The IOF claims that the extensive military campaign aims to crackdown on new Palestinian armed resistance groups in the making.
After Israel’s 10-month “Iron Wall” operation in the northern governorates of the occupied West Bank had failed to eradicate Palestinian resistance, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) launched yet another extensive military campaign on Wednesday, November 26, targeting the same areas.
The IOF and the Israel Security Agency (known as Shin Bet) said in a joint statement on Wednesday morning, that the new operation aims to prevent emergent Palestinian resistance groups from being established in several areas in the northeast of the West Bank, including Tubas, Tammun, and Aqaba.
According to Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, the intensive military action involves three IOF brigades, forces from the Commando Brigade, Samaria and Menashe regional brigades, Shin Bet agents and Border Police officers.
The Israeli Air Force is also taking part in the operation by carrying out strikes “to isolate and seal off” the targeted areas.
The broad assault expanded to the northern governorate of Jenin on Wednesday night, resulting in the killing of Osama Kameel (20) in Qabatia town.
On Thursday, November 27, the IOF announced that the Israeli Air Force targeted seven sites allegedly used as hideouts by resistance groups in different parts of the West Bank with airstrikes.
Furthermore, over 220 sites were searched, dozens of Palestinians were interrogated and several others were detained.
Citing the Israeli Army Radio, Palestinian Ma’an news agency reported that the Israeli forces assassinated three Palestinian resistance fighters during a raid in the neighborhood of Jabal Abu Dhuhair, in the outskirts of Jenin refugee camp on Thursday. However, the identities of the slain Palestinian men have not been revealed yet.
The operation was preceded by bloody days across the West Bank
Israel’s new wide-scale offensive followed some of the bloodiest days across the West Bank, during which the IOF had murdered a number of Palestinian youths.
On Friday, November 21, Israeli soldiers shot dead Amr Al-Marboua (18), and Sami Mashaikha (16) during a military incursion in the town of Kafr Aqab, north of occupied Jerusalem.
Palestinian police officer Younis Shtayyeh (24) was also killed by the IOF on Friday, in the town of Tell near the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
On Sunday, November 23, Adel Qazzaz (26) succumbed to injuries he sustained after being shot by Israeli troops days earlier in Dura town, in the West Bank southern governorate of Hebron.
That same day saw the killing of Baraa Maali (20) at the hands of the IOF, while he was confronting an attack by illegal Israeli settlers on the village of Deir Jarir northeast of the Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorate, in the central occupied West Bank.
“Resistance is a viable and continuous effort”
The current Israeli military campaign in the northern West Bank marks a crucial development, because it has once again confirmed the determination of the Palestinian people to continue resisting Israel as a fascist occupying power.
Analysts claim that while Netanyahu’s government has relentlessly sought to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict by waging a brutal indefinite multi-front war across West Asia, its goal seems to be far from attainable, as facts on the ground show that the peoples of the region continue to support the path of resistance.
This approach brings to mind the legacy of late Palestinian resistance icon and writer, Basel Al-Araj, who once said: “Resistance is a viable and continuous effort”.
This article was published in Peoples Dispatch
Comments
Post a Comment