Skip to main content

West Bank city of Jenin roils as Israel prepares for possible escalation

The West Bank and the Gaza Strip are atop a barrel of gunpowder that could explode at any time.

A Palestinian man flashes a poster by the militant group Islamic Jihad of the six Palestinians who escaped from an Israeli prison, as people celebrate in the Jenin camp in the northern Israeli-occupied West Bank, on Sept. 6, 2021.
A Palestinian man flashes a poster by the militant group Islamic Jihad of the six Palestinians who escaped from an Israeli prison, as people celebrate in the Jenin camp in the northern Israeli-occupied West Bank, on Sept. 6, 2021. — JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP via Getty Images

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Sept. 13 marked the 28th anniversary of the Oslo Accord, which the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel signed in 1993. Yet the Palestinian territories seem to be closer than ever to a comprehensive intifada and further from peace.

Since Sept. 6, the West Bank and Gaza Strip have gone through daily confrontations and clashes between Palestinians and the Israeli army, after the escape of six Palestinian inmates from the Gilboa Prison. On Sept. 13, two separate stabbing attacks occurred in Jerusalem, which wounded a number of settlers. A few hours earlier, doctor Hazem Joulani in Jerusalem was killed, as he had reportedly attempted to carry out a stabbing attack, according to the Israeli police. 

In the city of Jenin, in the northern West Bank, dozens of shootings targeted al-Jalama checkpoint, homemade bombs were thrown, and bullets targeted an Israeli military camp in Mount Gerizim in Nablus. Also, dozens of clashes involving stones and Molotov cocktails took place in different parts of the West Bank.

Anger mounted in the Palestinian street after Israel captured and allegedly tortured four of the jailbreakers, specially Zakaria Zubeidi, the former commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

Continue reading this exclusive analysis

Original reporting and analysis unavailable elsewhere. Subscribe to AL-MONITOR to read this story and access everything we publish