Mkhaimar Abu Sada
Professor of Political Science, Al-Azhar University-Gaza
The Palestinian people have for a long time resisted the Israeli occupation by all means possible. However, the West Bank has witnessed the emergence of new resistance groups such as the Jenin Battalion in Jenin and the Lions' Den in Nablus. In addition to other groups in different areas of the occupied West Bank.
These newly-established resistance groups are credited with dozens of Fedayeen Operations against Israeli military checkpoints and colonial settlers. Twenty Israelis have been killed since the beginning of this year in the occupied West Bank and Al-Quds, and more were killed in 2022. The success of these operations is due to their “Lone Wolf” style attacks, where there is no factional structure or leaders who can be held accountable and targeted by Israel. These groups have caused a big security concern for the Israelis, who do not know what to expect or where the next attack will strike.
These groups were created to fill the vacuum left by the Palestinian factions and the Palestinian Authority (PA). Israel has succeeded in deterring some Palestinian factions by targeting their senior leaders, resistance's infrastructure, as well as by using collective punishment against the civilian Palestinians. Waging wars against the Gaza Strip and conducting frequent military incursions in the West Bank cities, were designed to make the civilians pay the price of resistance.
The PA is also criticized by these new groups because of the continuation of security coordination with Israeli security services, while the Israeli army and colonial settlers continue their brutal attacks against Palestinians. Among these attacks was the attack by Israeli colonial settlers with guardianship from the Israeli army on the village of Huwara on February 26, 2023, following the killing of two Israeli colonial settlers. Moreover, the PA is accused of corruption and has therefore lost its credibility among Palestinians. Many public opinion polls conducted in the West Bank and Gaza recently have shown large support for these groups.
Most members of these groups are Palestinian youth who were born after the Palestinian second intifada erupted in September 2000. The new generation has lost hope in the peace process and the ability of the PA to put an end to the Israeli occupation and settler colonialism through peaceful and diplomatic tools. They witness the demise of the two-state solution and the creeping annexation of Palestinian land for newly-established Israeli outposts. Also, the rise of the Israeli radical right and religious parties has fueled the situation on the ground. Incitement against the Palestinians by Israeli radical ministers like Ben Gvir and Smotrich has added more fuel to the fire.
Israeli attacks against Palestinian worshipers inside Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa and desecration of the Muslim holy places have stimulated further Fedayeen Operations against Israelis. These Israeli attacks have resulted in a rise in Palestinian attacks in response. Hence, the growth of these attacks is no coincidence. They are associated with the current right-wing coalition in Israel and their plans to liquidate the Palestinian cause.
Israel has used almost all means possible, from incursions to targeted assassination, against members of the Jenin Battalion and the Lion's Den. However, it has failed to crush them. The opposite has happened: more courageous attacks against Israeli military checkpoints and colonial settlers. Israel has decided to beef up its military and security presence in the occupied West Bank and Al-Quds, but that has also failed to stop the “Lone Wolf” groups from carrying out more attacks. The new Palestinian generation has nothing to lose; it's either victory or martyrdom. Many of those assassinated and killed by Israel have become national and patriotic icons among their people, while Israel is sinking in its military arrogance, which has exacerbated the situation.