Israel destroys the refugee camp in Jenin. Why?
One would have to be an historian and a mathematician to compile the full list of every terrorist attack emanating from the Jenin refugee camp, of every bombmaking factory discovered and destroyed there, of every Israeli killed by Palestinian terrorists holed up there, of every Palestinian killed there for having been put in harm’s way by neighboring Palestinian terrorists, of every successful and unsuccessful preemptive Israeli attack on a “ticking bomb” there — and of every illusion of the end of Israel nurtured there for five generations dedicated to hopelessness.
After Israel’s post-Oct. 7, 2023 discovery of miles upon miles of underground terror tunnels in Gaza, Israel learned that the dimensions of the threat against its existence were far more extensive than it knew. Israel’s vaunted intelligence missed not only the signs of the Hamas attack but of its military strength. So Israel asked ask itself two questions:
• Are we making the same mistake as we made in Gaza by limiting our response to the terror emanating from the West Bank — limiting our response, always letting the hate fester and always affording the opportunity for the haters to rearm and come back to fight another day?
• How strong are Hamas and its allies on the West Bank?
Since last January, Israel changed course. The refugee camp in Jenin is now empty. Terror tunnels have been discovered there and are being destroyed. The jam-packed homes and narrow alleyways — perfect hiding places for terrorists planning attacks — have now been demolished or widened. Jenin as a potential origin site of terror attacks on Israelis is now greatly diminished. The local population has been dispersed — exclusively above ground — to nearby sites, such as the Arab-American University campus, closed since Hamas launched the current war on Oct. 7, 2023.
The emptying of the Jenin refugee camp is a very unfortunate and ugly reality stemming from a Palestinian ideology of hate and an illusion of Israel’s end.
The terrorists in Jenin’s camp were enemies not only of Israel but of the Palestinian Authority. Last December, the PA, sensing its own existence threatened by the terrorists of Jenin, launched its own military attempt to end the Hamas presence there. ThePA failed. Hence, Israel’s stronger and more successful effort. Once again, Israel has done other entities’ dirty work.
For all the mourning and anti-Israel posturing by the Jenin camp’s former residents, many of them know that they too were targets of the Jenin terrorists.
Not all former residents of the Jenin camp were terrorists. They just wanted to live a normal life. While mosques were used as shooting positions, the Jenin camp also had ordinary shops. Their proprietors lived under threat — Palestinian terrorists’ threat, both directly and, via Israel’s self-defense, indirectly. Now the reality is different. Perhaps for former residents of the Jenin camp a better day can yet come.
© IJN 2025
