In the early morning hours of Monday, 3 July 2023, Zionist forces began invading and assaulting Jenin city and refugee camp with a massive military presence involving 1,000 soldiers and at least 150 armored Caterpillar bulldozers, armed drones, armored vehicles and aerial military equipment. The aim of these attacks is to target the growing Palestinian resistance with deep roots in Jenin, that has created a new reality on the ground in the northern West Bank of occupied Palestine that is no longer under the control of the Zionist occupation or the proxy Palestinian Authority.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network joins with our comrades in the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, in calling upon “all solidarity forces and liberation movements around the world to begin organizing activities and demonstrations to support our Palestinian people and their heroic resistance in Jenin camp and city. The Palestinian people in the homeland and in exile and diaspora are united around the valiant resistance that is currently confronting the brutal Zionist-U.S. aggression, and is confirming with its blood and bullets its ability to confront the attack.”
Glory to the Martyrs, Freedom to the Prisoners!
This attack on Jenin has so far claimed the lives of 11 Palestinian martyrs:
- Majdi Younis Araarawi (17 years old)
- Owais Hani Hanoun (19 years old)
- Hussam Mohammed Abu Zeib (18 years old)
- Nour al-Din Hussam Marshoud (16 years old)
- Ali Hani al-Ghoul (17 years old)
- Samih Firas Abu al-Wafa (20 years old)
- Ahmed Mohammed al-Amer (21 years old)
- Mohammed Mohannad al-Shami (23 years old)
- Mustafa Nedal Qasem (17 years old)
- Oday Ibrahim Khamayseh
- and Mohammed Imad Hasanein (21 years old), who was shot by occupation forces at the northern entrance of Al-Bireh, Ramallah.
The strugglers of the resistance are fighting and sacrificing their very lives not only to defend Jenin camp but to advance Palestinian liberation.
Confronting the Ongoing Nakba
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, over 100 Palestinians have been wounded in Jenin. Occupation bulldozers have cut deep swaths through the streets of Jenin, destroying vehicles and property, while over 500 Palestinian families — already refugees — have been forcibly evacuated from their homes in the Jenin refugee camp. The Red Crescent stated that this includes over 3,000 individuals, who have continued to come under attack by occupation forces amid this example of ongoing Nakba.
Occupation forces have rounded up hundreds of Palestinians from the streets of Jenin, throwing them into jeeps and cars and interrogating them, and engaging in mass arrests in an effort to target the resistance. Palestinians seized by occupation forces in such an attack are frequently subjected to physical and psychological torture and abuse.
The occupation forces have blocked Palestinian ambulances from reaching the wounded, while their drones have targeted homes and residences, mosques, and the Freedom Theatre of Jenin.
The Rising Resistance
At the same time, the resistance — who have dubbed this battle, “Fury of Jenin” — continues to fight back and to hold their ground in the besieged Jenin camp. Several Israeli military drones have been shot down, occupation soldiers have been ambushed by resistance fighters, and multiple military vehicles have been exploded, damaged and destroyed by explosives and roadside bombs of the resistance forces. As in Gaza, the escalated use of aerial bombing and assassination indicates that the resistance has in many ways made it impossible for occupation soldiers to enter on the ground.
Inside Palestine, demonstrators have taken to the streets in cities throughout the West Bank, Gaza Strip and occupied Palestine ’48. Palestinians are confronting occupation forces at areas throughout the West Bank, while resistance forces unleashed explosions on the so-called colonial “border fence” surrounding Gaza.
Imperialist Crimes in Jenin
Emergency demonstrations are being organized in cities and towns around the world to demand an end to this aggression. In the meantime, the full complicity and involvement of imperialist powers — particularly the United States — in the attack on Jenin is perhaps best made clear by Zionist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as he spoke to the 4th of July celebration at the U.S. embassy in occupied Jerusalem today, declaring:
“America has provided Israel with moral and political backing against those who would wipe us out, the only Jewish state..Security cooperation has never been better, intelligence sharing has never been deeper.” He boasted about the attack on Jenin and its civilian refugee population: “As I speak, our troops are battling the terrorists…There are no sanctuaries for terrorists – not in Gaza, not in Judea and Samaria, not anywhere.”
The United States provides the Israeli regime with over $4 billion in military aid annually, and is joined in this economic, military, diplomatic and political aid by its imperialist cohorts in the United Kingdom, the European Union states, Canada, Australia and elsewhere, which continue to maintain trade privileges and military alliances with the occupation while suppressing organizing for justice in Palestine in their own countries.
