‘Until All Outlaws Are Arrested’: PA Concludes Rare Jenin Crackdown

Latest Developments

PA’s Month-Long West Bank Sweep: The Palestinian Authority (PA) announced the conclusion of the first phase of its security forces’ operation “Protecting the Homeland” on January 9, aimed at targeting terrorists and their funders in the West Bank city of Jenin. Six PA security officers were killed during the sweeps, 247 wanted men were arrested, and 17 car bombs and 245 smaller explosive devices were defused, according to Brig. Gen. Anwar Rajab. He described the operation, launched on December 5, as “very satisfactory” and said it would continue “until all outlaws are arrested and the situation stabilized.” At least eight residents of Jenin were killed in the close-quarter clashes.

RPG Handed Over to Israeli Forces: During their raids in Jenin, PA security forces seized an anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade launcher, which they eventually handed over to the IDF, according to Israel’s Channel 14 news. Israeli reporter Hallel Bitton Rosen said that the weapon would have caused several casualties if it had been used against the IDF.

West Bank Terrorism Persists as Hamas, PIJ, Fatah Claim Roadside Ambush: Amid the PA’s counterterrorism operations, Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, claimed joint responsibility with Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Fatah-affiliated al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade for a January 6 shooting attack near the northern West Bank town of Al-Funduq. The IDF has launched an ongoing manhunt to arrest the perpetrators of the attack, which killed three Israeli civilians and wounded a further eight.

FDD Expert Response

“It turns out that when the PA wants to crack down on terrorism, it can — and even at a steep cost in terms of the lives of its personnel. Call it a West Bank version of the ‘Trump Effect’ — a desire on the part of PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas to ingratiate himself with the incoming U.S. president — or a belated realization that Iranian money and weapons were becoming no less a threat to Palestinians than to Israelis.” — Mark Dubowitz, CEO

“The West Bank is on the verge of another spasm of violence as Palestinian terrorists there feel they must fill the vacuum created by Israel’s demolition of the Iranian axis in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and Syria. PA action is welcome and must be coordinated with the IDF. The Jordanian authorities should similarly weigh in and abandon their rote condemnations of Israel’s necessary self-defense measures.” — Joe Truzman, Senior Research Analyst and Editor at FDD’s Long War Journal