RUTHFULLY YOURS

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has condemned Israel for initiating a large-scale military operation in the northern West Bank, near Jordan, but it has purposely chosen to overlook the reason behind the Israeli security’s operation. Israel’s counterterrorism operation, called Summer Camps, targets numerous Iran-backed armed terrorist groups, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), that have been operating freely in PA-controlled territories in the past few years.

The main objective of Israel’s operation is to thwart Iran’s intention, with the help of the armed groups, to turn not only Gaza, but also the West Bank into another terror base to be used as part of the Islamists’ Jihad (holy war) to destroy Israel.

The PA should applaud Israel’s security forces for pursuing the terrorists, rather than criticizing them. These armed groups, which refer to themselves to as “battalions,” pose a direct threat not only to Israel, but the PA as well. The gunmen have created their own state within a state in the areas under PA administration, openly contesting the PA’s legitimacy and making a mockery of its security forces.

Most of the gunmen there belong to Hamas and PIJ, which are strongly opposed to the Palestinian Authority and its policies, especially the security coordination between the PA security forces and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The two groups do not recognize Israel’s right to exist and seek to replace it, through Jihad, with an Islamist state. One of the reasons the PA is reluctant to crack down on the “battalions” is because PA officials are aware that the terrorists enjoy widespread support among the Palestinian public.

The Israeli military operation in the northern West Bank could have been avoided, had the PA fulfilled its duty of combating terrorism by dismantling the armed groups.

Article XIV, “The Palestinian Police,” of the Oslo Accord signed between Israel and the PLO in 1993 states:

“Except for the Palestinian Police and the Israeli military forces, no other armed forces shall be established or operate in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.”

Article XV, “Prevention of Hostile Acts,” states:

“Both sides shall take all measures necessary in order to prevent acts of terrorism, crime and hostilities directed against each other, against individuals falling under the other’s authority and against their property, and shall take legal measures against offenders.”

The PA, however, has constantly violated the terms of the Oslo Accords by, among other things, failing to stop armed groups from operating in its territory and from attacking Israelis. The PA has therefore become part of the problem, not the solution.

Since 2021, several “battalions” made up of hundreds of gunmen, have appeared in the PA-controlled territories in the northern West Bank. They have carried out countless terrorist attacks against Israelis, both within Israel and in the West Bank. Since the beginning of this year, 30 Israelis have been murdered in terrorist attacks. Yet, we are not aware of a single instance in which the Palestinian security forces, tasked with maintaining law and order in the areas under PA control, have arrested or prosecuted even one perpetrator.

Many Israeli and Palestinian lives could have been spared had the PA done its job and taken action against the “battalion” gunmen. The PA, however, is still reluctant, or too terrified, to take on the armed groups. That is why the Israeli security forces were obliged to launch the current counterterrorism operation.

The Israeli operation aims to prevent Iran and its Palestinian proxies from opening a new front against Israel from the West Bank. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz wrote on August 29:

“Iran is working to establish an eastern terror front against Israel through special units of the IRGC [Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps], involved in smuggling weapons, funding, and directing terror organizations.

“In the first stage, they smuggle weapons into the Kingdom of Jordan, mainly through the Syrian border, attempting to destabilize the regime and turn the Israel-Jordan border from a peaceful one into a volatile front.

“From there, the weapons are smuggled into Judea and Samaria, particularly into Palestinian refugee camps, where an Iranian-Hamas terror infrastructure is being established, following the proxy model they’ve set up in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq. The Palestinian Authority is unable to confront this threat, which also endangers its existence…

“All actions must be carried out with determination and speed, alongside tightening sanctions on the Iranian regime to curb its subversive activities.”

The PA has a history of failing — or refusing — to take action against armed groups operating in regions under its jurisdiction. The PA did virtually nothing to stop Hamas from building its terror infrastructure when it controlled the Gaza Strip. Hamas’s actions included smuggling weapons across the border with Egypt and building dozens of assault tunnels in various locations throughout the Gaza Strip and near the Israeli border.

The Palestinian Authority eventually fell victim to its own passivity. In 2007, Hamas staged a violent and brutal coup against the PA in Gaza, killing dozens of PA loyalists. According to a Human Rights Watch report:

“Hamas military forces captured 28-year-old Mohammed Swairki, a cook for [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas’s presidential guard, and executed him by throwing him to his death, with his hands and legs tied, from a 15-story apartment building in Gaza City.”

If anyone is upset with Israel for its counterterrorism operation, they need to be more upset with the PA for not standing up to the armed groups and preventing Iran from establishing a terror base in the West Bank. Failing to do so means that Iran’s proxies may soon hurl Abbas himself from a high-rise in Ramallah, the de-facto capital of the Palestinians in the West Bank, in addition to launching more terrorist attacks against Israelis.

Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.