Palestinian Authority pursuing West Bank terrorists to impress Trump, analysts say

The Palestinian Authority is determined to score a win against terrorists in the West Bank ahead of US-President elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, aiming to demonstrate its ability to control post-war Gaza, analysts told AFP.

The security forces of the PA, which exercises limited control over the West Bank, have been engaged in deadly clashes with gunmen since early December. The arrests of several terrorists triggered the skirmishes.

The PA forces are fighting members of the Jenin Battalion group, most of whom are affiliated with either Palestinian Islamic Jihad or Hamas, whose October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered war in the Gaza Strip.

The massacre saw terrorists invade Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251.

Hamas, which has been in power in Gaza since 2007 when they ousted the PA in a bloody coup, is the main political rival of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party that dominates the PA.

Eleven people — including PA security personnel, terrorists and civilians —have been killed in the violence in Jenin refugee camp, a stronghold of armed groups in the northern West Bank and a frequent target of Israeli military raids.

“What is happening in Jenin is a crucial test for the Palestinian Authority, which is trying to assert its control and impose security in the region,” political analyst Khalil Shahin said.

An official with the Ramallah-based PA, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the operation in Jenin, said that Abbas “categorically rejects any mediation… and insists these militants surrender themselves and their weapons.”

Anwar Rajab, a spokesman for the PA’s security forces, said, “There will be no tolerance for this rogue group that operates outside the law.”

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

Armed Palestinian factions in Jenin and elsewhere portray themselves as a more effective resistance to Israel than the PA, which coordinates security matters with Israel.

Analysts say that in Jenin, the PA is trying to prove it can control the violence and demonstrate that it could bring stability to Gaza once the war is over.

Shahin said the PA was trying to “weather the storm” of the Gaza war, Israeli offensives and regional upheavals before Trump takes office in January.

‘Illusions’

“The PA hopes that, after Trump sees its ability to control Jenin, he will support it in governing Gaza after the war, unlike President Joe Biden,” Shahin said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, has ruled out any role for the PA or Hamas in governing Gaza after the war ends.

During Trump’s first term, US relations with the PA rapidly deteriorated over what the Palestinians viewed as a series of moves to sideline them.

Trump broke with most of the world by moving the US embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He also suspended aid to Palestinians and his “deal of the century” to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would have seen Israel annex 30 percent of the West Bank.

Hani al-Masri, director of the Palestinian Center for Policy Research and Strategic Studies, said the timing of the Jenin raid appeared to strategically coincide with the lead-up to Trump’s return to the White House, as well as the possibility of reaching a ceasefire in Gaza after nearly 15 months of war.

In an analysis piece for his institute, Masri warned against the “illusions” of trying to appease Trump or believing he would take a different approach in his second term.

The PA “believes it will be acceptable to the new Trump (presidency) if it lowers” its demands or opposition, Masri said.

While Hamas and Islamic Jihad accuse the PA of effectively serving Israeli interests, many fear a more intense outbreak of intra-Palestinian violence, against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Gaza and a surge in Israeli military raids and settler attacks in the West Bank.

Videos have circulated showing alleged abuses by Palestinian security forces, further increasing tensions between the rival camps of the PA and Hamas.

Hamas has condemned “grave violations” by the PA’s forces, while Fatah has denounced those who “legitimize chaos and anarchy.”