Today, Tuesday, the Washington Post published an article entitled "Palestinian youth arming themselves for a new era of violent resistance," saying, "Israeli officials fear that AK-47s, pistols, and Kalashnikovs will be directed against them." And M16 rifles coming from the black market and towards the Jenin refugee camp Israelis during the Jewish holidays that begin next week, as they prepare for a new era of violent Palestinian resistance.
The newspaper claims, "The expectations of the death of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas - an 86-year-old who is very unpopular and who is believed to be in poor health - has led to an even bloodier social order in this occupied city." The report quotes Muhammad al-Sabbagh, head of the People´s Services Committee. In the Jenin refugee camp, he said that "there will be chaos in the wake of Abbas´s departure, and that this is the beginning."
The Israeli occupation authorities include thousands of young people in Jenin on the “terrorism watch” list, which makes them inligible to obtain work permits in Israel that allow them to earn a living, while they watch the Israeli raids kill dozens of non-combatants in the past months, which makes 2022 already the most year for Palestinians in the West Bank since 2015, “poverty and anger have made the camp a hotbed of extremism, and Abbas´ strategy to pressure the United Nations to condemn the Israeli occupation – rather than take up arms against it” has long been rejected, as (the newspaper) claims, “few Palestinian citizens They said that they would be interested in President Mahmoud Abbas´ speech before the United Nations General Assembly in New York next Friday."
Al-Sabbagh witness firsthand the development of the local youth movement. During the first intifada between 1987 1993, he fatally stabbed an soldier and then spent 23 years in an Israeli prison, and after his release, he watched younger neighbors split into smaller groups and more lay down their arms. The traditional favorite - the knife - is in favor of the gun."
The newspaper quotes Sabbagh as saying, "The new generation is trying to ensure that the unpopular government of the National Authority is replaced by local militias, whose legitimacy will be measured by guns rather than ballot papers."
The article also attributed to Nasser Al-Saadi (27 years old), an unemployed resident of Jenin camp, as saying, "We may soon reach a situation where not a single young man stays at home, as they will all go out to clash with soldiers in the streets.”
The newspaper claims that 56% of Palestinians support armed attacks on Israelis, and the armed resistance of Jenin is expected to spread to all parts of the West Bank, according to a poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research last June.
The newspaper, "With Abbas remaining in office and the influence of his government waning, Jenin has emerged as a major focus of conflict in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Last March, Israel launched a military operation in the West Bank after the bloodiest series of Palestinian terrorist attacks in years, a number which were in Jenin. Young there engage in gun battles with Israeli soldiers and shoot civilians near the border areas."
Islamic Jihad members use M16 rifles or Kalashnikovs, which they received in exchange for joining the group that fought a three-day battle with Israel in Gaza last month, the Washington Post says.
But Israeli security analysts, the newspaper says, “also reported a rise in the number of young people without armed affiliations who use the Carlo submachine gun, a cheap imitation of the Carl Gustav rifle manufactured by Sweden in the 1940s, while Israel struggles to control the proliferation of weapons; This year, the Israeli military seized more than 300 weapons - including pistols, Kalashnikovs and M16 rifles - along the Jordanian and Egyptian borders, nearly double the rate in 2021, and also confiscated 160 rifles inside the West Bank, including AKs. 47 and Tavors - Israeli conventional military weapons - mostly stolen from soldiers.A large number of weapons are also flowing from Hezbollah, the Iran-backed group in Lebanon, According to a senior Israeli military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive security situation. that "The Palestinian Authority has the means to deal with these weapons, but it does not have the will, "which leaves Israel to bear the responsibility," according to the article.
The Washington Post: Palestinian youth are arming themselves for a new era of violent resistance
