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Israeli Assault on Gaza, West Bank Continues in ‘Final Stage’ of Cease-Fire Talks

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Original article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

A father cries while carrying the body of his child wrapped in a blood-stained shroud west of Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, on January 14, 2025. (Photo: Youssef Alzanoun/Middle East Images via AFP via Getty Images)

“As a cease-fire in Gaza is near, Israel is expanding its assault on the West Bank,” said one expert. “It was always a war on Palestinian existence.”

As negotiators in Qatar navigated the “final stage” of a cease-fire agreement to end the U.S.-backed Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip, Israel’s forces on Tuesday continued to kill Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave and the illegally occupied West Bank.

Since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have killed at least 46,645 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 110,012, with over 10,000 others missing, health officials said Tuesday. The true death toll could be much higher. A peer-reviewed analysis published last week in The Lancetfound that the official tally through last June was likely a 41% undercount.

The Palestinian National Authority’s news agency WAFA reported Tuesday that IDF shelling killed at least two civilians at the Nuseirat refugee camp and a correspondent in Gaza City “said that Israeli warplanes fired missiles at a house in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City, and another house in the Manara neighborhood, south of Khan Younis City, killing several civilians and injuring others.”

According to multiple media outlets, Israeli forces also killed at least 13 people in an attack on a home in Deir al-Balah.

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Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice over its assault on Gaza and in November the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri.

In addition to waging war on Gaza over the past 15 months, Israel has stepped up its military activity in the West Bank—where a Tuesday strike on the Jenin refugee camp killed at least six Palestinians and wounded several others. The Times of Israel reported that “the IDF said it carried out the strike in a joint operation with the Shin Bet, without immediately providing further information.”

The Israeli newspaper also noted that “on Tuesday evening, as on many previous Tuesday nights, thousands gather for a unity rally of prayer and song held in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square,” while hundreds of right-wing demonstrators blocked “an intersection in central Jerusalem, in protest of the ongoing hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas.”

According to a draft obtained by The Associated Press, the first part of the three-stage deal would involve a halt to the fighting, both sides releasing captives, displaced Palestinians in Gaza returning home, and more humanitarian aid entering the strip.

Phase two would feature a declaration of “sustainable calm” and Hamas freeing more hostages in exchange for additional Palestinian prisoners and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, AP reported. The third part would include an exchange of bodies, a reconstruction plan for the strip—where civilian infrastructure is in ruins—and the reopening of border crossings.

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“The terms of the deal being negotiated are largely consistent with what was on the table last May when outgoing President Joe Biden first announced it. Biden allowed Netanyahu to steamroll him for months—rewarding Israel with billions of dollars in arms transfers and political support after rejecting that cease-fire deal,” Jeremy Scahill detailed at Drop Site News.

The latest cease-fire talks come as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump prepares for his inauguration next Monday. The Republican has been pushing for a resolution to Israel’s assault on Gaza—or at least an appearance of one—before he returns to office.

“The fact that Trump emerged as the decisive player in pushing a potential cease-fire forward is evidence that Biden never used the full powers available to a sitting U.S. president to seal the deal in the summer,” wrote Scahill. “While Trump has publicly repeated his threat that he will ‘unleash hell’ on Hamas if the Israeli hostages are not freed, his pressure has not been solely focused on Hamas; Trump and his aides have made clear to Netanyahu that the president-elect expects Israel to comply with his demands, too.”

Netanyahu on Tuesday told hostages’ families that “he is willing to agree to a prolonged cease-fire Gaza in exchange for their return,” according toHaaretz. Later Tuesday, The Times of Israel reported that the prime minister was meeting with “Israel’s hostage negotiation team and with members of Israel’s security establishment,” and expected negotiations to go through the night.

Even if a deal is reached regarding Gaza, some experts fear the bloodshed will continue there and in the West Bank

“There will possibly be an end to the Gaza war, but there will be now another war in the West Bank,” Sami Al-Arian, a Palestinian analyst and director of the Center for Islam and Global Affairs at Istanbul Zaim University, told Scahill. “It may not be on the same scale, but it would be as vicious from the settlers, from the Netanyahu government.”

Gazan writer and analyst Muhammad Shehada wrote for the U.S.-based Center for International Policy last week that a senior Arab official told him the U.S. president-elect asked the Qataris and Egyptians to finalize a deal before he takes office but the Israeli prime minister “is not budging while at the same time issuing false positive statements of a breakthrough and progress to buy time and pretend to seek a deal until Trump is in office, where Netanyahu can trade the Gaza war for something big in the West Bank.”

