Starting from first hours of the 3rd of July to 5th July, Israel undertook a military operation at a scale not paralleled since 2005, mercilessly carrying out demolition by air and ground in the occupied territory of West Bank. This attack was centred on the city of Jenin that was previously attacked last month.
Confrontation between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants has scaled intensity at highest pitch. Similar to a David confronting Goliath, the Palestinians led by Jenin battalion have retaliated with death defying resilience, to cause shivers down the spine of bloodthirsty troops of Israel.
In addition to resistance fighters civilians are being hounded, to the last drop of blood.
Quoting Jean Shaoul in WSWS.org “The 1993 Oslo Accords, which escalated foreign direct investment in Israel soar and ended the Arab League boycott of Israel, broke the spine of the Palestinian economy. Israel imposed restrictions on the movement of people, labour and goods, fragmented the territories with settlements, settler-only access roads and nature reserves, confiscated land, water and other natural resources, tied the Palestinian economy to the Israeli economy and cut it off from international markets.”
“Industry has stagnated, farmers have been displaced from their land and per capita income has remained stagnant since 1994. Thirty percent of the young people in the West Bank—where 50 percent of the population is under 30 years of age—are unemployed. More than one-third of young people who are employed work in the informal sector, while more than half of those working in the formal sector have no social security, medical insurance or entitlement to sick and holiday leave.”
3rd July attack
On 3rd July, dozens of military vehicles and ground troops launched an attack on the city. In total more than 150 tanks, fighter jets, drones and grenades and 1,000 soldiers of the elite Special Forces, military, police and border police were deployed. The attack targeted the houses in the refugee camp, where 20,000 people live. Highways were obstructed and ambulances and any medical service that approached were prevented to help the injuredThis Israeli attack killed at least 8 people, three of them underage and the rest younger than 23 years old. It is counted 50 injured, 10 of them critical. Mosques, private health services and the ambulances were demolished..The city’s water supply was cut of due severe damage in infrastructure. The TV channel Al Araby announced that their journalists were shot while retransmitting the attacks on live. Jenin Battalion, are the brigades that integrate all the militias of the Palestinian national resistance. The refugee camp functions as a “unified command center” where the militia men gathered to coordinate and prepare themselves for the attacks 20 Palestinian people were detained. The Jenin Battalion declared “combatants of the organization do not have the intention to disarm themselves, even if if it costs their lives”. These armed groups have become ever popular, especially in Gaza and the West Bank, the most areas most engulfed by the continuous Israeli attacks.
The attack on Jenin in the occupied West Bank continued with full venom on July 4th. The death toll rose to 10 . While Israel embarked on the massive attack in air and on ground, it faced bitter contention from Palestinians Many clashes occurred across the occupied West Bank. Protest marches have been organized in many places, such as Ramallah and many villages on the West Bank which met merciless brutality of Israel with tear gas and rubber bullets. At Qalandia checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem, shots were fired at soldiers. Armed resistance groups blew up Israeli military vehicles and shot down drones.
Clashes in occupied East Jerusalem
The attack on Jenin in the occupied West Bank continued with full venom on July 4th. The death toll rose to 10 . While Israel embarked on the massive attack in air and on ground, it faced bitter contention from Palestinians Many clashes occurred across the occupied West Bank. Protest marches have been organized in many places, such as Ramallah and many villages on the West Bank which met merciless brutality of Israel with tear gas and rubber bullets. At Qalandia checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem, shots were fired at soldiers. Armed resistance groups blew up Israeli military vehicles and shot down drones.Israeli forces fired tear gas at a hospital, where hundreds resorted to shelter and treatment. Israel also fired tear gas at civilians fleeing the Jenin refugee camp, which was targeted by the attack. So far at least 3,000 people have left the camp. The people in the camp are denied of food, drinking water and milk powder. Paramedics have to move by foot under threat by bombing and gunfire, and many road blocks have been stationed by the Israeli army around the West Bank. Israel also target journalists who are reporting the events.
