Are jihadists coming to the West Bank?
The recent deaths of three Palestinian men in Hebron has sparked a local debate on the presence of Salafist jihadism in the West Bank.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — When Israeli occupation forces assassinated three young men in the southern West Bank city of Hebron on the evening of Nov. 26, Israeli and Palestinian security sources agreed that they were members of a Salafist jihadist cell, which West Bank Palestinians had never known existed.
At the funerals of Mohammed Nairoukh, Mahmoud Najjar and Moussa Makhamreh in Hebron and the neighboring town of Yatta, Nairoukh's coffin was draped in Hamas’ flag, while black banners of the Salafist movement fluttered above and draped the bodies of the other two men. This was taken as a clear indication that they were members of the Salafist jihadist movement, though the existence of such a movement remained the subject of heated debate among locals.
