In a report by Workers World, Sara Flounder shares her story during the Second Intifada in Jenin camp in April 2022, stressing that things have drastically changed since then in the resistance deterrence equation.

Flounder represented the International Action Center and recalls to Workers World the bombardment that took place by Israeli forces in the "Battle of Jenin" of 2002 and draws similarities with the recent attacks on Jenin.

The Israeli occupation aggression on the refugee camp earlier this month, dubbed "Operation Home and Garden" by the occupation, has caused massive destruction to the already impoverished area.

The Israeli attack on the besieged camp destroyed tens of family homes, drinking water infrastructures, and sewer systems. Thousands of Palestinian families were either forcefully evacuated by the IOF during the aggression, or were displaced after their houses and streets were bombed by the occupation forces.

A leader of the Al-Quds Brigades in the occupied West Bank confirmed to Al Mayadeen that the group's fighters have ushered a new chapter in their fight against the occupation, laying the foundations for its eventual defeat.

Flounder explains that although Israeli forces brutally assaulted Palestinians, just like in 2002, the White House reiterated the right of "Israel to defend itself," asserting that the US support only emboldens the IOF's attacks against Palestinians.

According to Flounder, the present attack on the Jenin refugee camp resembles the "Battle of Jenin" in 2002. After that, Israeli assault helicopters, commando troops, and soldiers were sent into the Jenin refugee camp, killing at least 52 Palestinians.

The Palestinian Health Ministry reported 12 Palestinians were killed in Jenin in July and more than 140 were wounded in the violence.

In 2023, troops and settlers murdered at least 120 Palestinians in near-daily Israeli operations in the West Bank.

Flounder details her account of the Second Intifada and the devastation she saw. She recalls that at the time, the US media and support greatly helped "sugarcoat Israeli war crimes."

Human rights hypocrisy

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Flounder believes that the US had well-funded organizations that could speak hypocritically in the name of human rights. During any global crisis, these organizations will step forward to give reports of political aid in support of the United States' imperialist goals.

International and UN agencies unanimously demanded a war crimes inquiry into the Zionist slaughter in Jenin in 2002, causing worldwide outrage. Human Rights Watch (HRW), a controversial NGO sponsored by the US Congress through the National Endowment for Democracy, was utilized by the US government to divert and derail the need for an international probe.

The author recalls how the Israeli military at the time lifted the blockade to allow HRW investigators to enter the camp, as she was one of the supporters of Palestine who managed to make her way into the camp while posing as a member of the HRW delegation.

HRW acknowledged that there were at least 52 deaths and maybe many more bodies under the debris, as well as thousands of injured persons, refugees, and hospitals that were overcrowded. According to HRW, several people were killed willingly or unlawfully, while others were employed as "human shields."

Their report detailed the known deaths.

Flounder added that HRW still utilized a deceptive headline that was repeated in all of US corporate media, elaborating that although it was an indiscriminate slaughter of Palestinian people it did not constitute proof of a "massacre" or a "war crime." HRW was well aware that only that headline was required. Additionally, the UN withdrew its request to investigate war crimes in Jenin.

Read more: Jenin battle great victory, sets new stage of struggle: PIJ chief

Flounder expresses that "Israel" and the US employ brutal tactics in residential areas that neither side bothers to deny or cover up their atrocities. Instead, the Biden administration just provides the green light and emboldens Israel's extremist right-wing government while condemning Palestinian "terrorism" and "extremism."

Once again, US-funded organizations such as HRW have been willing to support US wars - including weapons shipments to Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Yugoslavia, and Ukraine - while supporting the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinians, claiming that these are in "defense of human rights." 

Flounder believes that due to the continued blind eye that is turned to Palestine, its people have no choice but to take up armed resistance, explaining that they are earning global support.

She adds that Jenin, like Gaza, is a symbol of Palestinian resistance. Its refugee communities have a strong collective memory of the 1948 Nakba, or tragedy, in which 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly removed and dispossessed. For decades, these refugee settlements have been a source of opposition to Zionism.

"Israel" is now facing a tactical loss and Israeli aggression has not been able to shatter this valiant Palestinian resistance, Flounder stresses and adds that it has reached a new level of unity and tactics across the occupied West Bank, within the 1948 lines, and in Gaza.

This is a reality that Zionist bombing and new waves of war propaganda can’t change. Palestinian activist and author of “Mornings in Jenin,” Susan Abulhawa, who lives in the US, told Workers World that “I’d say Israel was the devil. But that implies it’s here to stay. That racist settler colonial project is nearing its end.”