RAMALLAH – According to statements by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Settlement Minister Orit Strock and other officials, among the goals of the raid into the Jenin camp are: restoring the equation of deterrence, achieving freedom of movement for the Israeli army in the camp and security for settlers on the roads, and "destroying the infrastructure of terrorism and the production of explosives."
According to two experts who spoke to Al Jazeera Net, given the result of the break-in, the end was a "major scandal" and constituted a "total failure" according to the data on the ground in the political and military senses, which created a new situation and equation that came out of the camp stronger than before.
At dawn last Monday, the occupation army stormed Jenin camp, in its largest operation since Operation Defensive Wall in 2002, and more than 3,200 soldiers, <> military vehicles and dozens of aircraft participated in the storming.
At dawn on Wednesday, the army withdrew from the city and its camp under fire, leaving 12 martyrs and about 120 wounded, and massive destruction of homes and infrastructure.
The moment of detonating an explosive device in a Zionist pocket in #جنين
The cost of storming #مخيم_حنين has become difficult for the Israeli forces. #جنين_البطولة #جنين_تقاوم #فلسطين_قضية_الشرفاء pic.twitter.com/nvz4JTd9mV
— Jaber Al-Harami (@jaberalharmi) July 4, 2023
Escape under fire
Khalil Shaheen, director of research at the Palestinian Center for Strategic Studies and Research, said the stated goals of the Israeli side are "large and of a strategic nature."
He added that the goal of "restoring deterrence" came after its erosion, especially after the battle of Jenin on June 19 / June / last year and the damage of the "tiger" vehicle and the injury of a helicopter with bullets, in a scene that remained present in the minds of the leaders of the military and political institutions in Israel, but this was not achieved due to the losses of the army during its withdrawal.
The goal of maintaining the ability to free movement for the army without any resistance in Jenin, in terms of the possibility of storming and entering and leaving the city and the camp, means eliminating the resistance, he said, but it has failed miserably.
#جنين the factory of men and the lions 💪' den pic.twitter.com/YdI81IKAwu
— #سعوديون_مع_الاقصى (@Saudis2018) July 4, 2023
Shaheen says the army first talked about pursuing 350 Palestinian militants, then dropped to 160, and in fact killed 12 Palestinians, including children.
As for the goal of "maintaining a safe environment" for settlers and preventing shooting at them and on the roads they pass through, it was the opposite, and shootings increased during the raid, according to Shaheen.
The Palestinian analyst believes that the Israeli operation "is completely a failure in the military sense, and we have seen a withdrawal under fire akin to escape, during which a soldier was killed and others were wounded, in a resounding scandal for the army and its leaders."
What heart do you carry, young Jenin, while you face with your simple weapon, the greatest evil force in this world!!
How great is your reward!! pic.twitter.com/cLZLE9YjsK
— Jihad Hiles, Gaza (@Jhkhelles) July 3, 2023
"The army, which is looking for freedom of movement, has not been able to advance in the camp, and its operations have been limited to less than a square kilometre southwest of the camp, and the Jenin battalion has regained the initiative and continued to launch attacks," he said.
He pointed to leaks that pre-empted the withdrawal, talking about recommendations from the military level that the operation should end because it did not achieve its goals, and that "the army went to restore deterrence and came out in a humiliating manner, and more damage in deterrence."
A solemn funeral to bid farewell to the martyrs of the occupation aggression in Jenin refugee camp pic.twitter.com/WwDDQlscx1
— Shujaiya (@shejae3a) July 5, 2023
The significance of Gaza rockets
Reading the firing of five rockets from the Gaza Strip at the end of the operation, Shaheen said it was a blow to Netanyahu, who stated that Hamas and Islamic Jihad had been deterred and had received a severe blow.
"The resistance in Gaza reminded him that it was present and that it could have intervened from the beginning, but it waited until they were valiantly repelled in Jenin," he said.
Shaheen believes that "what has been achieved is the opposite of what the political and military institutions in Israel wanted, as the resistance did not end and the resisters continued to shoot throughout the period of the raid, and then the process of trampling and stabbing in Tel Aviv came as a result of that operation," pointing out that while the military elite went to the Jenin camp, one Palestinian managed to inflict the largest number of casualties among Israelis in Tel Aviv.
"IDF begins withdrawal from Jenin area 48 hours after operation"
Failed to achieve the goals pic.twitter.com/YgZBgCApwy
— Hanzala (@Hanzpal2) July 4, 2023
Will the army swallow the bitterness of defeat?
Regarding the shape of Israel's future dealings with the Jenin camp, Shaheen believes that it is difficult for him to swallow the bitterness of this defeat, and he will try to restore the image of deterrence, even if nominally, by trying to harm the resistance fighters or achieve a "valuable catch" through the air or special units, because the ground progress has become very costly and counterproductive.
However, he does not rule out the continuation of the incursions and attempts to enter Jenin or parts of it in a way that puts pressure on the camp from its outskirts, and here he refers to caveats related to the IEDs, "which now create a state of deterrence for the forces, and anxiety and fear among the soldiers who hid in homes and did not dare to take to the streets."
At the level of Palestinian factions, Shaheen said that the battle showed the extent of the development of the capabilities of the Jenin battalion and the resistance in general, in terms of planning, organization, tools, especially machine guns and the use of improvised explosive devices, pointing out that the army failed to find weapons stores or large devices, and what it displayed is locally called "elbows", and can be manufactured from the youngest boys and in hours.
And they ask you about #مخيم_جنين, and say: The resisters found this message in one of his⬇️ houses pic.twitter.com/69b5fd4NQp
— Sri Sammour (@SariSammour) July 4, 2023
A message to popular incubators
Palestinian writer and blogger Sri Sammour, who is from Jenin refugee camp and has lived closely with the Israeli incursion, said the occupation army used the term "deterrence" without specifying its concept or criterion.
Sammour added in his speech to Al Jazeera Net that "the occupation vowed not to make the camp a hotbed of terrorism, as described, but did not reach the wanted and armed and this is certain, and withdrew under bullets, and his last hours were the most severe in the confrontation, punctuated by the killing of one of his soldiers."
The Israeli army tried to search for a "picture of victory" by publishing pictures of tunnels or elbows (local bombs) at times, and at other times by posting a group photo of soldiers at the entrance to the camp.
Saraya #القدس: The performance of the resisters during the aggression on #جنين reflects the development of the performance of the resistance and benefiting from past experiences, and the blood of the martyrs will be a motive for the continuation of the occupation fight #News pic.twitter.com/rdo0M8Cdhf
— Al Jazeera (@AJArabic) July 5, 2023
The spokesman stressed that the destruction of infrastructure and the expulsion and prosecution of the popular incubator of the resistance carries a message to the people of the camp and its residents, that whoever walks the path of resistance or provides a working environment and protection for the resistance will be homeless and without the necessities of life such as water and electricity, and their homes and streets will be destroyed.
He added that the occupation also wanted to deliver a veiled message to the rest of the popular incubators in the West Bank in order to deter them from turning into incubators for the resistance, so the response came in the form of support campaigns for Jenin camp, explaining that what distinguishes Jenin camp from others is that it "provides the resistance with freedom of movement with weapons and freedom of communication and the establishment of checkpoints, and it was a haven for many of the perpetrators of operations recently, and this is not available elsewhere."