More and more members of Palestinian security forces directly attacking IDF

This morning, an IDF soldier was shot and killed by two Palestinian militants during an arrest operation.

One of the terrorists, Ahmed Abed, worked for the Palestinian Authority security forces.

Both of the terrorists, who appear to be relatives, were claimed by Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

There has been a significant increase in Palestinian Authority forces directly attacking Israel in recent months. Under signed agreements, the Palestinian police and security forces are supposed to work with Israeli security to arrest and imprison terrorists - but lately they have become the terrorists.

Joe Truzman writes in the Long War Journal:

Since last year, IDF troops have increasingly engaged in armed clashes with members of the Palestinian Authority Security Services (PSS) in the West Bank. In some cases, PSS members belonged to militant organizations.

The trend began in June 2021 when two members of the PA’s military intelligence, Adham Tawfiq and Tayseer Issa, were killed after they fired at Israeli special forces who were attempting to arrest Jamil al-Amouri, a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Jenin.

In May 2022, IDF troops arrested an officer of the PA’s Palestinian Preventative Corps during an anti-terrorism raid near Jenin. Three months later, Israeli forces arrested a member of the PA’s customs police after a lengthy armed clash in the town of Rujeib, near the city of Nablus. 

In late July, a Palestinian police officer named Mahmoud Hujeer, fired at Israeli troops at the Huwarra checkpoint in the West Bank. Hujeer was arrested after he was critically injured during the attack.

Other examples involve militants and their supporters working for the PSS. In May, Dawood Zubeidi, a member of the PSS, was shot and wounded in Jenin by Israeli forces during an anti-terrorism raid. He later died in an Israeli hospital and was lauded by al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades as a commander belonging to the organization.  

The evidence suggests the PA is ostensibly losing control of its security services. While the number of PSS members launching attacks against IDF troops has not reached the level of the second intifada, the upward trend should be noted. Adding to the PA’s problems is the erosion of its authority in pockets of the West Bank.

The question is whether this is the PA losing control - or making an active decision to play both sides of the fence. The public appearances of Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in recent months indicates that this might be an conscious decision to go back to Yasir Arafat's game of controlling both the "good guys" and "bad guys" and telling the West that he needs more help to control his own terrorists.

Just as Hamas policemen are also members of Hamas' terrorist Al Qassam Brigades, Palestinian Authority policemen are members of Fatah's terror group (that was supposed to have been dismantled 15 years ago.) 

It is also possible that this is part of the larger fight of who is to succeed Mahmoud Abbas, and that these "rogue" militants are being led by one of the aspiring new Palestinian leaders.

The trend of Palestinian security forces attacking the IDF has also been noted approvingly in Palestinian media, some of whom call for a new violent intifada led by the Palestinians who were armed by the West. From an Amad editorial:

The developments that characterized the act of resistance in recent months are the practical participation of the Palestinian security forces as a vital and active part...Those services and their sons, who fought with a people and under the leadership of the Founder, the longest military confrontation with the army of the national enemy for 4 years from 2000 to 2004, confirmed that the conflict will not be without the Palestinian’s right to his full national entity,...

This is a difficult and complex situation. 

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