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Bloody Clashes in Jenin Refugee Camp in the Wake of Tel Aviv Attack

Activists set up a Palestinian flag overlooking an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. (AFP file photo)
Activists set up a Palestinian flag overlooking an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. (AFP file photo)
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Bloody Clashes in Jenin Refugee Camp in the Wake of Tel Aviv Attack

Activists set up a Palestinian flag overlooking an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. (AFP file photo)
Activists set up a Palestinian flag overlooking an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. (AFP file photo)

Israeli security forces shot dead a Palestinian, injured 14 others and arrested wanted people on Saturday in the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin, home of the gunman behind a recent deadly Tel Aviv attack.

The Palestinian killed was identified as Ahmad al-Saadi, 23, who was reportedly a member of al-Quds Brigades (Saraya al-Quds), the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement.

Two of the wounded Palestinians were hit in the abdomen by live bullets, including a 19-year-old girl, and one was hit by shrapnel in the head.

The Israeli army said a military operation was ongoing in the Jenin camp, a stronghold of Palestinian armed factions in the north of the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinians in the camp threw bullets, stones and bottles at Israeli soldiers as violent, bloody and prolonged clashes erupted.

The Israeli army announced in a statement on Saturday the end of its operation, saying that its forces “killed and arrested activists who were planning to carry out offensive operations inside Israel.”

The Hebrew website Ynet quoted an Israeli army spokesman as saying that among the detainees was an activist in the Hamas movement and a gunman from the Islamic Jihad movement.

Saturday’s raid came a day after Israel said it had killed Raad Hazem, 28, the alleged gunman who went on a shooting spree Thursday in a popular nightlife district of Tel Aviv, killing three Israelis and wounding more than a dozen others.

A total of 14 people have been killed in attacks in Israel since March 22. Over the same period, at least 10 Palestinians have been killed.

The operation targeted the arrest of Hazem’s father, Fathi, who refused to turn himself in, along with his three brothers.

Fathi is a former security prisoner who previously served as an officer in the Palestinian Authority’s security services in Jenin. He has refused an Israeli request to be questioned.

On Friday, Fathi praised his son’s actions to a crowd gathered in front of the family home.

He promised people to see the victory and change soon, asserting they will obtain their freedom and independence.

Hazem went on the run after the attack and was found hiding near a mosque in Jaffa after hours long of manhunt involving hundreds of security officers.

While initially raising his hands in surrender, Hazem reportedly then drew a gun and opened fire on the officers, who fired back and killed him.

Dozens of Palestinians attended Saadi’s funeral, while many gunmen vowed to “retaliate his killing.”

The Islamic Jihad group identified the dead man as one of its fighters, warning that and that the occupation will pay dearly for its crimes.

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Palestinians Receptive to Lebanon’s Call to Limit Possession of Weapons in Refugee Camps

The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)
The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)
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Palestinians Receptive to Lebanon’s Call to Limit Possession of Weapons in Refugee Camps

The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)
The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)

Lebanon has started to exert serious efforts to restrict the possession of weapons inside Palestinian refugee camps in the country in line with President Joseph Aoun’s inaugural speech.

The president had demanded that the possession of weapons in the country and the camps be limited to the state.

The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee met at the government headquarters in Beirut three days ago to discuss the issue.

All Palestinian factions attended the meeting, and the gatherers agreed to “completely” resolve the Palestinian possession of arms outside the camps. They also agreed to outline how to restrict weapons inside the camps in line with the president’s speech.

The Lebanese state has yet to come up with the mechanism to confiscate the weapons inside the camps.

A Lebanese security source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the arms will be tackled through a political approach drawn up by the government. “It will be carried out by the army with the security agencies and in coordination with the Palestinian factions in the camp, led by the Fatah movement, which is the official representative of the Palestinian people,” it added.

The Palestinians have expressed their “complete understanding” of the issue, it remarked.

The laying down of weapons by Palestinian factions is a step towards all illegal weapons throughout the country being turned over to the Lebanese state, it went on to say.

“There are no longer any excuses for weapons to remain in possession of any organization,” stressed the source.

Lebanese groups will be demanded to lay down their arms after the Palestinian ones do, it added.

In a first, the Palestinian factions have been very receptive to a Lebanese head of state’s demand to cooperate in limiting the possession of weapons in the refugee camps.

Member of the Palestinian National and Central Councils Haitham Zaiter said that the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) recognizes that the camps are part of Lebanese territories, so they come under the authority of the state and its laws.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that “complete coordination” is ongoing between the Lebanese security agencies and PLO inside the camps where several wanted Lebanese and Palestinian suspects and others from other nationalities have been turned over to the authorities.

The suspects had sought refuge in the camps to avoid justice in the crimes they have committed, he acknowledged.

“The PLO is the sole representative of the Palestinian people inside Palestine and in the diaspora,” he stated.

Moreover, Zaiter explained that Palestinian weapons in Lebanon are either carried by the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC) outside the camps or by non-partisan individuals inside the camps.

The PFLP-GC laid down its weapons as soon as the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad collapsed in December.

Heavy weapons inside the camps had been previously brought in with the aim to undermine the PLO, he added.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas “has constantly called for coordination with Lebanese authorities to limit the possession of these weapons,” Zaiter said.