'Israel' cannot stop the west bank’s armed resistance from growing

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The Zionist regime’s security establishment is in a state of shock after waves of resistance attacks leave the intelligence, military and police begging for answers. Unlike was the case in the past however, the Israeli regime is incapable of dismantling the resistance by targeting the armed groups, because it is a decentralized popular armed uprising.

On Saturday night, at around 9 PM, reports began to emerge of a Palestinian resistance attack in the eastern part of occupied Al-Quds. Taking Israeli soldiers, private security contractors, and border police by storm, a Palestinian man exited a car at a checkpoint in the eastern part of occupied Al-Quds and opened fire, killing an Israeli soldier and injuring two others. The location of the attack came as a shock to the Israeli forces, it was at the Shuafat refugee camp checkpoint.

Although Palestinian armed attacks have been frequent during the past months, throughout the West Bank, for this attack to have happened within the illegally annexed Shuafat camp evidently came as a surprise. Initially, reports in the Hebrew-speaking media had spread claims about three operatives, one of which was said to have possessed an M16 rifle. Later, a video of the incident was released, revealing that there was one attacker who was armed with a handgun, he fired 8 bullets before his gun jammed and was easily able to flee as the soldiers present ran in fear. 

The Shuafat attack, in specific, has taken a toll on the Israeli military establishment, showing the forces manning the checkpoint to have been disorganized and petrified in the face of danger. Scores of armed and trained Israeli military professionals were overcome by a single Palestinian man with a handgun and no other equipment, to make things worse, the attacker was able to retreat with ease and despite Israeli forces besieging the Shuafat refugee camp for days, they were unable to find the man responsible.

Days later, on Tuesday, the Areen Al-Aswad group, otherwise known as the Lion’s Den, based in the old city of Nablus, announced that they had carried out a resistance attack in the Deir Sharaf area. The newly formed armed group carried out a shooting attack against Israeli soldiers, who were escorting armed settlers, killing one of the soldiers. The operation was carried out from the window of a speeding car.

The resistance first underwent its real revival last year, in September, when the armed resistance fighters known as the Jenin Brigades announced their official formation in the Jenin refugee camp. The Jenin Brigades, which consist of young fighters between 18-25 years old primarily, mostly owing their allegiance to the Al-Quds brigades of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement, yet join forces with all other armed factions. In early 2022, we began seeing the emergence of a similar model for the armed resistance from inside the old city of Nablus, aligning itself to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed movement that was disbanded and was formerly connected to the Fatah party. Although the Al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas are active inside the West Bank and over the past year have carried out a number of attacks against Israeli occupation targets, they do not seem to have yet made a breakthrough. 

One thing to note about the newly formed resistance groups, based in Nablus and Jenin, is that they do not seem to present as falling under a coherent command and control structure. Although it does seem that for the Lion’s Den of Nablus, their security arrangements are under stricter control than in Jenin camp, there is little indication that there is any real leadership inside the group. Earlier this year, 19-year-old Ibrahim Nabulsi was killed during an armed standoff with an entire Israeli special forces unit, after which he was labeled as a commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, however, it is unlikely that he fulfilled any of the roles traditionally assigned to someone holding such a rank. Nabulsi and recently Musab Shtayyeh, have become two of the most symbolic figures in Nablus so far this year, with Ibrahim Nabulsi being the inspirational martyr and Shtayyeh remaining steadfast, but in poor health, after he was arrested by the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s security forces, after having evaded several Israeli arrest attempts.

The only other period of history that today's escalation can be somewhat compared to, in terms of understanding the current predicament, is the resurgence of armed resistance attacks back in 2015, a phenomenon that spanned around 11 months. Until this day, "Tel Aviv" has not properly figured out how such resistance occurred and how they could have properly dealt with it. The difference today however, is that the random acts of constant armed resistance are not just from individuals, but groups are forming to make the armed struggle more effective and inspire others to do the same.

"Israel’s" strategy of killing and arresting resistance fighters is futile because there is nobody that is in complete control of the armed movements and whoever is martyred or arrested will be replaced. The recent attack at the Shuafat refugee camp checkpoint is a great representation of how unpredictable the armed resistance is and that by confronting it with more violence, more people are only encouraged to take matters into their own hands. Back in 2002, "Israel" had success with its ‘Operation Defensive Shield’, murdering hundreds of Palestinians and effectively defeating the armed groups inside the Jenin refugee camp and elsewhere. At the time, the PA was on the side of the Palestinian resistance and so a deal could be struck to end the confrontations, disarm the resistance and continue with pointless so-called “peace talks”. Today, the PA are viewed as collaborators and are actively arresting, shooting at, torturing, badmouthing, spreading propaganda about and even killing those who choose to pursue an alternative revolutionary path against the occupation.

Today’s Intifada, the Third Intifada, is in its early stages and the only reason that we aren’t calling it an Intifada yet, is because the Palestinian Authority is against it and in denial that a popular armed movement has just kicked off, one that it has no power over. The democratic will of the Palestinian people is now being heard, in the form of gunfire. Thirty years of PA failure and compliance is too long of a time, a longer period of time than most of today's resistance fighters have been alive. This Intifada is coming from the people, just as the first Intifada did in 1987, however, there will be nobody to step in to negotiate an end to the uprising anytime soon.