On the 17th day of the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Operation Protect the Homeland in Jenin, tensions escalated as PA security forces clashed with fighters from the Jenin Brigade, a group linked to Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) attempting to assert control over the refugee camp.
The violence turned deadly Sunday when Sahr Arhil, a member of the Presidential Guard from Tulkarem, was killed by terrorist gunfire. Two other security officers were wounded, one severely.
PA security forces spokesperson Anwar Rajab condemned the attack, calling it a “heinous crime” that would only strengthen efforts to pursue “outlaws.” He described the operation as part of a broader Palestinian security and political vision to protect national interests and urged residents to support efforts to combat groups he labeled as “lacking national culture.”
The PA has signaled plans to expand the operation beyond Jenin to other West Bank areas. A senior PA official described the campaign as a fight against the "long arm of Iran, Hamas and PIJ," accusing them of destabilizing the region. “We won’t allow foreign agendas to control our people,” the official said. “We’ve seen the consequences of Hamas rule in Gaza—we won’t let them destroy the West Bank.”
Palestinian Authority security forces clash with armed rioters in Jenin
A rare report by two Washington Post correspondents highlighted the unusual confrontation between the PA security forces and Jenin Brigade gunmen. The newspaper noted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition to the PA resuming governance in Gaza, but cited a former Egyptian official claiming Israel had agreed to a temporary PA role managing the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
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The authority launched Operation Protect the Homeland this month to retake control of Jenin camp by targeting “outlaws” and those “spreading chaos and anarchy and harming civil peace,” Rajab told The Post. “All these actions and policies undermine the work of the PA, and these groups give Israel an excuse to implement its plans in the West Bank.”
According to Rajab, the operation’s “achievements” have included arresting more than two dozen wanted persons, wounding others, dismantling dozens of explosives and “advancing on important axes” into the refugee camp. Security forces have killed three people: a fighter, a 19-year-old passerby on a motorcycle and a 14-year-old boy. Both sides appear to be showing relative restraint.
“We don’t want to see a single drop of blood being shed,” Sabri Saidam, a member of Fatah’s central committee, told The Post. “What we would like to achieve is a state of calm, to sit down with different factions and agree on the way forward.”
A Palestinian official close to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose private discussions, said that the Palestinian leader has decided that the PA “will impose its authority and there is no turning back.”
But two weeks into the crackdown, militants still roam freely in the Jenin camp. Gunfire rings out day and night. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has suspended schools. Businesses are shut. In the Damaj and Hawashin neighborhoods, heavily damaged in an Israeli raid in September, some families have been without electricity and water for days.