Sharing on social media a video of the Tuesday strike on Jenin, Middle East expert Assal Rad said that “as a cease-fire in Gaza is near, Israel is expanding its assault on the West Bank. The Gaza genocide is only the most recent atrocity Israel—with the help of the U.S.—has carried out against Palestinians. The same story for 77+ years. It was always a war on Palestinian existence.”

Original article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Continue ReadingIsraeli Assault on Gaza, West Bank Continues in ‘Final Stage’ of Cease-Fire Talks

Israel uses ambulance to storm West Bank refugee camp

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https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250107-israel-uses-ambulance-to-storm-west-bank-refugee-camp

Israeli armoured vehicle and an ambulance is seen during raid at the Jenin Refugee Camp in the city of Jenin, north of the West Bank on December 12, 2023 [İssam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency]

The Israeli occupation army yesterday admitted that its forces used an ambulance to infiltrate Balata refugee camp in Nablus in the northern West Bank, claiming that it is investigating the incident that Palestinians say led to the death of an elderly woman and a young man.

On Sunday, Palestinians shared videos taken by a surveillance camera in a shop showing Israeli occupation soldiers getting out of an ambulance in the heart of the camp and shooting at passersby, which they say led to the death of an elderly woman and a young man, according to Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

In a statement quoted by the paper yesterday, the occupation army claimed that it operates in accordance with international law and that the incident in question is being investigated.

“The investigation would examine the use of the vehicles shown in the video and allegations of harm to uninvolved individuals during the exchange of fire between the terrorists and our forces.”

The video was taken on 19 December 2024 during an Israeli raid on the camp. On the same day, Palestinians reported that two people were killed in the operation, one of them an 80-year-old woman, according to the Israeli newspaper.

At the time, the Israeli army said in a statement that its forces launched an operation to arrest a suspect in Balata camp, and “during the activity, there was an exchange of fire with fighters who fired shots and threw explosive devices at the forces,” the statement added.

READ: ‘Nablus, Jenin must look like Gaza’s Jabalia,’ says far-right Israel Minister

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Continue ReadingIsrael uses ambulance to storm West Bank refugee camp

Palestine groups call for escalating ‘resistance operations’ against Israel in Occupied West Bank

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https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250106-palestine-groups-call-for-escalating-resistance-operations-against-israel-in-occupied-west-bank

Israeli military vehicles patrol the streets and alleys of the area during the second day of the raid on the Tulkarem Refugee Camp in the West Bank on December 25, 2024 [Issam Rimawi – Anadolu Agency]

Palestinian factions called, Monday, for escalating resistance operations in the Occupied West Bank in retaliation for Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, Anadolu Agency reports.

Three illegal Israeli settlers were killed and six others injured early Monday in a shooting attack near the Kedumim settlement in the northern West Bank.

In a statement, Hamas hailed the attack as

a heroic response to the ongoing crimes and war of extermination committed by the (Israeli) occupation against our people in Gaza, the displacement plans in the West Bank, and the settler aggression on the Al-Aqsa Mosque and holy sites

“This operation is a message to the extremist Israeli government and its ministers that there is a free and rebellious nation that will not abandon its rights and that the resistance will continue until the occupation is removed from all of our lands,” it added.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) called the shooting attack a “powerful message” to the Israeli occupation.

It called for escalating resistance operations in the West Bank “to confuse the occupation’s calculations and weaken its security system.”

The Popular Resistance Committees termed the attack “a natural response” to Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza and the Judaisation and annexation plans in the West Bank.

Tension has been running high across the Occupied West Bank due to Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 45,800 people, mostly women and children, since 7 October, 2023.

At least 835 Palestinians have also been killed and nearly 6,700 others injured by Israeli army fire in the Occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian figures.

In November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and former Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

READ: ‘Nablus, Jenin must look like Gaza’s Jabalia,’ says far-right Israel Minister

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

Continue ReadingPalestine groups call for escalating ‘resistance operations’ against Israel in Occupied West Bank

As it fights Israel’s war in Jenin, can the Palestinian Authority be saved?

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https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241231-as-it-fights-israels-war-in-jenin-can-the-palestinian-authority-be-saved

Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces use tear gas to disperse a protest against their security operation, in Jenin in the Israel-occupied West Bank, on December 16, 2024 [JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP via Getty Images]

The latest news about the Palestinian Authority’s so-called “Protecting the Homeland” operation in the Jenin refugee camp paints a grim picture. Nine Palestinians have been killed in the ongoing crackdown which began on 5 December, including a young journalist, Shatha Al-Sabbagh.

