Dr. Dalal Erekat: Jenin is a model for armed popular resistance, but today it faces the risk of deviating from the central goal

Dr. Hassan Khreisha: Any mistakes committed by the resistance fighters in Jenin can be resolved through dialogue, not through fighting that destroys the national fabric

Akram Atallah: Any ill-considered armed adventure in the West Bank could lead to heavy losses that exceed what happened in Gaza

Abdul Ghani Salama: Iran has been working for a long time to infiltrate the Jenin camp and find a foothold there for purely Iranian purposes

Dr. Abdul Majeed Suwailem: What is happening is a security solution by force, which is not the best method, and we must differentiate between resistance and security chaos in the West Bank.

Dr. Tamara Haddad: Joint mechanisms must be found between the authorities and the resistance fighters through a comprehensive national dialogue, away from resorting to armed confrontation.

Daoud Kuttab: The events in Jenin reflect the crisis of the absence of collective national liberation work.. and no one has the right to monopolize the decisions of war and peace

The city and camp of Jenin have been witnessing unfortunate events for about two weeks between gunmen from the Jenin Battalion and the security services, which launched a campaign to impose security and law under the slogan "Protecting the Homeland," which reflects complex dimensions between armed popular resistance and chaos that could deviate from the national path.

In separate interviews with “I”, writers, political analysts, university professors and former officials believe that the current events represent a major and difficult challenge, as the Israeli occupation exploits this chaos to justify its aggressive policies, such as settlement expansion and weakening the Palestinian Authority. They also stress that the absence of a unified national strategy threatens the Palestinians’ ability to strengthen their steadfastness and invest in resistance in a way that serves the national cause. They stressed that addressing the current scene requires a clear separation between legitimate national action and manifestations of security chaos. Most of them warned against repeating the Gaza scenario in the West Bank, given the high costs of ill-considered armed confrontations.

A state of confusion and disarray

Dr. Dalal Erekat, Professor of Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution at the Arab American University, describes what is happening in Jenin as a state of confusion and mingling between national resistance work and what may fall under the framework of internal opposition and security chaos, which sometimes hides behind the cover of resistance.

Erekat points out that this complex scene is a reflection of the worsening suffering of the Palestinian people under the Israeli occupation, and its policies based on settlement expansion, military violence, and targeting the social and economic structure of the Palestinians.

Erekat believes that the occupation is persisting in oppressing the Palestinians through these policies, especially with the general feeling of helplessness in the face of the ongoing crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip, in parallel with the changes that have occurred in the roles of Arab regional players.

According to Erekat, these tensions have brought back to the surface feelings of Palestinian popular anger, but the absence of a unified national strategy threatens the Palestinians’ ability to strengthen their steadfastness and employ the Jenin resistance in a way that serves the national cause.

Erekat added: “Historically, Jenin has been a model for armed popular resistance, but today it faces the risk of deviating from the central goal, as what is happening may deviate towards the Palestinian interior, instead of confronting the occupation in a unified and systematic manner.”

This situation, according to Erekat, provides Israel with a pretext to justify its criminal actions in the West Bank, under the pretext of “eliminating terrorism,” which serves Israeli ambitions to gain complete control over the land and weaken the Palestinian Authority in preparation for annexing the West Bank.

Erekat believes that the future path is now dependent on the Palestinians’ ability to invest in the resistance in Jenin within a comprehensive strategic vision that focuses on ending the occupation, with the necessity for the Palestinian leadership to move to obtain international guarantees to protect the Palestinians and ensure the implementation of international law.

Erekat explains that there are two main paths that the scene in the West Bank could take; the first path is represented by Israel’s attempt to exploit the state of chaos to eliminate the resistance through security repression and expanding settlements, while the second path depends on the continuation of the Palestinian resistance, but this option requires a clear strategy that combines popular and political resistance to avoid falling into a cycle of futile conflict.

In this context, Erekat believes that the experience of resistance in Gaza carries important lessons that must be learned. Gaza succeeded in highlighting the Palestinians’ ability to withstand and impose challenges on the occupation, but at the same time it revealed dangerous gaps.

