Since operation Defensive Shield in 2002 saw the IDF enter Palestinian cities in Judea and Samaria and eradicate Hamas and Islamic Jihad's terrorist infrastructure to end the Second Intifada, the Palestinian terrorist group have been sparing no effort to rebuild their abilities in the West Bank so as to targets Israeli soldiers and civilians in and beyond the Green Line.
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At the same time, the IDF and the defense establishment are working to undermine any terrorist infrastructure that tries to rear its head in Judea and Samaria, with most of the activity focused on the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank, Hebron in its south, and Ramallah's refugee camps.
Israel's success in arresting most terrorist operatives and the failure of Palestinian terrorist organizations to restore their military infrastructure throughout the West Bank is primarily related to quality intelligence gathering and analysis by the defense establishment.
However, said intelligence gathering and its translation into successful military operations in Judea and Samaria could not be carried out well without the intelligence coordination and security cooperation Israel maintains with the Palestinian Authority security forces and their chief of the Palestinian Authority and Maj. Gen. Majed Faraj, head of the PA's General Intelligence Service.
Faraj resolutely leads security cooperation with Israel, despite the political stalemate between Ramallah and Jerusalem over the past decade.
Israeli defense officials understand the importance of the security cooperation with the PA and Faraj understands that serious national risk posed to the Palestinian Authority and its institutions from these terrorist groups, which are vigorously striving to rehabilitate the terrorist infrastructure in the refugee camps, cities and towns in the West Bank.
Hamas has spared no effort to ensure its propaganda pushed the narrative that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his security forces are collaborating with Israel, thus going against the Palestinian interest.
The Palestinian security forces drew massive criticism during the manhunt for Palestinian fugitives earlier this month and even more so after their capture, and were lambasted again in the wake of the counterterrorism raid in Jenin on Sunday, which left four Hamas operatives dead.
The IDF's preparations for the possibility that Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other armed Palestinian factions in Gaza will respond to the raid with rocket fire is justified, but despite the heavy price paid by Hamas it is unlikely that Gaza's rulers, or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, seek to provoke a full-scale conflict – as evident by statements by their officials.
At the same time, Hamas sees such developments as a golden opportunity to continue to erode and undermine the legitimacy of Abbas' rule, and label them as collaborating with "the Zionist occupation forces" – all with the aim of serving Hamas leadership's master plan to seize power in the West Bank.
And what more do you need than an unpopular leader who has not stood the test of a public vote in 15 years, dissolved the elected parliament years ago and time and again cancels the presidential and parliamentary elections?
It seems that Hamas, too, has learned when to keep quiet and let the other side make its mistakes. If Abbas and his security forces are perceived by the Palestinian public as collaborating with Israel that day when we have to face Hamas' rule in the West Bank will not be far away.
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