The campaign, as reported by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, has, not surpisingly, received a stamp of approval from the Israeli occupation army, which seems content with the PA’s performance. Meanwhile, Israel’s Channel 14 confirmed that the occupation regime has issued a clear deadline for the PA to finish the task of effectively eradicating what remains of legitimate resistance in Jenin, in the name of ending “lawlessness” and apprehending “outlaws”.

It is an irony that has become all too familiar: the Palestinian entity that was supposed to represent the will of the people and lead them towards freedom has become complicit in crushing resistance in one of the most marginalised and impoverished areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, all while serving the interests of the occupation state. This is the heart of the Palestinian paradox in the West Bank.

For years, the PA has demanded unflinching obedience from the Palestinian people in the name of preparing Palestine for sovereignty and statehood. Yet, as the years have passed, this pledge has slipped further and further away. In its place, the PA has become complicit in the expansion of Israel’s territorial control and the erosion of Palestinian rights. This might be a difficult conclusion to digest, but the killing of innocent Palestinians in Jenin at the hands of Palestinian security forces, while Israel and its settlers are cracking down on Palestinians elsewhere in the West Bank, should be all the proof needed to support such a conclusion.

READ: Rights groups urge Palestinian Authority to end campaign in Jenin

Moreover, the PA’s strategy of appeasing Israel through “security coordination” has done little to hinder Israel’s systematic land grab and the continued construction of illegal settlements. On the contrary, such “coordination” has emboldened Israel and its lawless settlers.

The PA has become a tool of the Israeli occupation

What is perhaps more damning is the fact that the PA has often become an active participant in the Israeli oppression of Palestinians, as is happening in Jenin today. In its role as an enforcer of Israeli policies, the PA has become a tool of the Israeli occupation, tasked with quelling political dissent and silencing critics.

The latest operation in Jenin is a clear manifestation of how Israel uses the PA to do its dirty work. The Jenin refugee camp, an area of less than half a square kilometre, has always been a symbol of Palestinian resistance. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Israel has raided Jenin 80 times in the past year alone, killing at least 220 Palestinians and wounding hundreds more. Yet, Jenin remains unbowed. To now see the PA working in concert with the Israeli army to break the will of Jenin’s 23,000 inhabitants is a deeply painful reality for most Palestinians.

What complicates this crisis even further is the silence of many Palestinian intellectuals, both in the West Bank and the diaspora, who have failed to confront the PA with the same vigour with which they criticise the Israeli occupation. Why have so many prominent voices, intellectuals and political analysts remained mute on the issue of the PA’s betrayal of the Palestinian struggle?

The answer lies in a complex mixture of fear, political pragmatism and historical inertia. For decades, the PA has maintained a stranglehold on the political landscape of Palestinian life. It controls the levers of power, and anyone who dares to challenge its authority risks being silenced, through arrests, imprisonment, torture or worse. Palestinian intellectuals, particularly those in the West Bank, are all too aware of this reality.

OPINION: For the first time, Palestinians abroad publicly criticise the Palestinian Authority

Moreover, there is a deep sense of paralysis within the Palestinian intellectual community in the occupied West Bank, in part due to their leadership’s failure to confront Israel over the ongoing genocide in Gaza. But there is more to this ongoing paralysis.

For years, the PA has framed itself as the “sole legitimate representative” of the Palestinian people. Many intellectuals who would normally criticise Israel’s occupation are unwilling to take on the PA for fear of further fragmenting the Palestinians. There is a deep-seated belief among some that a public confrontation with the PA would lead to greater disunity, which could play into Israel’s hands.

This political pragmatism comes at a heavy cost. While many Palestinian intellectuals hesitate to criticise the PA, they are forced into a position of complicity with its actions. The PA’s betrayal of the Palestinian cause is no longer a matter of debate, it is a fact. Yet, by failing to confront this betrayal head-on, intellectuals and activists alike risk forfeiting their moral credibility.

The betrayal of the PA has been laid bare for all to see

In the face of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and unprecedentedly-violent crackdowns on Palestinians in the West Bank, the betrayal of the PA has been laid bare for all to see. Its willingness to assist in the subjugation of Palestinians in the West Bank, while pretending to represent them, has exposed the institution like never before.

Can the PA be saved? The answer may not even matter. What matters is whether the Palestinian people, with their collective will and resistance, can liberate themselves from Israel’s settler colonialism and the moral corruption of their self-proclaimed leadership. The events of the coming weeks and months will be decisive.

OPINION: Palestine and the power of the boycott movement

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

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Continue ReadingAs it fights Israel’s war in Jenin, can the Palestinian Authority be saved?