The most prominent of these loopholes, according to Erekat, is the political and geographical isolation of Gaza, and its transformation into an economically and humanely besieged arena, which led to the loss of the Palestinians’ right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent state.

Erekat warns that the most dangerous scenario is the separation of Gaza politically, geographically and administratively from the West Bank, which threatens the idea of a unified Palestinian state.

Erekat stresses that the West Bank faces greater challenges, most notably settlement expansion, land division, and security coordination with the occupation, which requires a different approach than the Gaza experience.

It stresses that repeating the Gaza experience in the West Bank without learning lessons could lead to futile options that threaten the political and societal structure of the Palestinian people.

What the West Bank needs, according to Erekat, is to build an integrated national strategy that achieves comprehensive national unity and strengthens unified leadership away from division.

Erekat stresses the importance of national dialogue as an urgent national duty, with the necessity of unifying Palestinian weapons within a unified vision for a smart popular resistance that combines the tools of diplomacy, peaceful resistance, and international pressure on the occupation.

It stresses the need to raise the level of political awareness among Palestinian youth to ensure that they realise the importance of national unity and rally around a unified Palestinian decision, far from factional calculations and regional interventions.

Erekat points to Israeli intelligence leaks dated October 13, 2023, which revealed that one of the most dangerous goals of the October 7 operation was to hold Hamas responsible in the eyes of the Palestinians.

This goal clearly reflects, according to Erekat, Israel’s desire to divide the Palestinian ranks and weaken the legitimacy of the resistance, which diverts attention from the central issue: ending the military and settlement occupation.

Erekat explains that the occupation seeks to exploit the Palestinian division and promote chaos, which requires the Palestinians to unify their national discourse to return the issue to its basic roots: achieving justice and ending the occupation.

Erekat believes that the success of the Palestinian resistance requires a comprehensive national framework that redefines national goals away from factional interests.

Erekat stresses that this strategy must be based on a balance between popular resistance and diplomacy, along with serious work at the international level to isolate the Israeli occupation and expose its settlement and racist practices.

The escalation of resistance in the West Bank is a result of the war of extermination

Dr. Hassan Khreisha, former Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Council, describes what is happening in the city of Jenin as worrying and frightening for the Palestinian street, as he believes that the biggest beneficiary of the state of tension and chaos is the Israeli occupation, while the Palestinian people remain the only losers.

Khreisha confirms that the escalation of resistance today in the West Bank, specifically in the north, is the result of the war of extermination that Israel has been waging on the Gaza Strip since October 7, despite the presence of these armed resistance groups before that date.

Khreisha believes that “the earthquake caused by the Palestinian resistance on October 7 shook the foundations of the Israeli occupation state and brought the Palestinian cause back to the forefront of the international scene, but in return, armed resistance escalated in the West Bank, especially in Jenin, and gained wide popular support as a result of the increasing oppression.”

Khreisha points out that the Palestinian Authority has taken a clear position from the beginning not to engage in the ongoing war, based on several political considerations. However, the security campaigns carried out by the Authority, such as the “Protect the Homeland” campaign, raise deep questions about its priorities.

Khreisha stresses that whoever protects the homeland must protect it from the occupation and settlers, and not create tension that threatens to shed Palestinian blood.

Khreisha refuses to describe the armed groups in Jenin as anything other than “resistance fighters,” stressing that these are young fighters, and everyone should embrace them instead of confronting them.

Khreisha believes that any internal Palestinian problems must be resolved through national dialogue, reform committees, and civil society intervention, instead of security resolution, which exacerbates the crisis and threatens to explode the situation.

Khreisha warns that the continuation of internal fighting is causing great harm to the social fabric and weakening the national cause, especially in light of the ongoing war of extermination in Gaza and the increasing Israeli ambitions in the West Bank, reminding that all Palestinians are targeted, whether they are from the security services or the resistance.

He stresses that Palestinian society is capable of intervening through popular marches that exert pressure on all parties to end the current crisis. The status quo in the West Bank, if it continues, will frustrate everyone, whether the Authority or the resistance, and will give the occupation the opportunity to implement its plans to annex the West Bank and displace its residents, which is a greater danger than any current confrontation.

