Latest news with #BasheerMatahen
The National
30-04-2025
- Politics
- The National
Unprecedented Israeli military operation in Jenin enters 100th day
Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza The occupied West Bank on Wednesday marked 100 days since Israel launched an unprecedented invasion of Jenin's refugee camp in an ongoing military operation that has raised fears the territory faces the same horrors endured by Gaza since October 7, 2023. The 'Iron Wall' raid, which has been extended from Jenin to other West Bank cities in the north, has led to tens of thousands of people being displaced, adding further strain on local authorities and NGOs trying to meet the needs of those fleeing. The refugee camps under siege were already struggling with difficult living conditions and high unemployment rates, and have long produced Palestinian militants. "Jenin camp is completely uninhabitable due to the demolition of more than 600 houses," said Basheer Matahen, spokesman for Jenin municipality, said ahead of the 100-day mark. Israeli forces are also operating in the eastern area of Jenin, he added, and there were "displacement operations in the Zahra district". "The number of displaced people is 22,000," he said. Between January 1, just before Iron Wall began, and April 24, more than 90 per cent of 116 Palestinians killed were in the north of the region, according to the UN. Seven Israelis, five of them security personnel, have been killed in the same period. The Palestinian Authority, which is supposed to govern Jenin although it has lost almost all power there in recent years, launched its own operation in the camp at the end of last year. Jenin's mayor Mohammed Jarrar told The National that since 2021, the area has seen more than 104 major raids, which he defined as lasting for longer than two days. While the whole of the West Bank has seen increased military operations in recent years, the latest round is unprecedented in its duration and goals. Israeli forces have engaged in widespread destruction in an apparent bid to prevent people from returning, installed metal barriers to control access and widened the often narrow alleys of the camps to make future incursions easier for heavy vehicles. As the operation expanded to other camps in March, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said: "We are crushing the terrorist infrastructure in the refugee camps and preventing their return." Members of Israel's far-right coalition – many of whom live in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank – consistently call for heavy military action throughout Palestinian territories and for their country to annex the entire region. The UN says it is difficult to find an exact number of how many Palestinians have been displaced, 'partly due to continuous attempts by families to return to their homes, with many displaced multiple times'. But estimates have put the number in the tens of thousands. Palestinian Authority figures specified 46,000 on Monday. Israel has also cracked down on civil liberties in the region, including restricting the work of journalists. The UN reported last week that Israeli forces fired tear gas at reporters and confiscated their equipment. Fears are also growing for the well-being of veteran Jenin-based Palestinian journalist Ali Samoudi, who was detained by Israel in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Israel's military accused him of being a 'terrorist … who was identified with Islamic Jihad' and of transferring funds to the group, but Israel has provided no evidence. Mr Samoudi has worked for international outlets such as CNN and Reuters. At a memorial event for fallen Israeli soldiers on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "Thanks to the heroism of our fighters, we broke the stranglehold of our enemies: we did so in the south, in the north, in [the occupied West Bank] and on other fronts as well."
