West Bank: in Jenin, a gloomy atmosphere and residents ready to "resist by all means"
The Israeli army raided the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank on April 9, 2022. © JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
“
Strong anti-terrorist operations
”, according to the Israeli army, “
illegal and murderous military incursions
”, according to the inhabitants of Jenin.
Israel is tightening the noose on this town in the northern occupied West Bank, where the assailants of the last two attacks against Israeli civilians originated.
There are arrests, injuries.
Since the end of March, nine young people from Jenin, including armed fighters, have been killed by the Israeli army.
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With our special correspondent in Jenin,
Alice Froussard
In Jenin there is a rather strange atmosphere, very different from that of the city in normal times.
On the market, in the shopping streets, everything is abnormally empty.
Since the latest Israeli restrictions, local traders can no longer leave the city, and above all, the Palestinians of Israel can no longer enter it, even though they are the ones who keep Jenin alive, its restaurants, its businesses, particularly in this month. of Ramadan.
As a result,
iftar,
the break-up meal for young people, is sluggish, and according to the Chamber of Commerce, Jenin loses $200,000 a day due to the restrictions.
"
It's a collective punishment
," says its director, adding that it will only increase unemployment as the economy is still recovering from last year's checkpoint closures due to the coronavirus.
Almost daily incursions by the Israeli army
take place around the refugee camp and
clashes with the Palestinians
occur every day.
Roadblocks stand in the narrow streets of the camp to prevent the movement of army vehicles.
Tires, on top of each other, or waste bins are placed across the road.
Posters representing martyrs are displayed on the walls.
There are a lot of them, they are mainly young people.
A resident confides: “
here, in each family there is at least one dead, injured or prisoner.
»
For a year, the camp has been in a quasi-insurgent state and many residents say they understand the assailants of the last two attacks in Bnei Brak and Tel Aviv.
Support for lone “lions”
"
They were guided by despair, that linked to the occupation
", they say.
“
You can clearly see that here, for 25 years, there have been failures… Diplomacy and human rights don't work… So we are ready to resist by all means.
»
Should we therefore fear a new intifada, or rather a resurgence of this type of attack, solitary, unpredictable, by mimicry, as the Israelis fear?
It's hard to say, but in Jenin, in any case, these assailants are spoken of not as lone wolves, but as lone lions, because the lion is a noble animal.
The locals support them.
Several people who knew Raed Hazem,
author of the Tel Aviv attack,
present him as a simple, calm, intelligent young man, who did not appear on social networks with weapons, and who, above all, was not linked to no faction.
Jenin, the “lone wolves” have the support of the population
Alice Froussard
The older ones draw a parallel with the murderous siege and the battle of Jenin, exactly twenty years ago, during the
second intifada,
between 2000 and 2005, and they say it: "
there, all the elements are united for a new insurrection
.
»
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Palestinian territories
Israel
Israelo-Palestinian conflict