Israeli newspapers analyzed and commented on the military operation carried out by the Israeli occupation army in Jenin yesterday and the Palestinian resistance's response to it, saying that Jenin is increasingly looking like Gaza, and warned of what is expected after the absence of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Yedioth Ahronoth (YNET News) said in a report that the explosion of Panther armored vehicles in Jenin yesterday was not the result of a planned ambush, but rather the result of placing explosive devices along the exit routes from Jenin, so it is critical to conduct an urgent investigation amid the intelligence failure to uncover the locations of these devices, especially given the possible escalation in future operations.
Innovative Palestinian Tactics
The newspaper added that it is certain that the Palestinians in the Jenin area devised effective tactics and strategies to confront the IDF's raids and obstruct its operations, and achieved this goal by detonating explosive devices targeting the Panther tankers carrying a team of border guards and special forces of the Israeli army.
This incident reveals that there was no intelligence breach regarding operational planning, but that local Palestinian cells were carefully studying the routes used by the Israeli occupation army to enter and exit the area over the past year, and similar improvised explosive devices were found near Nablus.
Why Jenin?
The placement of IEDs is primarily aimed at harming departing forces once their mission in the area has been completed, she said, adding that this phenomenon is notably absent in other areas of the West Bank, where the presence of PA security forces makes a large part of IDF counter-operations futile.
Yedioth Ahronoth stressed that the Jenin area remains challenging, as PA security forces were unwilling or unable to confront local militants, leaving the Israeli occupation army to gather intelligence and launch operations.
To prevent the spread of the "chaos" of Jenin to the south
Haaretz also reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and settlers are pushing for a major military operation in the West Bank to seize the area, but the IDF is reluctant, and the Shin Bet has expressed cautious support for the move, fearing that the Jenin chaos could spread to the south, and Chief of Staff Herzl Halevy believes this is enough to keep the violence at an "acceptable" level.
The Jerusalem Post commented that yesterday's Jenin clashes marked a major escalation by Palestinian militants against Israel and highlighted the Palestinian Authority's failure to rein in the growing "chaos" in the West Bank.
In an analysis, she warned that Jenin and surrounding areas cannot be allowed to become another Gaza, where Palestinians store weapons, manufacture improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and pose other forms of threats.
It is essential to continue to highlight this threat to Israel's allies in the West, she said, noting that the PA's recent outreach to China may be an attempt to secure new sponsors.
Post-Abbas
The Jerusalem Post called on all Israelis to look at what happened in Jenin to see what awaits them the day after Abbas's absence, saying that the Israeli army always faces some resistance: shooting, firebombs, heavy objects falling from rooftops, a barrage of rocks, but what happened in Jenin yesterday – where the Palestinian Authority lost control – is a horrific spectacle of what may appear across the West Bank the day after the PA president is unable to perform his duties.
If the PA's deficit is now concentrated in Jenin and the northern West Bank, it will spread across the territories when Abbas leaves the scene.
Jenin looks more and more like Gaza and Lebanon
Palestinians view yesterday's fighting between Israeli occupation soldiers and Palestinian militants in Jenin as a sign of the IDF's "weakness" vis-à-vis the armed groups that have emerged in the northern West Bank over the past 18 months, which is also seen as an indicator of Palestinian armed groups' success in improving and developing their military capabilities and war tactics.
These groups seem to have gained considerable experience as a result of almost daily clashes with Israeli forces, and their operations have come to give the impression that IDF operations, which began several months ago, have failed to eliminate armed groups, whose operations are also creating the impression that certain parts of the West Bank, particularly Jenin, are beginning to resemble the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, where the IDF has faced similar tactics by Palestinian factions and Hezbollah.