Law, Power, and Justice

Tuesday 4 July 2023

News Notes for the Day

The largest Israeli military operation in the West Bank in over 20 years.  Palestinian Authority has abandoned parts of the City, especially the part of the neighborhood called “the refugee camp.”  But, it is not tents, it is houses and buildings.  The Israelis want to take out the military capability that is there, according to the podcast “The Intelligence” by the Economist Magazine.

There are drones in Jenine, but also people leaving the neighborhood to go to their day jobs.  There was a previous military operation in Jenine.  Jenine is the most northers city in the West Bank.  There are no Israeli settlements close.  Israelis consider it a hub of militant activity.

In the last couple of years, a new group called the Jenine Brigades, not affiliated with the larger older organizations.  It’s young militants working together, workshops, sharing arms, carrying out attacks.  An attack within Israel last year. 

The Palestinian Authority is essentially no longer operating in this area.  The partial control of the Palestinian Authority was supposed to be a temporary situation on the way to the establishment of a two-state solution.  This seems now dead.

Palestinians are disillusioned with the Palestinian Authority (PA) which they see as corrupt and certainly not democratic.  Young Palestinians feel like the PA has not delivered.  And, they feel as if the PA are collaborators with the Israelis.

What this represents is an establishment of groups forming themselves independent of all the old, groups.  They operate on their own initiative.

Exceedingly right wing government of the Israelis is not in place.  There has been pressure on the military to step up these raids.  The settler population has put pressure on them.  The government wants to be seen as doing something.

Netanyahu is trying to present this operation as something greater than it is.  He wants to get credit for this massive operation to satisfy the far right.