West Bank camp under fire as Palestinian forces face off militants

Shops are closed, and militants have erected metal barricades to block Palestinian forces, in the area where Israeli army raids are more common.

Black military vehicles from the Palestinian Authority (PA), which exercises limited control over the West Bank, are stationed beyond roadblocks at the camp's entrances.

"I only came back to check on my house," said Muayyad al-Saadi, a 53-year-old resident of Jenin camp, riding a bicycle down roads stripped of pavement.

Saadi, one of around 17,000 Palestinians who live in the camp, fled when clashes began in early December, citing a lack of electricity and running water.

The fighting, triggered by the arrests of several militants, has involved Palestinian militant factions affiliated with opponents of the PA's leadership.

One of these factions, the Jenin Battalion, is largely made up of fighters affiliated with Islamic Jihad or Hamas, whose October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza.

Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007, is the main political rival of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party, which dominates the PA.'We're suffering'
Fourteen Palestinians have been killed, including six security forces, seven civilians, and one gunman in the clashes.

Gunshots occasionally rung out from inside the camp, an AFP correspondent reported this week.

Since bakeries have closed, an unusually long line stretched from a shop that delivers bread from outside the camp.

"I've lived through wars since I was eight years old," said the shopkeeper, Umm Hani, who is in her 70s.

She said there was "never anything like this" since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, when Israel captured the West Bank.

"Let them (the security forces) come and arrest whoever they want. We have nothing to do with it," said Umm Hani.

Another woman, in her 30s, said: "Everyone wants to speak out, but they're afraid of repercussions from both sides."

"We're suffering. We can't leave or enter the camp freely."

The intra-Palestinian clashes erupted amid a major PA raid on the camp after the December 5 arrest of a Jenin Battalion commander on charges of possessing weapons and illicit funds.

Armed factions in Jenin and elsewhere see themselves as more effective resistance to Israeli occupation than the PA, which coordinates security matters with Israel.

"They (the PA) don't want any resistance against the occupation," said a fighter carrying an M16 rifle, blocking a road with militants.
Trading blame
The militants accuse the PA of cutting off the water and power supply to the camp, a claim the Ramallah-based authority denies.

"The gunmen fire at electricity and water crews whenever they attempt to repair the networks," Anwar Rajab, spokesman for the PA forces, told AFP.

He said militants were also shooting at distributors of food aid.

Rajab added that the PA was trying to spare civilians, accusing militants instead of disrupting the lives of residents.

"We're not besieging the camp. People are entering and leaving the camp normally."

One gunman said the fighting has been "incredibly difficult for civilians. They have no water, no food, and they've stopped working."

Walls throughout the camp are riddled with bullet holes, some from past Israeli army incursions and others from the recent fighting.

A 19-year-old Hamas fighter, who requested anonymity, said residents of Jenin camp have been exposed to violence long before the current operation.

"Every house here has a martyr, a prisoner or an injured person," he said.

The fighter accused the PA's forces of firing indiscriminately.

Both sides have traded blame for the deaths of the seven civilians, including a father and son killed on a rooftop on Friday.

"If they're targeting us -- the resistance factions and the Jenin Battalion -- why don't they come for us directly instead of targeting civilians?" said the young militant.