Gulf Today
25-02-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Today
Video: 40,000 Palestinians flee homes in West Bank as bulldozers demolish buildings
Israeli bulldozers have demolished large areas of the now virtually empty Jenin refugee camp and appear to be carving wide roadways through its once-crowded warren of alleyways, echoing tactics already employed in Gaza as troops prepare for a long-term stay. At least 40,000 Palestinians have left their homes in Jenin and the nearby city of Tulkarm in the northern West Bank since Israel began its operation just a day after reaching a ceasefire agreement in Gaza after 15 months of war. "Jenin is a repeat of what happened in Jabalia," said Basheer Matahen, spokesperson for the Jenin municipality, referring to the refugee camp in northern Gaza that was cleared out by the Israeli army after weeks of bitter fighting. "The camp has become uninhabitable." 12 bulldozers demolish houses He said at least 12 bulldozers were at work demolishing houses and infrastructure in the camp, once a crowded township that housed descendants of Palestinians who fled their homes or were driven out in the 1948 war in what Palestinians call the 'Nakba' or catastrophe at the start of the state of Israel. He said army engineering teams could be seen making preparations for a long-term stay, bringing water tanks and generators to a special area of almost one acre in size. No comment was immediately available from the Israeli military but on Sunday, Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered troops to prepare for "a prolonged stay", saying the camps had been cleared "for the coming year" and residents would not be allowed to return. The month-long operation in the northern West Bank has been one of the biggest seen since the Second Intifada uprising by Palestinians more than 20 years ago, involving several brigades of Israeli troops backed by drones, helicopters, and, for the first time in decades, heavy battle tanks. "There is a broad and ongoing evacuation of population, mainly in the two refugee camps, Nur Shams, near to Tulkarm and Jenin," said Michael Milshtein, a former military intelligence official who heads the Palestinian Studies Forum at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies. "I don't know what the broad strategy is but there's no doubt at all that we didn't see such a step in the past." The 'real intention' Israel launched the operation, saying it intended to take on Iranian-backed militant groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad that have been firmly implanted in the refugee camps for decades, despite repeated Israeli attempts to root them out. But as the weeks have gone on, Palestinians have said the real intention appears to be a large scale, permanent displacement of the population by destroying homes and making it impossible for them to stay. "Israel wants to erase the camps and the memory of the camps, morally and financially, they want to erase the name of refugees from the memory of the people," said 85-year-old Hassan al-Katib, who lived in the Jenin camp with 20 children and grandchildren before abandoning his house and all his possessions during the Israeli operation. Already, Israel has campaigned to undermine UNWRA, the main Palestinian relief agency, banning it from its former headquarters in East Jerusalem and ordering it to stop operations in Jenin. "We don't know what is the intention of the state of Israel. We know there's a lot of displacement out of the camps," said UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma, adding that refugees had the same status regardless of their physical location. 'Military operation' The camps, permanent symbols of the unresolved status of 5.9 Palestinian refugees, have been a constant target for Israel which says the refugee issue has hindered any resolution of the decades-long conflict. But it has always held back from clearing them permanently. On Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar denied that the operation in the West Bank had any wider purpose than combating militant groups. "It's military operations taking place there against terrorists, and no other objectives but that," he told reporters in Brussels where he met European Union officials in the EU-Israel Association Council. But many Palestinians see an echo of US President Donald Trump's call for Palestinians to be moved out of Gaza to make way for a US property development project, a call that was endorsed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet. Repeating Gaza tactics Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the operation in the northern West Bank appeared to be repeating tactics used in the Gaza, where Israeli troops systematically displaced thousands of Palestinians as they moved through the enclave. "We demand that the US administration force the occupation state to immediately stop the aggression it is waging on the cities of the West Bank," he said. Israeli hardliners inside and outside the government have called repeatedly for Israel to annex the West Bank, a kidney-shaped area around 100 kilometres long that Palestinians see as the core of a future independent state, along with Gaza. But pressure has been tempered by fears that outright annexation could sink prospects of building economic and security ties with Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, and face a veto by Israel's main ally, the United States. However, hardliners have been heartened by the large number of strongly pro-Israel figures in the new US administration and by Trump himself, who said earlier this month that he would announce his position on the West Bank within weeks.
