzone".</p>
<p>The day before, the hills of Jenin camp were coated in oil, a tactic
used to slow down invading Israeli forces. Today, the mud is soaking up
the oil so the locals can drive safely. </p>
<p>"It was a real massacre. There were injuries everywhere in the camp,
and ambulances were not allowed to reach them," al-Sabbagh said.</p>
<p>He told MEE that his house was one of the two houses the Israeli
soldiers stormed, firing rockets and explosives at it without warning.
When he returned to the house he found "three dead resistance fighters".</p>
<h3>Symbol of resistance</h3>
<p>Jenin refugee camp became a symbol of Palestinian resistance after a
deadly large-scale raid conducted by the Israeli army in 2002, during
the Second Intifada. </p>
<p>It resulted in 53 Palestinians being killed, including Mohammad
al-Sabbagh’s brother, many civilians, and 23 Israeli soldiers. Many
residents of the camp say that the events of Thursday morning echoed the
raid 21 years ago. </p>
<p>On Friday afternoon, despite the grave tragedy just 24 hours before,
many locals said they were starting to feel numb to the death and
destruction surrounding them. They explained that this was because fatal
Israeli raids are common here. </p>
<p>"Every time [Israeli soldiers] come into the camp; they kill people.
No one else would be able to deal with what we have to deal with," Arwa,
Abdullah’s mother, said, adding that she thought the situation was only
going to get worse. "It's not going to stop," she said. </p>
<div>
<p><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/jenin%20in%20story%20pic.jpg" alt="Al-Sabbagh home" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="416" height="234"></p>
Remains of the al-Sabbagh family home where resistance fighters were found dead (MEE/Akram al-Waara)</div>
<p><span></span>Similarly,
al-Sabbagh spoke almost casually about the high number of fatalities,
arrests and demolitions Palestinians in Jenin are subjected to by
Israeli forces. His brother Alaa was a resistance fighter in Jenin
killed by an Israeli helicopter missile in 2002 during the Second
Intifada. </p>
<p>He explained that “every single household” in Jenin refugee camp has
been affected by the occupation. Every house has a martyr or a political
prisoner or experiences a demolition. </p>
<p>"They are defending their rights, their homes, their families. The
martyrs did not go to Tel Aviv to resist. The soldiers came to this
camp, to their homes," he said, still standing between the debris of his
house. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>'They come to our homes to kill us for no reason. They are the occupiers. They are not defending themselves'</p>
<p>- <em>Mohammad al-Sabagh, Jenin people's committee</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>After nightfall in Jenin, many young men walked through the streets
carrying guns. The same masked resistance fighter from the Jenin
Brigades told MEE that, contrary to Israeli narratives, he and the
fighters were not terrorists.</p>
<p>"Armed resistance is one of the only choices left for people here.
When occupation forces come into our camp, they come in with guns. So we
defend ourselves with guns," he said.</p>
<p>"Who is the terrorist? The one who invades people's homes in an army
and attacks them. We are defending ourselves, our land, our people and
our homes under occupation.”</p>
<p>“They come to our homes to kill us for no reason. They are the
occupiers. They are not defending themselves as they say. This is not
their homeland to defend. It is ours,“ he told MEE.</p>
<h3>Cycle of violence</h3>
<p>Following Thursday's raid on Jenin camp, a Palestinian gunman killed
seven Israelis in occupied East Jerusalem before being shot dead by
Israeli police.</p>
<p>Less than 24 hours later, another shooting occurred at a settlement
in the Silwan neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, injuring two
Israeli settlers. The alleged shooter was a 13-year-old Palestinian
boy. </p>
<p>In 2022, the deadliest year for Palestinians living in the West Bank
in decades, 173 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces, and
approximately 34 percent of them came from Jenin. </p>
<p>Since the beginning of 2023,<a href="https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/133125" target="_blank"> according to</a>
the Palestinian health ministry, 35 Palestinians have been killed by
Israeli forces, more fatalities than in the first three months of 2022.</p>
<p>Al-Sabbagh says the international community needs to start looking at
the reasons "that motivate an entire generation to seek death" before
they call Palestinian resistance terrorism.</p>
<p>"Resistance [to the occupation] is a natural reaction to what is
happening in Palestine. Kids here are frustrated, we have been here [in
the refugee camp] for four generations, and there is no hope for their
future. They are not allowed to live normal lives and reach for their
dreams," he said. </p>
<div>
<p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/everyone-jenin-someone-mourn-nine-palestinians-killed-by-israeli-forces-funeral" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/Jenin%20Funeral%20Mohamed%20Abed.jpg?itok=WP2MebW9" alt="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" width="400" height="250"></a></p><p>‘Everyone in Jenin has someone to mourn’: Nine Palestinians killed, one funeral</p>
</div>
<p>Armed resistance has been resurging throughout the West Bank.
Meanwhile, Israel has been attempting to quash the growing pockets of
resistance, which are mainly concentrated within Jenin and Nablus.</p>
<p>The masked resistance fighter believes the phenomenon is growing because it is "like a tree".</p>
<p>“Even if you pick off the leaves, the roots still grow. With every
leaf that you take off, a hundred more will grow in its place. So even
if they create one martyr, there will be 100 more to take his place,” he
told MEE, as groups of other armed young men walked past him.</p>
<p>“Everywhere in the West Bank, there are martyrs, so armed resistance is growing,” he continued. </p>
<p>Abdullah’s mother says that as the world continues to turn a blind
eye to the suffering of the people in the Jenin refugee camp, and the
rest of Palestine, the situation will only continue to worsen. </p>
<p>"If the world could only feel what we feel, what would you do if it
was your kids? But instead of standing with us, everyone is standing
with our enemy. We are standing alone," Arwa said. </p>
<p>Her parting words hung in the air. "That's why our children are forced to resist by themselves. Only God is with us."</p>
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