” Strong counter-terrorist operations “, according to the Israeli army, ” illegal and deadly military incursions “, according to the inhabitants of Jenin. Israel is tightening the noose on this town in the northern occupied West Bank, where the assailants of the last two attacks against Israeli civilians originated. There are arrests, injuries. Since the end of March, nine young people from Jenin, including armed fighters, have been killed by the Israeli army.
With our special correspondent in Jenin, Alice Froussard
In Jenin there is a rather strange atmosphere, very different from that of the city in normal times. On the market, in the shopping streets, everything is abnormally empty.
Since the latest Israeli restrictions, local traders can no longer leave the city, and above all, the Palestinians of Israel can no longer enter it, even though they are the ones who keep Jenin alive, its restaurants, its businesses, particularly in this month. of Ramadan.
Result, iftar, the youngster’s breakup meal is sluggish, and according to the Chamber of Commerce, Jenin loses $200,000 a day due to the restrictions. ” It’s a collective punishment said its director, adding that this will only increase unemployment as the economy is still recovering from last year’s checkpoint closures due to the coronavirus.
Almost daily incursions by the Israeli army take place around the refugee camp and altercations with the Palestinians occur every day. Roadblocks stand in the narrow streets of the camp to prevent the movement of army vehicles. Tires, on top of each other, or waste bins are placed across the road.
Posters representing martyrs are displayed on the walls. There are a lot of them, they are mainly young people. A resident says: here, in every family there is at least one dead, wounded or prisoner. »
For a year, the camp has been in a quasi-insurgent state and many residents say they understand the assailants of the last two attacks in Bnei Brak and Tel Aviv.
Support for lone “lions”
” They were guided by despair, that linked to the occupation they say. “ You can clearly see that here, for 25 years, there have been failures… Diplomacy and human rights don’t work… So we are ready to resist by all means. »
Should we therefore fear a new intifada, or rather a resurgence of this type of attack, solitary, unpredictable, by mimicry, as the Israelis fear?
It’s hard to say, but in Jenin, in any case, these assailants are spoken of not as lone wolves, but as lone lions, because the lion is a noble animal. The locals support them.
Several people who knew Raed Hazem, perpetrator of the Tel Aviv attack, present him as a simple, calm, intelligent young man, who did not appear on social networks with weapons, and who, above all, was not linked to any faction.
Jenin, the “lone wolves” have the support of the population
The older ones draw a parallel with the deadly siege and the battle of Jenin, exactly twenty years ago, during the second intifada, between 2000 and 2005, and they say: there, all the elements are gathered for a new insurrection. »