Just a few dozen kilometers from Tel Aviv, beyond the separation barrier but adjacent to the "Cross-Israel Highway," lies the city of Tulkarm. Since October 7, fighting has been ongoing between IDF forces and terrorists in the extreme refugee camps on both sides of the city, "Nur a-Shams" and Tulkarm refugee camp. About a year ago, terrorists from these camps attempted to launch rockets towards central Israel and plan attacks similar to October 7.
About an hour's drive north is the more significant hotspot. The Jenin Refugee Camp is an extreme slum in the heart of a beautiful city that, until the war, was an attractive destination for Palestinian and Israeli Arab students. Not far from where the American University is located, battles have been raging for nearly two years between a battalion of terrorists and security forces. In the past two months, both the Palestinian Authority and IDF forces have managed to carry out an exceptionally large-scale operation against the terrorists.
Operation Iron Wall is an opportunity to go back to basics and ask the obvious question – why has the northern Samaria region become a war zone, which, if not for the battles in Gaza and Lebanon, would have been considered the biggest hotbed of terrorism in the past year, and how did Jenin become a symbol of terror, even more so than Khan Yunis or Rafah?
A few months ago, I found myself in the heart of Jenin. It was immediately after Operation Summer Camps, led by the ID,F and before the Palestinian Authority's operation. In the square leading into the Jenin Refugee Camp, the epicenter of terrorist activity, stood pictures of terrorists eliminated by the IDF. This was not an unusual sight in a city that has become a symbol of terror in Judea and Samaria, and in one of the squares leading to the city, huge pictures of the two terrorists who murdered seven Israelis in an attack on the light rail in Tel Aviv a few weeks earlier were displayed. Welcome to the city of martyrs.
To understand what made Jenin such a terrorist hotbed, we need to go back 23 years to Operation Defensive Shield. These were the days of the Second Intifada, which claimed the lives of a thousand Israelis in severe suicide attacks. A suicide bomber entered the Park Hotel in Netanya during the Passover Seder celebration and blew himself up, killing 30 Israelis, including a father and daughter, several married couples, and 11 Holocaust survivors. Until October 7, this was the deadliest attack in the history of the State of Israel.
Following the attack, which was the peak of bloody months where there was almost a daily suicide bombing, the IDF launched Operation Defensive Shield. The toughest battle took place in the Jenin Refuge eCamp, where the terrorists were well-prepared, booby-trapped the place, and set up ambushes. The terrorists understood well that because there was a civilian population in the area, the IDF would not use artillery or air bombardment.
IDF forces conducted house-to-house combat with the support of combat helicopters, tanks, and armored bulldozers. The most brutal battle in Operation Defensive Shield took place in the refugee camp when a large force encountered an ambush of terrorists in a courtyard known as the "Bathtub," with 13 soldiers killed, and three bodies were taken by the terrorists, hidden, and then extracted by a force from the Shayetet 13 naval commando unit. In total, 23 Israeli soldiers were killed in the battles in Jenin, and between 52 and 56 Palestinians, most of them armed terrorists. Over the years, Palestinians claimed that a massacre took place there, but these claims were refuted. During the operation, which lasted ten days, many houses were destroyed as part of the battles.
In Jenin, unlike most of Judea and Samaria, they still remember those battles to this day and have turned them into a real ethos. The Jenin refugee camp is a severe slum that encourages violence and terror. The slums of the garden and commercial city nearby, a favela rife with bullying and unemployed young people highly incited against Israel, live on the myth of what happened during Operation Defensive Shield and the supposed "heroism" of the previous generation in the Second Intifada who fought against IDF forces, fueled by a history full of violence and hatred towards Jews.
In recent years, and even more so since October 7, these camp residents have become a real battalion. Unlike Hebron, Ramallah, or even Gaza, the terror forces unite as locals and not according to organizational affiliation such as Hamas or Islamic Jihad. They call themselves the Jenin Battalion, and they prove, at least for now, determination and willingness to harm Israelis despite IDF activity.
This is the second-largest refugee camp in the West Bank, after Balata in Nablus, and it was established in 1953. Exactly how many residents live there is unknown, but it could range anywhere between 11,000 and 16,000 people living in crowded and poor conditions. "Ibn al-Mukhayam," the young people call themselves - "sons of the camp." "The young generation does not recognize the Palestinian security forces or local leadership," say security sources.
The refugee camp established in 1953 strengthens and nurtures radical forces in the city over the years. Alongside the "heroes" of Operation Defensive Shield, they praise the native of the area, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, after whom Hamas' military wing is named, and Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, the spiritual teacher of Usama bin Laden, who was born in the Jenin area and was eliminated by the Soviets in Pakistan.
In recent years, and even more so since October 7, these camp residents have become a real battalion. Unlike Hebron, Ramallah, or even Gaza, the terror forces unite as locals and not according to organizational affiliation such as Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. They call themselves the Jenin Battalion, and they prove, at least for now, determination and willingness to harm Israelis despite IDF activity.
This is also the reason for Operation Iron Wall, which began in January and seems, on the face of it, to be a reality-changing operation. Last week, the IDF admitted for the first time the existence of the Jenin Battalion because only then could they declare that the goal is to eliminate it. The forces carried out exceptional military maneuvers, going house to house, searching for ammunition, and opening routes in the heart of the dense favela by demolishing houses to reach every place.
The operation extended to Tulkarm as well. The terror battalions in the city are a direct result of the Jenin refugee camp. For years, they saw their friends in Jenin as role models. They equipped themselves with weapons and explosives, which they planted under roads, waiting for IDF forces to arrive. Over the years, Tulkarm has become somewhat more dangerous than those in Jenin, partly because the city is in very close proximity to central Israel.
The IDF is now determined to regain control of the area, which until 2005 had a few isolated Israeli settlements and is now, to some extent, a large terror state. The Palestinian Authority shares this interest, wanting to establish governance in the area. The latter's concern is that they will completely lose control over the entire Judea and Samaria area, as Assad lost control in Syria, while the former's desire is to eradicate terror and bring it back to dimensions that can be handled with a jeep or two, instead of a brigade or more.
