President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority made his first go to in years to Jenin, the battle-scarred and impoverished Palestinian metropolis within the north of the Israeli-occupied West Bank that was the goal of a two-day raid by the Israeli navy final week.
Mr. Abbas’s go to was an effort to exhibit to each Israelis and Palestinians that he retains authority and management over Jenin, a metropolis wherein his safety forces are passive spectators to road battles between Israeli troopers and Palestinian militias against his rule.
Jenin is throughout the roughly 40 p.c of the West Bank that has been nominally administered by the Palestinian Authority for the reason that Nineties, when Israeli and Palestinian leaders signed diplomatic agreements, generally known as the Oslo Accords, that elevated Palestinian autonomy inside some elements of the territories that Israel captured throughout the 1967 Arab-Israeli warfare.
But lately, areas of Jenin and different elements of the northern West Bank have develop into dominated as an alternative by Palestinian militias that reject Mr. Abbas’s management and conduct frequent assaults on Israelis. As a consequence, the Israeli Army has elevated its raids on town and the broader area, just like the one final week that killed not less than 12 Palestinians. Mr. Abbas’s lack of ability to stop these raids has additional dented his reputation amongst Palestinians, making it even more durable for him to claim his authority over town.
Mr. Abbas’s temporary go to on Wednesday — broadly reported as his first to Jenin in additional than a decade — was a belated effort to rebuild his standing, in addition to that of the authority itself. It got here simply days after a few of his main allies have been booed by mourners within the metropolis as they attended funerals for folks killed throughout the newest Israeli operation.
Mr. Abbas’s efforts to finish Israel’s occupation via negotiations and diplomacy are seen by many Palestinians as a failure, and a youthful technology of Palestinians — together with fighters in Jenin — needs to oppose Israel by pressure.
After arriving by helicopter at round midday from Ramallah, one of many few pockets of the West Bank the place Mr. Abbas exerts tight management, he visited a neighborhood generally known as the Jenin refugee camp, a militant stronghold that was broadly broken throughout the Israeli raid. The closely built-up space continues to be generally known as a refugee camp as a result of it’s populated primarily by Palestinian households who sought refuge there throughout the wars within the late Nineteen Forties that surrounded the creation of the state of Israel.
“Brothers, I want to tell you that the authority came here to affirm its support for the people of Jenin camp and with its people in the city of Jenin,” Mr. Abbas stated, standing in entrance of a restaurant badly broken by the preventing final week.
“The Palestinian Authority is one authority, one state, one law,” he added.
Around a thousand elite troops from the Palestinian Authority secured the world forward of Mr. Abbas’s journey. Officials festooned the streets with scores of yellow flags that connote assist for Fatah, Mr. Abbas’s secular political motion. The flags largely obscured these of rival actions, like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, two Islamist teams that wrested management of the Gaza Strip from Mr. Abbas in 2007.
The authority’s troops have been additionally filmed on Wednesday blocking an Israeli navy convoy from coming into town — a scene so uncommon that many puzzled on social media whether or not it had been staged.
But although Mr. Abbas’s go to was supposed to exhibit his authority past Ramallah, it additionally confirmed his fragility. To arrive by air, he needed to borrow plane from the Jordanian authorities and safe permission from the Israeli navy, which controls airspace over the West Bank.
To safe his protected passage to outer fringes of the Jenin refugee camp, Mr. Abbas’s safety workforce needed to work with the gunmen that dominate the camp. Palestinian officers eliminated roadside explosives from the world that had been planted by the militias — however solely after being instructed the place they have been, in response to Muhammad Owais, a fighter from the Jenin Camp Brigade, a unfastened union of native militiamen.
“No one wanted this visit,” stated Mr. Owais, 18, in an interview. “We wanted to show our respect to him as a city because it would have been a disgrace for us not to. But he was just trying to whitewash his image.”
Mr. Owais portrayed Mr. Abbas as a distinguished customer, quite than his nationwide chief. “He is our guest here, and we respect all guests,” Mr. Owais stated.
Despite the heavy police presence, the go to was chaotic and Mr. Abbas’s guards struggled to maintain crowds of curious residents at a protected distance. Senior aides to Mr. Abbas, together with a authorities minister, have been sometimes compelled to push again onlookers themselves.
The loudspeakers transmitting Mr. Abbas’s speech ceaselessly failed, silencing him for seconds at a time. When he was audible, Mr. Abbas, 87, struggled to clear his throat, typically filling the air with the sound of coughing. Two law enforcement officials attending the speech fainted within the warmth, as temperatures neared 100 levels Fahrenheit.
When the loudspeakers have been useful, Mr. Abbas tried to create an environment of unity.
“I would like to say to those near and far: The country is one, and will remain one,” he stated.
“The hand that will break the unity of the people — and their safety, security and stability — will be cut off from its arm,” he added.
For some, his presence and phrases have been welcome and even pleasantly stunning.
“I wasn’t expecting him to be interested in us,” stated Islam Khrewish, 20, whose household owns a diner that shaped the backdrop to Mr. Abbas’s speech. “But now he’s shown that he hasn’t abandoned us.”
But even amongst these charmed by Mr. Abbas’s go to, the president’s method to governance and to the battle with Israel remained unappealing.
An architect of the Oslo Accords, Mr. Abbas has lengthy tried to attain Palestinian sovereignty via diplomacy, negotiations and different nonviolent means. But with Israel now dominated by its most right-wing authorities in historical past, prospects of a Palestinian state are extra distant than ever. Mr. Abbas’s method is now seen as a failure among the many Palestinian public, which largely helps a return to arms, polling exhibits.
“He’s been trying this for years and it hasn’t achieved anything,” stated Mr. Khrewish. “It’s clearly a failed strategy. The right way is resistance. The Israeli Army will leave only by resistance.”
Many now additionally see the authority much less as a car for nationwide emancipation than as a corrupt and authoritarian physique that helps Israel police the West Bank. Mr. Abbas has not held nationwide elections for 17 years, the Palestinian Parliament has not met for greater than a decade, and Mr. Abbas now guidelines by decree.
Yet his management over the Jenin refugee camp stays tenuous at finest, even after his go to on Wednesday. He left inside an hour, with out speaking with members of the general public.
Within half an hour of his departure, Mr. Abbas’s elite troops had vanished.
Once once more, militia members have been freely patrolling the streets with their assault rifles.
Source: www.nytimes.com