In the northern reaches of the occupied West Bank, near the boundary with Israel, Jenin and its refugee camp have nurtured an ethos of defiance.
As Israeli forces hunted for wanted men, weapons and explosives in the Palestinian refugee camp in Jenin this week, after using aerial drones to blow up what they described as terrorist hubs there, the city was living up to its reputation as a center of militant defiance in the occupied West Bank.
To many Israelis, the city and its environs are a dreaded incubator of terrorism that has claimed many lives over the years. During the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, the Jenin refugee camp was a prime exporter of suicide bombers to Israeli cities. Israeli officials say that more than 50 shooting attacks on Israelis have emanated from the Jenin area this year, and that 19 militants have taken refuge in the camp after carrying out attacks since last fall.
To many Palestinians, Jenin, in the hilly northern reaches of the West Bank, is a heroic symbol of resilience and resistance against Israeli rule, and the rule of others who came before. That reputation was sealed in 2002, at the height of the second intifada, when the camp was the scene of a fierce, 10-day battle in which 52 Palestinians, around half of whom may have been civilians, according to the United Nations, and 23 Israeli soldiers were killed.
Yasir Arafat, the late Palestinian leader, coined a new name for the camp that year: “Jeningrad,” comparing it to the World War II battle of Stalingrad.
Since Monday, hundreds of Israeli commandos have taken part in the largest military incursion in many years in the area, scouring the crowded camp and killing at least 11 people. The military says it has discovered laboratories for manufacturing explosives and caches of weapons and explosive devices hidden inside buildings, under the narrow roads and even in pits underneath a mosque.
Israeli leaders indicated on Tuesday evening that the incursion was in its final stages and that the Israeli commandos were likely to withdraw from Jenin, possibly within hours. But given the history, analysts say it may not be long before they are back.
“Jenin is revered because it has provided the Palestinian collective memory with many examples of not just resistance but also of popular endorsement and solidarity,” said Nour Odeh, a Palestinian columnist and political analyst based in Ramallah. “It’s not a rich or industrial city,” she added, but a place with “a sense of common destiny and unity” where normally competing armed factions of a deeply divided Palestinian society and polity fight as one.
