Israel has invested a great deal of effort in attempts to calm tensions in Samaria following an incident in which two Palestinian Authority policemen were killed by IDF gunfire in Jenin. The Israel Defense Forces have begun investigating the operation, which escalated into a gunfight between the officers and an Israeli counterterrorism unit that acted to arrest two suspects believed to have been involved in recent shooting attacks out of fear the terrorists would ramp up their activity and end up taking Israelis' lives.
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Given the threat posed by the suspects, who behaved suspiciously and frequently changed their addresses, the counterterrorism unit along with the Shin Bet security agency's operational unit were tasked with making the arrests. The arrests were to be carried out by undercover units disguised as Arabs so that they could sneak up on the suspects. The operation was not coordinated with the Palestinian Authority's security mechanisms out of concern they would leak the information and thwart the suspects' arrest.
The arrest itself was not out of the ordinary. Suspects often decide to fight back in the hope of avoiding arrest. That's what happened Thursday; one of them was shot and killed, while the other was wounded and arrested. However, shooters then opened fire on the IDF forces from an area next to a building serving Palestinian security forces a few dozen meters (yards) away.
Military sources said the gunfire put the counterterrorism operatives at risk, and as a result, they were forced to respond with immediate fire; a sniper with the unit sniper fired at the Palestinians, killing two of them and wounding a third.
The investigation into the incident will seek to answer a few central questions: Did the Palestinian officers understand this was an IDF operation, and if so, why did they shoot? Was the counterterrorism unit aware Palestinian officers were in the vicinity, and if so, what did they do to limit the risk? Could the operation have been coordinated with them in real-time?
In response to claims made in Jenin, Thursday, that the Palestinian officers responded with gunfire after coming under fire from the counterterrorism unit, an IDF official said its force was under immediate threat and acted out of self-defense. The Israeli version sounds more credible because, in operations of this kind, the force will try to return to Israeli territory as soon as the objective has been met and before additional threats – whether they be gunfire or riots – that threaten the force and could lead to an escalation develop. The permanent directive for forces operating inside Area A is not to make contact with Palestinian security forces, so a trained unit like the counterterrorism unit is unlikely to have knowingly deviated from it.
Calls for revenge in Jenin and Nablus
It's safe to assume the IDF will present the conclusions of its investigations to the Palestinians as soon as possible as part of efforts to calm tensions there. In Jenin and Nablus, where the Palestinian officers killed in the incident resided, there were calls for revenge. The concern is a variety of individuals, from Palestinian security officials, members of the Tanzim grassroots offshoot of Fatah, to Hamas members that would like to take advantage of the incident to raise tensions in the West Bank could carry out attacks.
On the face of things, the Palestinian Authority has a clear interest in calming tensions. The last operation in the Gaza Strip seriously bolstered Hamas, and without Israeli security support, the PA could immediately collapse. It's therefore doubtful it would risk a confrontation with the IDF. On the other hand, a majority of potential successors to PA President Mahmoud Abbas are toying with the possibility of a future political partnership with Hamas and could now try to prove to the Palestinian street that they are no less militant than the terrorist group.
In the meantime, IDF officials have decided not to reinforce forces in the West Bank. Nevertheless, a military official called the situation there "volatile" given, among other things, the developing confrontation on the illegal outpost of Evyatar: In recent weeks, thousands of Palestinians have protested in the area, with things escalating each week that passes (to the point where two protesters were killed by IDF gunfire), among other things, at the encouragement of the PA.
Tensions in the West Bank were also the focus of defense officials' recommendations not to authorize the "flag march" that had been planned for Thursday following concerns tensions could flare anew in the South and in mixed Jewish-Arab cities. This hot potato is now rolling over to the doorstop of the new government, which won't have the luxury of one minute of grace and will need to make an immediate decision as to how it plans to act vis-à-vis the Palestinian arena and its many components.
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