To fight against the Israeli occupation, groups of young Palestinian fighters have been formed in several cities. They do not claim any political party and organize attacks against the army and Israeli civilians.
A situation that “threatens to spin out of control”, alert the UN. On July 3, the Israeli army launched a “massive anti-terrorist operation” in the city of Jenin. At least 12 Palestinians were killed there, according to the Palestinian authorities. The strikes targeted operational centers of the Jenin Brigade, a group of Palestinian fighters accused of terrorism by Israel.
Like the Jenin Brigade, other battalions of Palestinian fighters have been formed in recent months in the Palestinian territories. In Nablus, it is the Lions’ Den (also called “Lair” or “Den”). In Balata, in the largest refugee camp in the West Bank, a brigade of the same name was born. Near Jericho, the fighters regroup under the banner of the Aqbat Jabr Brigade. Their members show no political affiliation and see armed struggle as the ultimate means of resisting the Israeli occupation.
The Israeli army operation in Jenin is the latest in a long series in the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 by Israel. According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, as of mid-June Israel had carried out 4,803 incursions into the West Bank so far this year and at least 190 Palestinians had been killed according to an AFP tally.
Targeted by the Israeli army
And the operations of the Israeli armed forces sometimes take surprising forms. In February, Israeli soldiers disguised themselves as Palestinian civilians and garbage collectors to approach members of the Lions’ Den in Nablus, the documentary recounts The Hill War, broadcast on Arte. They climbed onto the roofs and shot dead three militants from the brigade. “They need to know that we will reach them wherever they are,” Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said in October 2022, after army raids targeted the infrastructure of these Palestinian battalions.
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According to Israel, this type of operation carried out as part of Operation “Breaking the Tide”, which aims to eliminate Palestinian armed resistance, is a response to attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers. Since the beginning of the year, 26 Israelis have been killed, according to an AFP tally.
In 2022, a leader of the Den of Lions, Wadih Al Houh, was killed after being involved in several terrorist attacks against Israeli targets in the Nablus area, reports The Times of Israel. In August of the same year, one of the best-known faces of these fighting groups, Ibrahim Al-Nabulsi of the Den of Lions, was killed by Israeli forces at the age of 18. He had shot an officer and Israeli settlers, without killing them, recalls The world. The funeral of the young fighter gathered thousands of people in Nablus, and his “martyr” face, like that of other fighters, adorns the streets of the city ever since.
Acclaimed on social networks
For these fighters, most of whom were born in the 2000s, social networks are part of the resistance strategy. On Tiktok, Ibrahim Al-Nabulsi had thus built his legend and called himself “Abou Fateh”, in reference to a commander killed during the second Intifada (2000-2004), notes The world. On its Telegram channel, whose logo is the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem surrounded by assault rifles, the Lions’ Den shares messages and videos glorifying its feats of arms to its more than 200,000 subscribers. Hooded, dressed in black clothes, the fighters parade in Nablus or Jenin, wearing bulletproof vests and firearms.
“We are young revolutionaries, there are no political decisions behind our resistance, assures Zankaloni, 22, leader of the Balata Brigade, on France 24. We want to keep the decision-making power in our hands.”
“If I were affiliated with Fatah, we would need a political decision to fight or to shoot. (…) Mahmoud Abbas [président de l’Autorité palestinienne] forbids shooting at Israelis.”
Zankaloni, leader of the Balata Brigadeat France 24
According to Israel, these brigades are not as independent as they claim. According to Israel, the Jenin Brigade is backed by Iran and includes members of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, Islamic Jihad and Fatah.
“They can come from different political factions, like Fatah, Hamas or Islamic Jihad. But they fight together, without labels”explains Khaled Abu-Qare, a 28-year-old Palestinian activist, to franceinfo. “They are attracting more and more members. Some are married, others have children… They know that their fight can bring them to death or prison”, continues this inhabitant of Ramallah.
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Younis, a Palestinian activist in Ramallah, has observed the activity of these brigades for a long time: “Its members communicate with each other, they use radios. They defend residents from Israeli raids, inspect people entering neighborhoods,” he describes to franceinfo. We don’t know exactly where their weapons come from and where they train.” According to Jerusalem Postthe weapons come from Hezbollah in Lebanon, from Syria or Iraq. Others are stolen from the Israeli army and smuggled back into the West Bank.
