On March 22, an Israeli elite Border Guard unit entered the refugee camp in Jenin and killed a wanted Hamas activist by the name of Hamza Abu al-Hija and two other Palestinians — one of them an Islamic Jihad activist — who were staying with him in the house where he was hiding. According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Shin Bet, Abu al-Hija, who had been planning shooting attacks against Israeli settlers and other Israeli targets, was precisely what you would call “a ticking bomb.”

The entry of an Israeli elite operational force deep into the Jenin refugee camp has been no common occurrence in recent years, since the end of the second intifada (in 2005) and the subsequent deployment of Palestinian security forces in the West Bank. However, as of late, the refugee camps in the West Bank have been undergoing a process that might be described as the establishment of an autonomy based on fear.

This is happening mainly in the refugee camps of Nablus and Jenin. These two refugee camps, which a decade ago were labeled “the nurturing home for terrorists,” have become autonomous enclaves that Palestinian security forces avoid. In fact, for many months now, the Palestinian security services have been taking care not to enter the refugee camps for fear of being caught in gun battles. As it is, anyway, the rage and fury there toward the Palestinian Authority (PA) and everything that it stands for have been mounting, and the last thing that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would be interested in is violent confrontations, much less so shoot-outs and bloodshed.

Meanwhile, considerable forces of armed youths from all the organizations, driven by frustration, are pooling resources and getting organized in the refugee camps. In this melting pot, a comrades-in-arms alliance is being forged, creating a unifying and consolidating component. Thus, joining forces in the spirit of one for all and all for one, a “defense wall,” so to speak, has been built against the PA forces. This comrades-in-arms spirit uniting the organizations is reflected, inter alia, in the joint statement issued by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades activists, pledging to avenge the death of Abu al-Hija.