The West Bank’s Men of the CIA – Why is the PA Killing Palestinians in Jenin?

The Palestinian Authority continues its convulsive run successful Jenin. (Photo: video grab)

By Ramzy Baroud  

How agelong volition the PA beryllium allowed to service the relation of the enforcers of the Israeli concern and the protector of settlers, portion inactive promoting itself arsenic the guardian of Palestinian rights, state and statehood?

Following a ten-day siege, the Palestinian Authority began, connected December 14, a convulsive raid connected the Jenin exile campy successful the bluish West Bank.

The PA information forces utilized akin tactics arsenic utilized by the Israeli concern forces successful their regular attacks connected the area.

The camp, which is simply a specified fractional a quadrate kilometer successful size, hosts an ever-growing colonisation of 24 1000 refugees, mostly the descendants of Palestinians ethnically cleansed by Zionist militias during the large catastrophe, oregon Nakba, of 1948.

The raid began with a choky siege, followed by an onslaught from aggregate directions that resulted successful the sidesplitting of an unarmed youth, Rebhi al-Shalabi, 19, past a 13-year-old child, Muhammad al-Amer.

The PA forces also killed Yazid Ja’ayseh, the commandant of the Jenin Brigades, who had evaded Israeli assassination attempts for his enactment relation successful unifying each Palestinian Resistance fighters nether the umbrella of a azygous group.

Expectedly, Israel is mostly pleased with the PA’s enactment against the Palestinian Resistance, though it expects more. “The Palestinian Authority has been acting resolutely against the Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters implicit the past respective weeks, service and Shin Bet sources said, but the Israeli officials expressed the anticipation that their effectiveness could beryllium enhanced,” Haaretz reported.

Indeed, Israel had attempted to subdue Jenin 80 times successful the past twelvemonth alone, sidesplitting much than 220 people, Al Jazeera reported, citing Palestinian Ministry of Health sources.

By attacking Jenin, the PA is helping the Israeli service successful much than 1 way: it is sidesplitting and detaining anti-Israeli concern Resistance fighters, consuming the vigor and resources of the Resistance, allowing Israel to spare thousands of soldiers truthful that they whitethorn transportation connected with the genocide successful Gaza, and more.

For many, particularly supporters of Palestine astir the world, the PA’s enactment is confusing, to accidental the least. Those amazed by the anti-Resistance policies of Mahmoud Abbas and his Authority, however, are driven by the erroneous presumption that the PA is simply a morganatic typical of the Palestinian people, and that it behaves successful ways accordant with the corporate aspirations of each Palestinians.

Nothing could beryllium further from the truth. For galore years, the PA has ceased playing immoderate relation that deviates from the interests of a tiny clique of pro-US and pro-Israeli affluent elite who person enriched themselves, portion millions of Palestinians proceed to endure an Israeli genocide successful Gaza, and a convulsive strategy of apartheid and subject concern successful the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The astir telling and caller illustration is that, a abbreviated region distant from Jenin, amerciable and convulsive Israeli Jewish settlers have burned the Bir Al-Walidin Mosque successful the municipality of Murda, adjacent Salfit – little than 70 kilometers from Jenin. Neither successful this case, nor successful immoderate of the hundreds of settlers’ pogroms carried retired against Palestinians successful the West Bank successful the past twelvemonth – oregon earlier – did the PA information transportation retired immoderate enactment to face the equipped Jewish militias, nor, of course, the concern army.

But however did the PA crook from a expected nationalist task – astatine slightest successful mentation – to different subdivision of the Israeli occupation?

It could beryllium argued that the PA was structured since its establishment in 1994 arsenic a assemblage whose beingness catered to payment the Israeli occupation. There is much evidence that substantiates this claim, including the arrests, torture and sidesplitting of dissenting Palestinians soon aft the instauration of the PA.

The CIA became straight progressive successful supporting the PA from the precise start, expanding its relation arsenic aboriginal arsenic 1996 pursuing a bid of Palestinian retaliatory attacks connected Israeli targets successful large cities. It was past that CIA manager George Tenet became an important player in shaping the policies of the PA information forces, preparing it for massive crackdowns on Palestinian Resistance groups.

This engagement was a nonstop information for US fiscal enactment nether the Bill Clinton Administration – the benignant of enactment that sowed the seeds of the Fatah-Hamas conflict, which reached its zenith in the summertime of 2007.

The engagement of the US – and different equipped forces of US lawsuit regimes successful the portion – became adjacent much evident nether the enactment of US Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, who helped train, hole and equip the Palestinian Authority Security Forces (NSF), producing respective battalions of young recruits (between 20 and 22 years old) to combat chap Palestinians successful the sanction of restoring instrumentality and order.

That expected restoration of the instrumentality began successful earnest arsenic aboriginal arsenic 2005 and continues until this day. Interestingly, this is the aforesaid connection that the PA is presently utilizing to warrant its warfare connected the Jenin exile camp.

A spokesperson for the PA information forces, Anwar Rajab recently told Al Jazeera that the nonsubjective of the raid connected Jenin is to “pursue criminals” and lawbreakers, and to “prevent the campy from becoming a battleground similar Gaza.”

Equating Resistance fighters with criminals and linking that expected criminality to the Gaza Resistance is the emblematic PA sermon connected resistance, a sermon that took the US and Israel years to trade and cleanable – making the PA arguably the top accomplishment of Israel and the US successful caller decades.

This behaviour and connection tin beryllium traced to a famous statement by General Dayton himself, who successful a 2009 code celebrated the US’s top instauration successful Palestine:

“And what we person created – and I accidental this successful humility – what we person created are caller men … upon the instrumentality of these caller men of Palestine, they person shown motivation, subject and professionalism, and they person made specified a difference.”

Indeed, the ‘new men of Palestine’ are making each the quality required by the US and Israel: they are warring the precise Palestinian Resistance that is defending Jenin against the Israeli onslaught, Nablus against the pogroms of equipped settlers and Gaza against genocide.

None of these ‘new men’ – whose numbers are counted successful the tens of thousands – person lifted a digit to assistance their brethren arsenic they proceed to starve to decease successful the Gaza Strip, tortured and raped en masse, burned live successful Jabaliya and Khan Yunis, and yet proceed to combat and dice successful their thousands – alone.

To accidental that the PA has betrayed Palestinians, however, is an inaccurate statement. The PA was ne'er acceptable up, financed and equipped by the US and Israel arsenic a unit of liberation, but arsenic an obstacle to Palestinian freedom. We are witnessing the last impervious of this claim. It is taking spot successful Jenin now; successful fact, passim the West Bank.

Of course, the PA volition not beryllium capable to crush the Palestinian Resistance, which the supposedly mighty Israeli service has failed to subdue implicit the people of years. But the question remains: however agelong volition the PA beryllium allowed to service the relation of the enforcers of the Israeli concern and the protector of settlers, portion inactive promoting itself arsenic the guardian of Palestinian rights, state and statehood?

– Dr. Ramzy Baroud is simply a journalist, writer and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the writer of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is ‘Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out’. His different books see ‘My Father was a Freedom Fighter’ and ‘The Last Earth’. Baroud is simply a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow astatine the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net