Palestinian Authority security forces kill female journalist in Jenin

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Original article republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Shatha al-Sabbagh. Photo: Social media

Shatha al-Sabbagh was shot in the head by a sniper a day after interviewing victims of the Palestinian Authority’s security campaign in the Jenin refugee camp.

A sniper from the Palestinian Authority’s security forces killed female journalist Shatha al-Sabbagh in Jenin refugee camp on Saturday, December 28. Shatha (22) was on her way to a grocery shop close to her house along with her two little nephews, her mother, and a sister-in-law, when the sniper shot her in the head, according to Shatha’s mother, who witnessed the incident.

The bereaved mother held the Palestinian Authority’s security forces fully accountable for murdering her daughter. She also considered the incident a targeted assassination as a barrage of bullets was fired by the security forces at people in the street, who tried to rescue Shatha, including her mother.

Shatha’s mother believes that her daughter was killed deliberately because the day before her death, she had interviewed families in Jenin refugee camp as part of a report. Among the people she interviewed was the family of a child who was killed by the PA’s security forces, and a family whose house was set on fire by the forces during its ongoing campaign against the camp.

Shatha’s father also said during an interview with the local news platform Falasteen Post that the street where they live and where Shatha was killed, has been under full control of the PA’s security forces for over 26 days, and that no resistance fighters have been present there during that entire period. Her father’s testimony refuted the claims of the PA’s security forces, who claimed that Shatha was killed by one of the fighters affiliated with Jenin Brigade.

Shatha’s brother-in-law, Suhaib Merei, whose two little children, his sister, and his mother-in-law (Shatha’s mother) were with Shatha when she was shot, reiterated the same circumstances about the killing incident. Merei added that the sniper was only 20 meters away from where Shatha and the rest of family were standing.

He added that unlike the rest of the camp, where the electricity has been cut off by the PA for around one month, the street lights were working because the street has remained under the control of the PA’s security forces since the campaign began. Therefore, the sniper was able to distinguish that those walking were three women with two babies.

For his part, the spokesperson of the PA security forces, Anwar Rajab, condemned the killing of Shatha and accused “outlaws” of being responsible for the crime, a claim which has been refuted by Shatha’s family.

On Monday, December 30, Rajab refused to have a discussion with Shatha’s mother on Al Jazeera Mubasher. Once he saw her on the air, he withdrew from the interview. Rajab justified his withdrawal and refusal to confront Shatha’s mother by saying that he was not informed that she would be part of the interview. The Palestinian security official accused Al Jazeera of being unprofessional, and further explained that he was unwilling to discuss anything about the incident with Shatha’s mother considering her current emotional condition.

PA’s siege of Jenin refugee camp

The PA began a large-scale security campaign in Jenin refugee camp in early December, which explicitly aims at prosecuting what the PA calls “outlaws”. Though, according to analysts and Palestinian grassroots, the campaign seeks to crush resistance groups within the camp in collaboration with the United States and Israel.

Residents of Jenin refugee camp have accused the PA’s security forces of killing six Palestinian citizens in the camp since the beginning of their campaign. The murdered citizens include Mohammad al-Amer (12), Majd Zeidan (16), Ribhi Shalabi (19), Shatha Sbaagh (22), Mohammad Abu Libdeh (25), and Yazeed Jaysah (28).

Residents have also reported that as part of their campaign PA’s security forces have shut off water and electricity in several areas. Some have reported that houses have been targeted by rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and set on fire by the forces. People in the camp labeled the stifling siege imposed on them as a “collective punishment”.

It is worth mentioning that the PA has reportedly prohibited foreign media outlets from entering the camp and that all reports coming out from there are being posted online by activists, journalists, and residents, including the families of the victims, or via local media outlets.

Meanwhile, the PA mourned five personnel of its security forces stating that they were killed in clashes with “outlaws” during the campaign carried out in Jenin refugee camp.

In an attempt to cover up the crimes committed in the camp, the PA’s government institutions have allegedly called their staff to participate in demonstrations to show support for the security campaign against Jenin refugee camp. In addition, videos attributed to some Palestinian security personnel were posted online, showing them bragging about verbally and physically abusing Palestinian citizens, who reportedly criticized the PA’s campaign in Jenin on social media networks.

Despite the fact that Israel has violated all peace treaties signed with the PA, including the Oslo Accords for decades, the PA has continued to submit to Israel’s endeavors in the West Bank. The ongoing campaign in the Jenin camp, seemingly on behalf of the Israeli Occupation Forces which are simultaneously carrying out the genocide in Gaza, has further eroded the PA’s legitimacy among the Palestinian people as a body advocating for the Palestinian people and their liberation.

Original article republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Continue ReadingPalestinian Authority security forces kill female journalist in Jenin