Israel has been attacking the occupied West Bank in the last month, apparently to “appease far-right Israeli politicians angered by the ceasefire” in Gaza and to start “redefining Israeli control and potentially integrating elements of Palestinian Authority security forces into an Israeli-dominated framework”.
So far, the offensive has killed dozens of people and displaced over 40,000 more. And Israeli occupation forces have just sent tanks into Jenin city, which is home to many refugee families from the Nakba ethnic cleansing campaign of the late 1940s. Weeks before this campaign, the Palestinian Authority – which coordinates with Israeli occupiers – had already been cracking down on dissidents in Jenin.
The former had sparked a response from the latter following “a wave of arrests”. One spokesperson for the latter said they were “defending themselves, their families, and their community, in the absence of anyone to defend them, and not once have they lifted a gun against their own people or against the Palestinian authority”. The Jenin Brigade (or batallion) is a resistance coalition consisting of different groups that formed in 2021 “as a result of repeated Israeli raids”.
The Palestinian Authority’s crackdown on largely popular resistance groups may please Israel and the West, but it has further alienated many local people. Critics accuse the Palestinian Authority of “doing the dirty work of the genocidal occupier”. And one video this week has sparked outrage for its portrayal of the Palestinian Authority “employing Israeli military tactics” to humiliate an alleged fighter during his arrest:
A video circulating online showed the moment Mahmoud Jabarin, who is also wanted by Israel, was detained by Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces.
Sparking outrage online, social media users accused the PA of employing Israeli military tactics during Jabarin's arrest pic.twitter.com/vpoNqr3bt2
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) February 26, 2025
Palestinian Authority complicity in Israel’s occupation
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) made it clear in 2024 that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal and must stop.
As the Canary has reported, however, the Palestinian Authority rulers of the occupied West Bank have continued their complicity with Israeli repression. Police recently arrested prominent Al Jazeera reporter Givara Budeiri and her cameraperson, for example, as they were reporting on Israel’s release of a group of Palestinian hostages. It has also suspended Al Jazeera‘s broadcasting in parts of the West Bank, apparently to try and silence criticism of its recent crackdown.
The establishment of the Palestinian Authority in the 1990s hasn’t led to peace or justice for Palestinians. It has simply bought Israel time to undertake more and more illegal land grabs in Palestinian territory, while establishing a corrupt and authoritarian regime that has no meaningful power and essentially works like “the Bantustans of apartheid-era South Africa”. As a result:
Many perceive the body as a tool of the Israeli security apparatus, its US-trained forces not only targeting those suspected of planning attacks on Israelis, but also arresting union figures, journalists and critics on social media.
The Palestinian Authority’s crackdown on dissidents in recent months seems very like a desperate attempt to ensure its own power as “the main “subcontractor and collaborator” for the Israeli occupation”. Despite this complicity, however, Israel still looks down on the Palestinian Authority. And if the Palestinian Authority’s current levels of repression continue, alongside Israel’s own intensifying efforts to exert greater control over the West Bank, a mass popular uprising may well be on the cards.
Featured image via the Canary