Anyway, these brigades are very popular. According to a study published by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Polling Research in December 2022, 72% of the population supports them. “They are understood, because they express the despair of an entire people”assumes Younis.
Disillusioned by the situation
Because these fighters belong to a generation deprived of all perspectives. Born well after the Oslo Accords in 1993, which provided for a five-year transition to find a peace agreement, they “have been deluded”points out Inès Abdel Razek, executive director of the NGO Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy. “Their parents had given the peace process a chance, but they see that these promises have been misused. The peace negotiations have only reinforced apartheid and the Israeli regime’s violence against them”, she argues.
“This generation is no longer waiting for the validation of the international community to resist. It is fighting by all means, violent and non-violent. It is a strategy of survival and self-defense.”
Inès Abdel Razek, executive director of the NGO Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacyat franceinfo
Since the Oslo accords, waves of violence have followed one another in the Palestinian territories. There was the second intifada in the early 2000s and then other similar conflagrations in 2015, 2017, 2021. Since 2008, 6,327 Palestinians have been killed under the Israeli occupation, compared to 408 Israelis, reports the UN. “The violence of the Israeli state, the occupier, cannot be compared to that of the Palestinians. The latter are deprived of their freedom and fundamental rights”points out however Inès Abdel Razek.
“Living under occupation means not being able to find housing, move freely”, recalls Khaled Abu-Qare. In 2002, a wall of more than 712 km was erected between the West Bank and Israel, limiting the freedom of movement of Palestinians. According to the UN, 593 roadblocks have been set up between the territories, most aimed at protecting Israeli settlers. Some 2 million Palestinians live in food insecurity, Israel manages 85% of their water resources and 61% of the West Bank is inaccessible to them.
Since 2009, 9,575 homes belonging to Palestinians have been destroyed, reports the United Nations. In 2017, a law notably allowed the Israelis to expropriate, against compensation, Palestinian owners in the occupied West Bank in order to legalize so-called “wild” settlements, supports The world.
“If you want to go from Ramallah to Bethlehem, you never know how long it will take. It will depend on the mood of the army at the checkpoints, whether or not there are Israeli settlers carrying out attacks. ..”
Khaled Abu-Qare, Palestinian activistat franceinfo
“Today, a young man who grew up in Jenin has family members in prison or dead. He is surrounded by checkpoints and walls, he cannot go to the sea, to the hospital or to work freely. “describes Inès Abdel Razek.
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“The young people who are 15-20 today have seen that the non-violent demonstrations of their parents, the creation of NGOs, dialogue, etc. have brought nothing”, comments independent researcher Thomas Vescovi. Many of them never voted, the last election dating back to 2006. And their slim hope of change was extinguished with the cancellation of the legislative elections in 2021. “This lack of political perspective feeds this feeling that armed struggle is the only solution to force Israel to make concessions”analyzes the researcher.
Distrustful of the Palestinian Authority
Faced with this cycle of endless violence, the Palestinian Authority, which administers the West Bank, is powerless. Mahmoud Abbas, 87, has been president since 2005 of an entity accused of corruption and nepotism “which no longer has sovereignty in fact”, recalled to franceinfo the researcher Amélie Ferey. Whether in Nablus or Jenin, “thereIsraeli army enters the cities whenever it wants to carry out its incursions, and the Palestinian Authority does not have the means to counter anything”describes Thomas Vescovi.
The current Israeli government, led by a coalition mixing the right and the far right, is fueling violence. Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionist Party, is responsible for the civil administration of settlements in the occupied West Bank, a responsibility hitherto exercised by the army. One of his wishes is the annexation of the West Bank by Israel. The Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, convicted on numerous occasions for incitement to hatred, is also leader of the Jewish Power party, and opposed to a Palestinian state.
“This government is destroying any form of stability for the Palestinians,” deplores Ghaith Al-Omari, a former official of the Palestinian Authority. He remembers the cooperation that existed between Israelis and Palestinians in the 1990s. However, young people born in the 2000s “have only seen the corruption of institutions and the failures of international diplomacy. They no longer believe in reconciliation and take up arms,” he laments. For this Palestinian, negotiator during peace talks in the 2000s, the “situation is out of control and hopeless”.