Khaleej Times
25-02-2025
- Politics
- Khaleej Times
West Bank Palestinians fear Gaza-style clearance as Israel squeezes Jenin camp
Israeli bulldozers have demolished large areas of the now virtually empty Jenin refugee camp and appear to be carving wide roadways through its once-crowded warren of alleyways, echoing tactics already employed in Gaza as troops prepare for a long-term stay. At least 40,000 Palestinians have left their homes in Jenin and the nearby city of Tulkarm in the northern West Bank since Israel began its operation just a day after reaching a ceasefire agreement in Gaza after 15 months of war. "Jenin is a repeat of what happened in Jabalia," said Basheer Matahen, spokesperson for the Jenin municipality, referring to the refugee camp in northern Gaza that was cleared out by the Israeli army after weeks of bitter fighting. "The camp has become uninhabitable." He said at least 12 bulldozers were at work demolishing houses and infrastructure in the camp, once a crowded township that housed descendants of Palestinians who fled their homes or were driven out in the 1948 war in what Palestinians call the 'Nakba' or catastrophe at the start of the state of Israel. He said army engineering teams could be seen making preparations for a long-term stay, bringing water tanks and generators to a special area of almost one acre in size. No comment was immediately available from the Israeli military but on Sunday, Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered troops to prepare for "a prolonged stay", saying the camps had been cleared "for the coming year" and residents would not be allowed to return. The month-long operation in the northern West Bank has been one of the biggest seen since the Second Intifada uprising by Palestinians more than 20 years ago, involving several brigades of Israeli troops backed by drones, helicopters, and, for the first time in decades, heavy battle tanks. "There is a broad and ongoing evacuation of population, mainly in the two refugee camps, Nur Shams, near to Tulkarm and Jenin," said Michael Milshtein, a former military intelligence official who heads the Palestinian Studies Forum at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies. "I don't know what the broad strategy is but there's no doubt at all that we didn't see such a step in the past." Israel launched the operation, saying it intended to take on Iranian-backed militant groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad that have been firmly implanted in the refugee camps for decades, despite repeated Israeli attempts to root them out. But as the weeks have gone on, Palestinians have said the real intention appears to be a large scale, permanent displacement of the population by destroying homes and making it impossible for them to stay. "Israel wants to erase the camps and the memory of the camps, morally and financially, they want to erase the name of refugees from the memory of the people," said 85-year-old Hassan Al Katib, who lived in the Jenin camp with 20 children and grandchildren before abandoning his house and all his possessions during the Israeli operation. Already, Israel has campaigned to undermine UNWRA, the main Palestinian relief agency, banning it from its former headquarters in East Jerusalem and ordering it to stop operations in Jenin. "We don't know what is the intention of the state of Israel. We know there's a lot of displacement out of the camps," said UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma, adding that refugees enjoyed protected status regardless of their physical location. 'Military operation' The camps, permanent symbols of the unresolved status of 5.9 million Palestinian refugees, have been a constant target for Israel which says the refugee issue has hindered any resolution of the decades-long conflict. But it has always held back from clearing them permanently. On Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar denied that the operation in the West Bank had any wider purpose than combating militant groups. "It's military operations taking place there against terrorists, and no other objectives but that," he told reporters in Brussels where he met European Union officials in the EU-Israel Association Council. But many Palestinians see an echo of US President Donald Trump's call for Palestinians to be moved out of Gaza to make way for a US property development project, a call that was endorsed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the operation in the northern West Bank appeared to be repeating tactics used in the Gaza, where Israeli troops systematically displaced thousands of Palestinians as they moved through the enclave. "We demand that the US administration force the occupation state to immediately stop the aggression it is waging on the cities of the West Bank," he said. Israeli hardliners inside and outside the government have called repeatedly for Israel to annex the West Bank, a kidney-shaped area around 100 kilometres long that Palestinians see as the core of a future independent state, along with Gaza. But pressure has been tempered by fears that outright annexation could sink prospects of building economic and security ties with Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, and face a veto by Israel's main ally, the United States. However, hardliners have been heartened by the large number of strongly pro-Israel figures in the new US administration and by Trump himself, who said earlier this month that he would announce his position on the West Bank within weeks.
