Sean Durns
Washington Examiner, July 5, 2023
“Abbas’s iron fist masks a brittle hand. The authority’s control of key towns has been slipping. Iranian-backed rivals of Fatah, like Hamas and PIJ, have seen growing support in the West Bank.”
America’s close ally, Israel, has launched the largest military excursion in the West Bank in nearly two decades. And a decades-long, bipartisan United States policy failure is partially to blame.
On July 3, 2023, the Israeli Defense Forces entered Jenin, a city in the Palestinian Authority-ruled West Bank. Thousands of troops have taken part in the campaign, which also included targeted airstrikes. An Israeli government official said that “the goal of this extensive operation is to end Jenin’s role as a ‘city of refuge’ for terror, and it will last as long as it needs to.”
Jenin has become a rising haven for U.S.-designated terrorist organizations like Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and other groups that call for Israel’s destruction. For years, they’ve used the town as a base to plot and carry out attacks. More recently, Jenin has served as a de facto weapons factory. Palestinian terrorists have used the city to develop labs for rockets and improvised explosive devices. Israel has been clear that it won’t allow the development of such weaponry in its backyard.
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