‘No Return of Terror’: IDF Deploys in Jenin Without End Date

Latest Developments

Israel Assesses ‘Iron Wall’ Operation: More than a week after the IDF launched Operation Iron Wall to root out Iranian-backed Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank city of Jenin, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz conducted an inspection in Jenin on January 29. At least 18 terrorists were killed, more than 60 were detained, and scores of bombs were dismantled in an operation that followed an inconclusive anti-terrorism sweep in Jenin last month by the Palestinian Authority (PA). “After the operation is completed, IDF troops will remain in the camp to make sure terror does not return,” Katz said.
Other West Bank Targets: Katz said that other refugee camps turned terrorist bastions in the West Bank were in Israel’s sights. According to UNRWA — the UN agency solely dedicated to the descendants of Palestinian refugees, which Israel wants to shut down over complicity in terrorism — there are 19 such declared refugee camps.
PA Warned Over ‘Pay-to-Slay’: Katz indicated that Israel was also eyeing the notorious PA payouts of stipends to the families of jailed or slain Palestinian terrorists, declaring: “Anyone who funds the families of terrorists and murderers, and educates their own children to destroy Israel, endangers their own existence.”

FDD Expert Response

“For decades, the so-called Palestinian ‘refugee camps’ have been festering wounds, with Israel limited to applying counterterrorism bandages. Now, Jerusalem is taking a decisive step to eliminate the problem at its root. Establishing a permanent garrison in Jenin and other hotspots carries risks, but it’s a necessary move and one that will require unwavering U.S. support, particularly from the Trump administration.” — Mark Dubowitz, CEO

“Military action alone won’t be enough. The very concept of a refugee camp, sustained by UNRWA’s perverse incentives, must be dismantled on paper and in practice. The residents of Jenin are not refugees but long-term inhabitants of a Palestinian neighborhood, and until they see themselves as such rather than as perpetual foot soldiers in a failed war against Israel, the cycle of quixotic terrorism that has destroyed their futures will persist.” — Joe Truzman, Senior Research Analyst and Editor at FDD’s Long War Journal