Asharq Al-Awsat
25-02-2025
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
West Bank Palestinians Fear Gaza-Style Clearance as Israel Squeezes Jenin Camp
Israeli bulldozers have demolished large areas of the now virtually empty Jenin refugee camp and appear to be carving wide roadways through its once-crowded warren of alleyways, echoing tactics already employed in Gaza as troops prepare for a long-term stay. At least 40,000 Palestinians have left their homes in Jenin and the nearby city of Tulkarm in the northern West Bank since Israel began its operation just a day after reaching a ceasefire agreement in Gaza after 15 months of war. "Jenin is a repeat of what happened in Jabalia," said Basheer Matahen, spokesperson for the Jenin municipality, referring to the refugee camp in northern Gaza that was cleared out by the Israeli army after weeks of bitter fighting. "The camp has become uninhabitable." He said at least 12 bulldozers were at work demolishing houses and infrastructure in the camp, once a crowded township that housed descendants of Palestinians who fled their homes or were driven out in the 1948 war in what Palestinians call the "Nakba" or catastrophe at the start of the state of Israel. He said army engineering teams could be seen making preparations for a long-term stay, bringing water tanks and generators to a special area of almost one acre in size. No comment was immediately available from the Israeli military but on Sunday, Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered troops to prepare for "a prolonged stay", saying the camps had been cleared "for the coming year" and residents would not be allowed to return. The month-long operation in the northern West Bank has been one of the biggest seen since the Second Intifada uprising by Palestinians more than 20 years ago, involving several brigades of Israeli troops backed by drones, helicopters, and, for the first time in decades, heavy battle tanks. "There is a broad and ongoing evacuation of population, mainly in the two refugee camps, Nur Shams, near to Tulkarm and Jenin," said Michael Milshtein, a former military intelligence official who heads the Palestinian Studies Forum at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies. "I don't know what the broad strategy is but there's no doubt at all that we didn't see such a step in the past." Israel launched the operation, saying it intended to take on Iranian-backed armed groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad that have been firmly implanted in the refugee camps for decades, despite repeated Israeli attempts to root them out. But as the weeks have gone on, Palestinians have said the real intention appears to be a large scale, permanent displacement of the population by destroying homes and making it impossible for them to stay. "Israel wants to erase the camps and the memory of the camps, morally and financially, they want to erase the name of refugees from the memory of the people," said 85-year-old Hassan al-Katib, who lived in the Jenin camp with 20 children and grandchildren before abandoning his house and all his possessions during the Israeli operation. Already, Israel has campaigned to undermine UNWRA, the main Palestinian relief agency, banning it from its former headquarters in East Jerusalem and ordering it to stop operations in Jenin. "We don't know what is the intention of the state of Israel. We know there's a lot of displacement out of the camps," said UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma, adding that refugees had the same status regardless of their physical location. 'MILITARY OPERATION' The camps, permanent symbols of the unresolved status of 5.9 million Palestinian refugees, have been a constant target for Israel which says the refugee issue has hindered any resolution of the decades-long conflict. But it has always held back from clearing them permanently. On Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar denied that the operation in the West Bank had any wider purpose than combating armed groups. "It's military operations taking place there against terrorists, and no other objectives but that," he told reporters in Brussels where he met European Union officials in the EU-Israel Association Council. But many Palestinians see an echo of US President Donald Trump's call for Palestinians to be moved out of Gaza to make way for a US property development project, a call that was endorsed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the operation in the northern West Bank appeared to be repeating tactics used in the Gaza, where Israeli troops systematically displaced thousands of Palestinians as they moved through the enclave. "We demand that the US administration force the occupation state to immediately stop the aggression it is waging on the cities of the West Bank," he said. Israeli hardliners inside and outside the government have called repeatedly for Israel to annex the West Bank, a kidney-shaped area around 100 kilometers long that Palestinians see as the core of a future independent state, along with Gaza. They have been heartened by the large number of strongly pro-Israel figures in the new US administration and by Trump himself, who said earlier this month that he would announce his position on the West Bank within weeks.