Khreisha cites the historical experiences of the late President Yasser Arafat, who was keen on dialogue with all Palestinian factions, including the resistance, in order to preserve the unity of the people and stop the bloodshed.

Khreisha believes that comprehensive dialogue is the best way to contain armed groups in Jenin and elsewhere, away from the language of force and fighting.

Khreisha stresses that resistance is not limited to the military form, but can take many forms, but those who choose armed struggle as an option to resist the occupation should not be criminalized, especially since peaceful resistance has not achieved any tangible progress on the level of the Palestinian cause.

Khreisha points out that the resistance experience in Gaza has brought the Palestinian cause back to the international spotlight, despite the heavy price paid by the Palestinians there in terms of destruction and massacres.

Khreisha points out that fears of the Gaza phenomenon spreading to the West Bank are unjustified, because armed resistance existed in the West Bank years before October 7.

Khreisha believes that any mistakes made by the resistance fighters in Jenin can be resolved through national dialogue, not through internal fighting that destroys the national fabric.

Political and security factors led to the development of events in Jenin

Writer and political analyst Akram Atallah believes that the developments in the recent events in Jenin are the result of the overlap of a group of political and security reasons and factors, which resulted in a significant escalation of the military situation.

Atallah points out that Jenin has always been a hotbed of armed groups operating within the context of the Palestinian resistance, but the recent war on the Gaza Strip has fueled anger among these groups, in parallel with Hamas’s efforts to expand the scope of the conflict by creating a new battlefield in the West Bank, in the belief that this might contribute to relieving military pressure on Gaza or stopping the ongoing war.

Atallah points out that the militants in Jenin were affected by the experience of the fall of Syria, and some voices began to indicate the possibility of implementing a scenario to overthrow the authority in the West Bank, considering that the authority constitutes an obstacle to practicing armed resistance, from their point of view.

This escalation, according to Atallah, represents one of the means that these groups believe may pave the way for them to confront the occupation directly, away from the restrictions of the Authority.

Atallah believes that the accumulation of these reasons combined has led to an escalating state of security tension, which has reached the point of actually harming the Palestinian Authority, and that the continuation of this situation threatens not only the Authority, but also the entire West Bank, in light of the declared Israeli policies, especially those promoted by the right-wing government, especially Bezalel Smotrich.

He points out that the current Israeli government seeks to annex the West Bank and displace its residents, in implementation of a political plan based on ancient religious and historical ideas, as Smotrich's program is inspired by the novels of "Joshua bin Nun", which is based on the idea of forced displacement under the slogan "Whoever refuses to live under Israeli sovereignty must leave."

Atallah stresses the necessity of reading the Gaza Strip experience with an accurate political reading, as what happened there caused huge losses on all levels, stressing that the option of an uncalculated armed confrontation in the Gaza Strip did not achieve any liberation goals, but rather led to great destruction and called for the occupation to further control and expand the territories of the Strip.

Atallah warns against repeating the Gaza experience in the West Bank, especially since the West Bank is considered the most targeted area within Israeli plans to confiscate it completely.

Atallah stresses that what is required in the West Bank is to follow wise and cautious policies that prevent the Palestinians from repeating previous mistakes, with the necessity of carefully evaluating the political and military reality to avoid further losses, especially in light of the Israeli plans that have not hidden their intentions towards the West Bank.

Social discourse...but with weapons!

Writer and political analyst Abdul Ghani Salama points out that what is happening in Jenin is now viewed from a social perspective, as fighters from the “Jenin Battalion” have said in several statements that the security campaign is targeting the camp, and some of them have expressed this feeling in other words, which means that some of the camp’s residents feel the need to unite the camp in the face of the negative view that others have of them, so all the factions within the camp have united as if they are defending it, more than they feel that they are waging resistance against the occupation, and organizational affiliation has been neutralized in favor of affiliation to the camp.

