Robert Inlakesh reports on an American initiative to create a specialized PA security force to carry out the type of operation now underway in Jenin focused on suppressing Palestinian opposition to Washington’s agenda.
Palestine Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the U.N. in September. (UN Photo)
By Robert Inlakesh
MintPress News
The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) has initiated an armed crackdown against its own people in the occupied West Bank, a campaign reportedly backed and orchestrated by the United States.
While corporate media narratives attempt to distance Washington from the operation, its roots trace back years.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas directed the Palestinian Authority Security Forces (PASF) on Saturday to execute a large-scale operation targeting resistance groups in the embattled Jenin refugee camp. PA spokesperson Brigadier General Anwar Rajab justified the crackdown by accusing these groups of sowing “sedition and chaos,” portraying them as foreign-backed Islamist criminals.
The operation swiftly escalated, resulting in the killing of two Palestinians, including an unarmed teenager and a fighter aligned with Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), who was a leader within the Jenin Brigades group.
Accusations against the Palestinian Authority forces quickly mounted. U.N. officials condemned their actions, reporting that security forces had opened fire on unarmed minors.
PA forces were also documented using a hospital as a military base during the crackdown. From within the medical facility, they reportedly opened fire and detained eight individuals.
The Palestinian Authority has sought military support from the United States, specifically requesting armored vehicles and ammunition to bolster its forces. In response, Washington has reportedly urged Israel to approve the transfer of such equipment.
It’s a war zone.
The PA security forces (including the new S.A.T unit) have been waging a large scale military operation against Jenin refugee camp.
While PA spokesperson Anwar Rajab told reporters that this was an operation against lawlessness and chaos, it was clear that PA… pic.twitter.com/Vr4p0DGS52
— Mariam Barghouti ???? ???????? (@MariamBarghouti) December 14, 2024
Ahead of the operation, U.S. Security Coordinator Michael Fenzel is said to have held meetings with the PA security forces’ leadership. These discussions reportedly centered on the planned crackdown.
Trained by U.S. and Canadian armed forces, the Palestinian Authority Security Forces (PASF) 2,000-strong 101st Unit has now been assigned the task of dismantling resistance groups based in Jenin. These groups span a broad political spectrum, from secular factions to religious ones.
In the wake of the siege on the Jenin refugee camp, which has resulted now in at least three dead Palestinians since since early December, according to Reuters, several injured and widespread raids on civilian homes, residents of Jenin have begun staging demonstrations against the unpopular Palestinian Authority.
Anger among the population has reached a boiling point, with many likening the PA’s actions to those of the Israeli military.
“The PA does not have bulldozers like the [Israeli] army does. That is the only difference. The raid is the same, the blockade is the same,” one Jenin resident told Reuters.
Mainstream media outlets, including the Associated Press, have characterized the crackdown as “an unusual step for the Palestinian Authority.” Other outlets sought to portray the resistance groups as Iranian-linked, attempting to paint them as foreign infiltrators instead of grassroots resistance movements in the court of public opinion.
Speaking to Axios, a Palestinian Authority official described the Jenin operation as an effort to prevent “a Muslim-Brotherhood-style or an Iranian-funded takeover.” The official further revealed that the PA had sought approval and guidance from the United States for the operation, submitting requests for “ammunition, helmets, bulletproof vests, radios, night vision equipment, explosive disposal suits, and armored cars.”
The Axios report also cited unnamed sources claiming that the Biden administration had urged Israel to release PA tax revenues to help cover employee salaries during the crackdown.
The United States had advocated such a crackdown long before its recent implementation. In January 2023, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged the Palestinian Authority to accept the so-called Fenzel Plan.
This American initiative proposed the creation of the specialized Palestinian Authority Security Forces (PASF) unit, trained by U.S. personnel in Jordan, to carry out precisely the type of operation now underway in Jenin.
The PA is there to safely return the settlers that stormed Joseph’s Tomb but are shooting at Palestinians in Jenin as we speak.
Amazing. https://t.co/3YKqxa1DWp pic.twitter.com/5XUvk0WAYx
— cheri ? (@cheriblossom__) December 18, 2024
To advance this strategy, the United States facilitated a high-level security meeting in February 2023 in the Jordanian city of Aqaba. The gathering brought together Jordanian, Israeli, American, Palestinian Authority, and Egyptian officials to coordinate their approach.
A follow-up meeting was held the next month in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh, where the same group of officials convened and issued a communique reaffirming their plans.
With Iran’s regional influence weakened by recent developments in Lebanon and Syria, and as the Israeli government advances plans to annex significant portions of the West Bank, the U.S.-backed strategy appears focused on suppressing Palestinian opposition to Washington’s agenda. Central to this effort is the use of the Palestinian Authority Security Forces (PASF) as a proxy.
The Palestinian Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), a coalition of resistance groups, issued a statement condemning the Palestinian Authority’s crackdown as
“a serious violation of all national norms and traditions … in line with the Zionist agenda that aims to eliminate the resistance in the West Bank.”
Initially concentrated in Jenin, the operation is now set to expand to other areas, including Nablus and Tulkarem. Its ultimate aim appears to be the total dismantling of armed resistance groups, paving the way for Israel to assert control over the northern West Bank without opposition.
Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show “Palestine Files.” Director of “Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe.” Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47
This article is from MPN.news, an award winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for their newsletter.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
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Reject “Plausible Deniability”!
The rulers of the free world insist on obscuring everything. Nothing bad is ever done by Joe Biden, or any American President. Its always done by other people, whom we pay usually $billions for the service. And then, if that level of deniability doesn’t hold, they’ll shift to some sort of rogue action by some rogue group that was out of control after they received their weapons and training and funding from the free world. But nobody is ever responsible, and if the world absolutely insists on arrests, then it will only be a couple of privates far down the line.
Reject all of this! Its obvious who’s in control. The people in DC are obvious control freaks that insist on giving orders to everyone in the world. Yet, at the same time, they claim they are powerless and that they don’t do anything themselves.
The easy formula to reject this is to refer to everything that happens as “The Free World”. The Free World is cracking down on the Jenin camp and killing people. Its the Free World that is doing this. So, it all traces back to the nation that proudly proclaims itself to be “The Leader of the Free World”.
If you doubt that, just look at the bombs and the shrapnel. It will all be stenciled “Made in the USA”.
Make no mistake, the paranoid sadistic creepy illegal land grabbing Israelis have the entire West Bank in the crosshairs.
Virtually Trump’s entire impending regime is bought and paid for by the pro-Israel lunatics. For the return on their investment they’ve two primary goals: 1.) an all out assault on the West Bank, 2.) a serious Washington attack on Iran.
Who’s going to stop them? They’re getting away with a genocide and seemingly the only person with the certitude and courage to do anything about it is the fantastic Yahya Saree. A genuine hero Saree is, he means business!