Al Arabiya
25-02-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Palestinians in West Bank fear Gaza-style demolition as Israel raids Jenin
Israeli bulldozers have demolished large areas of the now virtually empty Jenin refugee camp and appear to be carving wide roadways through its once-crowded warren of alleyways, echoing tactics already employed in Gaza as troops prepare for a long-term stay. At least 40,000 Palestinians have left their homes in Jenin and the nearby city of Tulkarm in the northern West Bank since Israel began its operation just a day after reaching a ceasefire agreement in Gaza after 15 months of war. 'Jenin is a repeat of what happened in Jabalia,' said Basheer Matahen, spokesperson for the Jenin municipality, referring to the refugee camp in northern Gaza that was cleared out by the Israeli army after weeks of bitter fighting. 'The camp has become uninhabitable.' He said at least 12 bulldozers were at work demolishing houses and infrastructure in the camp, once a crowded township that housed descendants of Palestinians who fled their homes or were driven out in the 1948 war in what Palestinians call the 'Nakba' or catastrophe at the start of the state of Israel. He said army engineering teams could be seen making preparations for a long-term stay, bringing water tanks and generators to a special area of almost one acre in size. No comment was immediately available from the Israeli military but on Sunday, Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered troops to prepare for 'a prolonged stay', saying the camps had been cleared 'for the coming year' and residents would not be allowed to return. The month-long operation in the northern West Bank has been one of the biggest seen since the Second Intifada uprising by Palestinians more than 20 years ago, involving several brigades of Israeli troops backed by drones, helicopters, and, for the first time in decades, heavy battle tanks. 'There is a broad and ongoing evacuation of population, mainly in the two refugee camps, Nur Shams, near to Tulkarm and Jenin,' said Michael Milshtein, a former military intelligence official who heads the Palestinian Studies Forum at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies. 'I don't know what the broad strategy is but there's no doubt at all that we didn't see such a step in the past.' Israel launched the operation, claimed it intended to take on Iranian-backed militant groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad that have been firmly implanted in the refugee camps for decades, despite repeated Israeli attempts to root them out. But as the weeks have gone on, Palestinians have said the real intention appears to be a large scale, permanent displacement of the population by destroying homes and making it impossible for them to stay. 'Israel wants to erase the camps and the memory of the camps, morally and financially, they want to erase the name of refugees from the memory of the people,' said 85-year-old Hassan al-Katib, who lived in the Jenin camp with 20 children and grandchildren before abandoning his house and all his possessions during the Israeli operation. Already, Israel has campaigned to undermine UNWRA, the main Palestinian relief agency, banning it from its former headquarters in East Jerusalem and ordering it to stop operations in Jenin. 'We don't know what is the intention of the state of Israel. We know there's a lot of displacement out of the camps,' said UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma, adding that refugees had the same status regardless of their physical location. 'Military operation' The camps, permanent symbols of the unresolved status of 5.9 Palestinian refugees, have been a constant target for Israel which says the refugee issue has hindered any resolution of the decades-long conflict. But it has always held back from clearing them permanently. On Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar denied that the operation in the West Bank had any wider purpose than combating militant groups. 'It's military operations taking place there against terrorists, and no other objectives but that,' he told reporters in Brussels where he met European Union officials in the EU-Israel Association Council. But many Palestinians see an echo of US President Donald Trump's call for Palestinians to be moved out of Gaza to make way for a US property development project, a call that was endorsed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the operation in the northern West Bank appeared to be repeating tactics used in the Gaza, where Israeli troops systematically displaced thousands of Palestinians as they moved through the enclave. 'We demand that the US administration force the occupation state to immediately stop the aggression it is waging on the cities of the West Bank,' he said. Israeli hardliners inside and outside the government have called repeatedly for Israel to annex the West Bank, a kidney-shaped area around 100 kilometers long that Palestinians see as the core of a future independent state, along with Gaza. But pressure has been tempered by fears that outright annexation could sink prospects of building economic and security ties with Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, and face a veto by Israel's main ally, the United States. However, hardliners have been heartened by the large number of strongly pro-Israel figures in the new US administration and by Trump himself, who said earlier this month that he would announce his position on the West Bank within weeks.