Salama says: “If only the matter was an embodiment of national unity as it appears at first glance, rather it was a social discourse, but with weapons, as these militants feel the importance of their presence and their strength because they carry weapons. There is a social distortion for which everyone bears responsibility, especially since it is deeply rooted in many circles in Palestinian society as a whole.”

Salama believes that politically, some regional powers (and clearly Iran) have been working for a long time to penetrate the Jenin camp and find a foothold there, for purely Iranian purposes, just as they used other parties in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Gaza. After all those fronts weakened, and Iran felt that it was losing its influence in the region and was exiting the equation with successive losses, it wanted to ignite the last spot where it had influence, and it found its way in the Jenin camp.

Salama points out that it must be noted that the entire region is experiencing a very dangerous turning point, and Israel occupies the position of the sole and dominant power, with an American and international mandate to do whatever it wants against those it considers a threat to it. It has destroyed Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip, and is waiting for any opportunity to implement its expansionist settlement plan in the West Bank through the annexation and displacement project.

Salama explains that this requires paving the way by weakening or striking the authority, spreading chaos and insecurity, and creating the appropriate environment to start its destructive project that targets the West Bank, the Palestinian presence, and the Palestinian cause. Therefore, it is a very dangerous stage.

Salama says: “It is wise to be aware of what is happening around us, and that we will not find any external support or backing, and the whole world will not be able to do anything to help us, and the first to abandon us will be Iran. This wisdom requires rationalizing and rationalizing the methods of resistance, and that they be within a national consensus based on strategic planning and a shared vision in which everyone participates: the factions, the masses, the authority, and civil society, and using new methods that are different from the approach of the past.”

Salama confirms, saying: “We are all with the resistance and we want freedom, but this is not the right path nor the right choice. This is a path to chaos and the destruction of the country without achieving any goal other than self-destruction.”

Force-based security processing as a primary solution

Writer and political analyst Dr. Abdul Majeed Suwailem believes that the Authority’s handling of what is happening in Jenin and the rest of the West Bank reflects a security approach that relies on force as a basic solution, an approach he describes as far from the ideal way to address the worsening problems.

Suwailem stresses that this security approach has been tried repeatedly, but has not achieved the desired success, as it opens the door to repeated cases of chaos and renewed security crises, which puts everyone in a vicious cycle of fighting and tension.

He points out that the main challenge lies in separating the manifestations of legitimate national resistance from the manifestations of the security chaos that society suffers from.

Suwailem explains that resistance may be organized, comprehensible and sustainable, while security chaos represents a violation of the law and a transgression that causes great disruption in people’s lives.

He stresses the need to make a practical, realistic and field distinction between the two cases, emphasizing the importance of finding an approach based on a deep understanding of the situation and the needs of society.

According to Suwailem, security solutions cannot withstand the current challenges, given the existence of loopholes that allow chaos to continue and crises to recur.

Suwailem believes that success in finding solutions requires a real national dialogue with the participation of all forces and active groups in society.

It is suggested that this dialogue be based on collective action for the benefit of the nation and civil peace, which requires national resistance fighters to be careful to avoid being associated with manifestations of chaos or breaking the law, whether intentionally or deliberately.

Regarding the comparison between the situation between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Suwailem believes that the West Bank cannot be transformed into a model similar to Gaza, due to the fundamental difference in conditions and capabilities. The West Bank is subject to direct occupation, and lacks the quantities of weapons and military infrastructure that the Strip possesses.

Suwailem stresses that the means of struggle in the West Bank must be different and flexible, as it is possible to resort to some forms of armed struggle in a limited manner, but this approach should not be the main feature because the environment of the West Bank in resistance work is different from Gaza.

Multiple meanings and different points of view

Writer and political researcher Dr. Tamara Haddad believes that the recent developments in the city of Jenin, and the accompanying movements between militants and security forces, carry multiple implications and differing viewpoints, especially in the view of the Palestinian Authority, which deals with this situation with caution, explaining that the Authority seeks to limit the use of armed resistance as a pretext for Israel to destroy the West Bank and target the Palestinian national project.

