Nablus

- For the ninth day in a row, the Israeli occupation imposed a siege on the city of Jericho, during which it stormed its neighborhoods and camps, especially the Aqabat Jaber camp, which took place yesterday, Saturday, in a long storm that took 4 hours, to arrest a cell that the occupation claims had carried out a shooting attack towards a settlers' restaurant at the entrance of a settlement. Almog, south of the city.

The storming of Aqabat Jabr camp was not normal, as it came after a week of the siege of Jericho, in which the occupation army used 5 of its military intelligence arms, and fired rockets and live bullets that injured 13 Palestinians and arrested others.

During the raid, resistance fighters confronted the occupation soldiers and clashed with them for hours, which showed a sudden act of remoteness in time, place and method that the city, known for its relative calm, did not witness, and its distance from direct contact with the occupation, which reflected a qualitative event that was claimed by the "Aqabat Jabr Camp Brigade" or the "Jericho Brigade" as it was called. It became the talk of the hour.

Ariha is known for its security dimension and its proximity to the border with Jordan (Al-Jazeera Net)

sudden appearance

The battalion's action was previously stated and disclosed publicly, after its members, who hail from the various Palestinian resistance factions, claimed responsibility for their confrontation with dozens of soldiers who stormed the Aqabat Jabr camp, and confirmed that they had engaged in armed clashes with them.

From the camp itself, the "Jericho Brigade" - according to what was nominated in the media - takes its headquarters, and from there its work began, as members of it appeared in their military corps and with their light weapons as they roamed the streets of the camp shortly after the occupation army withdrew from it, while the sound of their bullets spread throughout the place.

This was confirmed by the Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, where it said that "dozens of gunmen were waiting for the army forces in Jericho," adding, "Even in the quietest city in the West Bank, the gunmen have control at the time of security events."

More than other resistance factions, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), emerged under the name "Aqabat Jaber Camp Brigade" during the response to the storming, and this was preceded by its implicit adoption, in a video statement delivered by one of its members, of the shooting attack at the settlers' restaurant last week.

The statement stated that in the face of the occupation's violations, "in the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the Martyrdom Lovers Brigade, we declare the start of war against the Zionist occupation with all force and by all means."

The occupation forces have imposed a siege on Ariha for 9 days (Al-Jazeera Net)

between response and tactics

In the face of the new reality in the city of Jericho, which has an important security, geographic, and tourist dimension, the opinions of insiders and political and security experts varied about this appearance of the battalion, its duration, its action on the ground, and its extension, like other resistance battalions in the West Bank, but they agreed that it came as a natural reaction to the crimes of the occupation.

The security expert, Major General Wasef Erekat, told Al-Jazeera Net that the Jericho Battalion is an extension of its counterparts in various cities in the West Bank, and it consists of Palestinian youth armed with their determination and will, and whom the occupation bet on forgetting their cause, so it turned out that they are more profound and confronting it.

Despite the "disparity" in capabilities between Nablus, Jenin, and Jericho, according to Erekat, "the resistance fighters in terms of will, courage, battle of minds, and ability to plan are one."

Erekat justified the appearance of the battalion in its location (Jericho), which is described as having a security weight for the occupation, which besieges the city with its settlements and camps, by saying that "the biggest incentive to resist the occupation is its practices and crimes, and as this continues, the resistance escalates."

Erekat described what is happening as a model for resisting the "unknown army" that terrifies Israel, and said that the strength of this battalion has shown its impact on the ground despite its rapid appearance, and its thwarting of the occupation operation, in which special units of the army and various Israeli security and intelligence services participated.

Erekat says, "This indicates the development of the resistance youth, their benefit from lessons, and their knowledge of the enemy's methods. This is a battle of minds in which the Palestinian proves that he is superior to the Israeli through his will and courage, and his exploitation of his strengths as a resister and the weaknesses of his occupying opponent."

Jericho is besieged by the occupation with its settlements and camps (Al-Jazeera Net)

Secretive and brooding

What prolongs the life of the Jericho Brigade and any resistance despite all circumstances is its "secret" as Erekat says, and its non-appearance in any way, "and that the unknown remain the address of these groups."

In addition to the squadron and the battalion's resistance in its first battles, despite its youth and its sudden appearance in time and place, which constituted a "slap to the occupation and its security system," Khaled Brahma, the political activist and son of Jericho, expected that its life would be prolonged and its resistance would escalate as a natural result of the occupation's attacks and the barbarism of its settlers.

And about the place where the battalion appeared and its security and geographical importance, Brahma tells Al-Jazeera Net that despite the security weight of the authority (40% of its security strength) in Jericho, the determination and persistence of the resistance fighters will constitute an incentive to preserve the battalion and further develop it, without overlooking Brahma's role as the "incubator" popular" which appeared to be strongly supportive of the resistance fighters.

The "Aqabat Jabr" camp is one of two camps - in addition to Ain al-Sultan - in Jericho, and it includes about 11,000 people. Like other areas in the West Bank, it faced the arrogance and violence of the occupation.

A side of the city of Jericho in the West Bank (Al-Jazeera Net)

Struggle convergence

Between this and that, Bilal Al-Shobaki, a professor of political science at Hebron University in the southern West Bank, does not see that the Jericho Battalion - and many others like it - is a broad and deep organization, but rather a group of elements supporting the resistance, and therefore it is not dealt with as empowered formations that have a clear structure.

The Jericho battalion - according to Shobaki - is similar to what happened in Jenin and Nablus with less experience, and it is natural that it will be affected by general events, as is the case in Palestinian cities, but it is not seen as an "exception" among the cities of the West Bank, where calm also varies.

"This is not due to a different composition of the Palestinians in Jericho, as much as it is due to the geographical conditions of Jericho and its security conditions, which are different from other areas that witness more confrontation," Shobaki said.

Al-Shobaki believes that it is too early to talk about the battalion's development and its future, saying, "We are not facing a comprehensive and general popular confrontation that enables the incubation of such groups in Jericho or elsewhere, and this incubator does not appear except under the shadow of broad public action, as happened with other confrontations between the Palestinians and the Israelis."

Even an Israeli, the Israeli media, according to observers, does not talk about an organized group that is witnessing development as much as it is a cell that prepared individuals who tried to carry out a commando operation.