Smeh Abulwafaa, the father of a 19-year-old killed in the incursion, called his son a “martyr... My son told me he did not want to get married or have a family. He said all he wanted to do was to dedicate his life to Palestine, to fighting the occupation,”
“We support Israel’s security and right to defend its people against Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist groups,” the White House National Security Council said on a statement on Monday regarding the attack. Not even an empty word was said about the war crimes that Israel is committing, and much less was the request for humanitarian aid made by the Palestinian Authority answered.
Withdrawal
Israel undertook a series of air strikes on Gaza in response to rocket fire from Palestinian militants, as Israeli forces completed their withdrawal from Jenin in the occupied West Bank.During the first hour of Wednesday 5th July, the Israeli army began to withdraw from the city of Jenin, in the northern occupied West Bank. The massive military operation that they were carrying out by air and by land lasted 48 hours and left a total of 12 Palestinians dead and 100 wounded, 20 of them critical.
The Israel Army begins now its withdrawal Still chaos continues in Jenin’s refugee camp, where there are still cuts of water and electricity, lack of food and a large amount of health aid.
At least 12 Palestinians have been killed, including 4 minors. An Israeli first sergeant was shot dead when the withdrawal was being certified. During the withdrawal of Israeli forces, Palestinian militias from Gaza fired five rockets into Israel, intercepted by the Israeli Army, which was heroically avenged by bombing alleged Hamas facilities. So far this year, there are 156 Palestinian casualties, including 27 minors. Still positively, with the ascendancy of armed groups of Palestinian national resistance in retaliation to attacks on the people, this year there were also 26 Israelis killed, most of them settlers.
3000 persons who left their homes are making their way back, not sure whether they will stay alive. Most of the refugees (around 17,000) were adamant to stay in their homes despite the fear of leaving their homes behind to face bombardment. The camp was constructed in 1948 when Palestinians were displaced because of the creation of the State of Israel. The people also in high volumes praise Jenin Brigade.
Protest March
Thousands of Palestinians marched through the streets of Jenin on Wednesday for the funeral of the 12 people killed in Israel’s largest military operation in the occupied West Bank in more than 20 years.Masked men carrying automatic weapons wore the arm and head bands of their factions, with their faces masked, and fired their guns in the air shimmering spirit of vengeance against the bloodthirsty policy of Israel.
As the bodies were prepared for the funeral procession, many were wrapped in Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad flags, and carried through the streets on Wednesday.
During proceedings, angry crowds chased away Palestinian Authority senior officials. Mourners were enraged with Palestinian senior officials over their response to the Israeli incursion. Smeh Abulwafaa, the father of a 19-year-old killed in the incursion, called his son a “martyr.”
“My son told me he did not want to get married or have a family. He said all he wanted to do was to dedicate his life to Palestine, to fighting the occupation,”
Reactions
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the attacks will continue. “We will not allow Jenin to become a haven for terrorism” The state referred to the operation as a “broad counter terrorism effort” whose political target was the Jenin Brigade. Yesterday the White House issued a statement asserting that it was imperative for Israel to “defend itself.” The German Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Israel “has the right to defend itself” but that it must be “proportionate.A Hamas spokesman told local Palestinian news agency Maan that the Palestinian resistance in Jenin had secured a win for the Palestinian people against the Israeli assault on the refugee camp.
“This victory was only achieved through the unity of the Palestinian people and the courage of the resistance, breaking the strength of the Israeli occupation and dispelling its illusion and goals,” Abdel Latif al-Qanou said.
Nidal Obeidi, the mayor of Jenin, said the attack was “a real massacre and an attempt to wipe out all aspects of life inside the city and the camp”.
Israel’s military raids targeting the Jenin refugee camp “may prima facie constitute a war crime”, a group of UN experts said.
“Israeli forces’ operations in the occupied West Bank, killing and seriously injuring the occupied population, destroying their homes and infrastructure, and arbitrarily displacing thousands, amount to egregious violations of international law and standards on the use of force and may constitute a war crime,” the experts said in a statement.
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Harsh Thakor is a freelance journalist who studies Liberation movements .Thanks information from Red Herald and Al Jazeera
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