Haddad points out that the Palestinian Authority is trying as much as possible to strengthen security control and impose order in areas that witness a heavy presence of fighters, specifically in Jenin and other camps, and the Authority seeks to send dual messages, one to the Palestinian interior and the other to the outside.

Haddad points out that the authority is trying to send messages to the interior, to the effect that the current movements of the fighters may negatively affect the Palestinian cause, rather than serve it.

According to Haddad, these moves are being exploited by the extreme Israeli right, which seeks to liquidate the Palestinian cause once and for all. According to this scenario, the escalation of confrontations and chaos in the West Bank gives Israel a justification to implement its plans, whether by imposing military control or pushing the United States and the international community to accept a new reality in the West Bank, based on military, administrative and security rule, far from any future Palestinian political horizon.

Haddad believes that the occupation is exploiting the chaos to weaken and gradually dismantle the Palestinian Authority, and transform it into a large municipal administration that does not possess any future political or sovereign rights, which will abort the idea of a Palestinian state.

Haddad confirms that this path is practically translated through continuous Israeli attempts to obstruct any political solution or revival of the two-state path.

Regarding the external message, Haddad explains that the Palestinian Authority seeks to reassure the United States and the international community that it is capable of imposing security and stability in the West Bank, and that a political process must be launched that guarantees Palestinian rights. The Authority highlights its efforts to contain internal chaos and undermine any armed movements that Israel could exploit as a pretext to intensify its military operations and incursions, especially in light of the sensitive international climate.

In this context, Haddad points out that the United States, which is adopting the path of normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, is trying to avoid any field escalation in the West Bank that could affect these efforts, while Saudi Arabia still stipulates that the Palestinians be given their right to establish their state as a minimum in order to proceed with this path.

Therefore, according to Haddad, any security breakdown in the West Bank could hinder this path towards establishing the state.

On the other hand, Haddad believes that Iran considers the West Bank a "side garden" close to Israel, through which it seeks to create security chaos, which is rejected by the Authority, which is trying to prevent the use of these groups as tools serving foreign agendas that have nothing to do with the Palestinian national interest.

Haddad points out that the source of weapons in the West Bank has become a matter of doubt and strict monitoring, as questions are raised about how these weapons arrived despite the Israeli security measures, noting that the Authority believes that some of the weapons may come from gangs inside Israel itself.

Haddad warns against repeating the Gaza scenario in the West Bank, as the armed resistance in Gaza has not achieved tangible success due to the lack of a clear strategy and a joint national program among all Palestinian factions.

Haddad calls for finding common mechanisms between the authority and the resistance fighters through a comprehensive national dialogue based on understanding and awareness, far from armed confrontation between the two parties, stressing that the ideal solution lies in strengthening the steadfastness of the Palestinians on their land, and working to invest national energies in programs that support steadfastness and peaceful popular resistance.

A direct result of the absence of fair and transparent elections.

Writer and political analyst Daoud Kuttab believes that the current events in Jenin reflect a deeper crisis related to the absence of collective national liberation work, explaining that in light of the internal divisions, a political trend emerges that believes it holds the key to the solution and the roadmap for national liberation, which has led to each party making its own decisions away from national consensus.

Writers confirm that this reality is a direct result of the absence of fair and transparent elections at the national level, which would express the will of the Palestinian people in a democratic and clear manner.

Writers point out that no one, whether a faction or a group, has the right to monopolize the decisions of war and peace, as they belong to the entire Palestinian people.

This isolation, according to writers, embodies the repercussions of the internal Palestinian division and the absence of national unity, which weakens the Palestinian cause in the face of major challenges.

In the context of his evaluation of the resistance experience in Gaza, Kuttab points out that the resistance there achieved important gains and highlighted the Palestinian cause on the world stage, but it also had its drawbacks, explaining that this experience was not the result of a joint and agreed-upon national decision, but rather was taken unilaterally, which made the Palestinian people bear heavy costs in terms of their blood and future.

Writers believe that the solution to get out of this situation begins with restoring national unity, renewing legitimacy through comprehensive national elections, and redirecting the compass towards collective action based on a clear liberation vision.