On Sunday, Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council regarding Israel’s colonial violence in the Occupied West Bank, notably the targeting of Jenin and Tulkarem Refugee Camps. Like countless other times, Abbas requested international protection for Palestinians and pressure on Israel to stop its forced displacement of Palestinians.
Wafa news agency reported Abbas linking the ethnic cleansing of the Occupied West Bank with the genocide in Gaza, and stated that the “Palestinian people will meet with steadfastness on their land in defence and preservation of their history and sanctities”. Palestinians would, and they consistently stand against Israel in their legitimate anti-colonial struggle. But let us not forget, even though the PA’s news agency prefers to obliterate, the PA’s role in weakening Jenin by targeting the Palestinian Resistance in Operation Protecting the Homeland.
Abbas targeted the only bulwark that protected Palestinian civilians from the Israeli military. This, despite repeated incitement by several Israeli ministers to bring about the same level of destruction in the Occupied West Bank as Gaza. To put it simply, Abbas gave the green light to ethnic cleansing, forced displacement and genocide when he embarked upon destroying the Palestinian Resistance on the auspices of restoring security and order.
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In January this year, Israeli Defence Minister, Israel Katz, stated that Israeli troops will remain in Jenin. Using the usual terror narrative, Katz declared, “The Jenin Refugee Camp will not be what it was.”
At least 3,240 families fled from Jenin Refugee Camp yesterday. In a brief report, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) noted that a series of detonations rendered the camp inhabitable. “The basics of life are gone,” UNRWA’s statement partly read.
Of course Israel bears direct responsibility for the ethnic cleansing. But what is the PA actively doing to oppose further depletion of Palestine? Nothing. On the contrary, the PA’s eagerness to emulate Israel’s tactics of targeting the Palestinian Resistance led to an operation of its own, knowing that without the Resistance, Palestinians were left with no protection whatsoever. And so, when Abbas calls upon the UN Security Council to intervene, it is not doing so from a principled position. It calls upon the Security Council as an exonerated accomplice that knows its pleas only serve propaganda purposes, and enrich the opportunity for the international community to extend time for Israel’s ethnic cleansing plans.
What the PA is doing to the Palestinians is vile. The only protection Palestinians can rely on comes from the Palestinian Resistance. Not the international community, and definitely not the PA. Since the genocide in Gaza, Israeli ministers have been adamant about extending the same tactics to the Occupied West Bank. Instead of finding ways to protect Palestinians, the PA rendered them more vulnerable to displacement. An illegitimate representation, backed by international funding, harming the interests of the indigenous people themselves. The PA has much to answer for, particularly for calling out the Palestinian people’s steadfastness while crushing it by all means possible.
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