The serious incident this week in the area of the Jalameh checkpoint near Jenin, during which an IDF officer, Major Bar Falah, was killed by terrorists, reflects once again the seriousness of the security situation and the strength of the new wave of terrorism that is plaguing the West Bank and threatens to spread to the main cities in Israel as well.
It is true that the IDF killed the two terrorists, one of whom was a PA security officer, but this does not change the dangerous situation that has arisen on the ground.
We must not forget even for a moment that the city of Tel Aviv-Jaffa was miraculously saved last week from a major attack planned by a terrorist from Nablus who came through a breach in the separation fence to the city of Jaffa carrying with him a large bag of weapons and explosive charges, during his interrogation by the Shin Bet he said that he planned “to kill soldiers” in Tel Aviv.
The terrorist, who apparently acted alone, was arrested at random after a police patrol suspected him and arrested him, but his infiltration into Israel reflects the trend of terrorist organizations to return and carry out attacks in the heart of Israel and not only in the territories of Judea and Samaria.
The political echelon is well aware of the new security reality, but it prefers to obey to the demands of the Biden administration, which fears the collapse of the PA as a result of the escalation, and has avoided for more than half a year from carrying out what is urgently needed and is a large-scale military operation in all of northern Samaria that will uproot the terrorist infrastructure in Jenin and Nablus and the surrounding villages after the PA lost control of long ago.
We are in a new wave of terrorism and not in the midst of a new intifada, the wave of terrorism also threatens Abu Mazen’s PA government and therefore only stopping it can save the PA from collapsing, if the PA doesn’t want or can stop it, the IDF should do the work itself to protect the lives of Israelis in the West Bank and to prevent terrorism from reaching into the main cities in Israel.
In the north of the West Bank there are hundreds of armed terrorists and thousands of illegal weapons and huge amounts of ammunition, these weapons are in the hands of armed terrorists who belong to the new organizational framework established by the Islamic Jihad called the “Jenin Battalion”, large amounts of weapons continue to flow into the West Bank and into Israel itself that is smuggled from Jordan and Iraq and the IDF, the Shin Bet and the Israel Police are having difficulty stopping the phenomenon.
The wave of terrorism threatens to spread south to the areas of Ramallah, Bethlehem and Hebron and must be stopped quickly.
Prime Minister Lapid and Defense Minister Gantz show great hesitation, they prefer a slow handling of the increasing terrorism through arrest operations in the West Bank areas instead of adopting the fast offensive approach that aims to surprise terrorism everywhere and uproot its infrastructure.
This week the political echelon sent a senior officer in the IDF and another senior officer from the Shin Bet to a meeting in Ramallah with the Secretary General of the PLO executive committee Hussein al-Sheikh and with the head of Palestinian intelligence Majed Faraj to try and renew security coordination ahead of the Jewish holidays .
These are the two people closest to PA chairman Abu Mazen, senior PA officials said that the meeting failed and that the two sides were unable to convince each other of their positions.
PA chairman Abu Mazen is trying to blackmail Israel and the US, he sees the new wave of terrorism that broke out independently in the field as a lever of pressure on Israel in everything related to creating a “political horizon” and renewing negotiations on the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
Abu Mazen conveyed messages to the Biden administration and the European Union that the current wave of terrorism is a direct result of the entry of IDF forces into Area A and that the armed terrorists are simply protecting the civilian population from the IDF.
Hussein al-Sheikh, the designated successor of Abu Mazen, revealed a few days ago that the PA proposed to Israel to prevent the IDF from entering Area A in Judea and Samaria for a period of 4-5 months in order to avoid friction with the armed terrorists and create calm, the political echelon in Israel rejected the the proposal.
Such a move projects weakness and is a surrender to terrorism and giving oxygen to the armed terrorists to reorganize and establish new terrorist frameworks equipped with weapons to continue the war against Israel.
Fatah leadership member Azzam Al-Ahmed boasted this week that the PA terminated all the Oslo agreements, including the security coordination and the Paris economic agreement
.
Abu Mazen, who has reached the end of his political career, is not interested in calming the situation as long as the armed terrorists do not threaten the Muqataa in Ramallah, he feels secure on his throne, he has American and European backing as well as moderate Arab countries, and for him this is the right time to squeeze Israel into major concessions when the sword of terror is placed on its neck.
Abu Mazen’s speech at the United Nations
Next week the chairman of the PA will go to New York to deliver his annual speech at the UN General Assembly.
The PA has been engaged in a political campaign for several weeks now with the aim of obtaining the agreement of the United Nations to recognize “Palestine”
with full membership in the organization, Today it has the status of an observer state.
Israel strongly opposes this move, President Biden also opposes it, and last week he sent Barbara Leaf, the US assistant secretary of state, to Ramallah.
Abu Mazen refused to meet with her, but in a meeting with Hussein al-Sheikh, she clarified her position that the US might veto the Palestinian request in the security council..
Playing with fire
The current behavior of PA chairman Abu Mazen who refuses to fight terrorism in the territories of Judea and Samaria and tries to initiate a unilateral political move at the UN once again emphasizes the frustration of the PA chairman and his disappointment at the lack of a political process vis-a-vis Israel despite the change of power in Israel and the US..
Prime Minister Lapid refuses to meet with him, the new American President Joe Biden also maintains that this is not the time to renew the political process between Israel and the Palestinians even though he believes in the 2-state solution.
The Palestinian issue is not at the top of the administration’s agenda, which currently prefers managing the conflict rather than trying to resolve it.
The administration is currently content with trying to improve the PA’s economic situation and strengthen its position in the territories in view of the increasing power of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements.
It would be better if PA chairman Abu Mazen took advantage of his speech at the UN General Assembly to announce his retirement from political life , he has failed as a leader and he no longer represent the Palestinians, he was “comfortable” for Israel until a few weeks ago from a security point of view, but he is unable to advance any political process, he lives in illusions that he will succeed in forcing the “red lines” of the Palestinians on Israel by unleashing terrorism, this way will not bring to peace between Israel and the Palestinians and not even a partial political settlement.
Abu Mazen is playing with fire and if he doesn’t come to his senses he may end his rule just like Yasser Arafat, Operation “Protective Shield” in 2002 resulted in the end of Yasser Arafat’s rule at the time, Abu Mazen pushes Israel into a corner, another IDF operation in Judea and Samaria in the style of ” Protective Shield” may bring Abu Mazen closer to the end of his rule.