The Prisoners’ Movement: Revolutionary Bonds
As always, the prisoners’ movement is in the heart of the resistance. Jenin is home to many martyrs and prisoners who have sacrificed dearly for the liberation of Palestine and continue to do so on a daily basis. Jenin is, of course, home to the six Palestinian prisoners of the Freedom Tunnel operation, who liberated themselves from the occupation’s high security Gilboa prison in 2021. The self-liberation of these prisoners is deeply connected to the ongoing resistance in Jenin, with the name “Jenin Brigade” applying to both.
Among other targets, occupation forces invaded the home of Zakaria Zubeidi, one of the six strugglers of the Freedom Tunnel. The attack on and occupation of Zakaria Zubeidi’s home is a deliberate attack on Palestinian prisoners and an attempt to hit the morale of the resistance.
Randa Musa, the widow of Khader Adnan, the Palestinian prisoner movement martyr from Jenin whose life was taken on 2 May 2023 after 86 days of hunger strike, said: “There is a generation in Jenin seeking to avenge their fathers; children whose fathers were killed by the occupation in 2002 who have now grown up.” She emphasized the importance of supporting the resistance in Jenin, emphasizing that the people in resistance will not be defeated and are engaged in an exceptionally heroic battle. “What is happening is a test for all of our people in the West Bank.”
Mustafa Sheta, former Palestinian prisoner and director of the Freedom Theatre, echoed this sentiment: ” Buildings may crumble, cars may be reduced to wreckage, and countless individuals may be detained, wounded and even martyred. However,these actions will only serve to breed a new generation that will carry the torch of resistancepassed down by those who came before them, as we do today, and as our children will do in the future. It is a relentless pursuit, driven by the aspiration to reclaim our land and restore the dignity of every human being.”
Zionist Crisis and PA Complicity
The Israeli regime has attempted to shatter the Palestinian resistance and its broad, nurturing popular cradle in Jenin through massacres and colonial violence. It has been shaken by the reality that it is losing its grip over Jenin and the entire northern West Bank as the resistance has grown, developed itself and enhanced its capacities to defend their people and fight for freedom. Further, the fascist forces around Netanyahu, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir are attempting to displace the ongoing internal crisis of the Zionist project into yet another brutal assault on the Palestinian people.
While the Zionist assault and the regime’s fascist leadership are backed by imperialist forces, the Palestinian Authority has remained subservient, issuing statements of condemnation while directing its security forces to stand aside and allow the occupation forces to invade and rampage against Jenin. PA forces have even arrested Murad Malaysheh and Mohammed Brahmeh, leaders of the Al-Quds Brigades, as they atempted to travel to Jenin to support the resistance; despite the PA’s claims that it is protecting Malaysheh, he rejects his arrest and has launched a hunger strike for his release. The PA was created in the Oslo accords to serve as a proxy for the occupation and to engage in security coordination, not to represent or defend the Palestinian people — and these moments reveal that reality with exceptional clarity.
Defend Jenin! Stand with the Resistance!
The occupation is attempting to strike at the beating heart of the growing Palestinian resistance in the West Bank through its assault on Jenin and, in particular, Jenin refugee camp. It is clear that 75 years of ongoing Nakba have failed to break the spirit or conquer the will of Palestinian resistance, and the same is just as true today. The resistance has the capacity to confront these massacres, to fight back, and to move forward toward liberation; in fact, the fighters holding their ground in Jenin today represent a true hope for humanity, and that justice can prevail over the oppressor and exploiter.
At this moment, we must not leave the brave people of Jenin and of Palestine alone to confront this military machine of colonialism and occupation. Just as the Zionist regime relies on its imperialist partners in crime to continue to attack the Palestinian people, and they rely upon it to deny sovereignty and self-determination to the Arab nation and all nations of the region, the resistance in Palestine also finds its support in the regional forces and alliance of resistance and in the international camp of resistance and revolution. In the imperial core, our popular movements must organize, take to the streets, hold emergency actions and build power that is capable of boycotting and isolation the occupation regime, and breaking the bonds of military cooperation, diplomatic alliance and security collaboration targeting the Palestinian people.
From the posters of resistance on the streets of Berlin that sparked the condemnation and demands for criminalization by the Israeli Ambassador to Germany, to the direct actions of Palestine Action that have shut down two of Israeli war profiteer Elbit Systems’ sites in Britain, we can and must organize and take action to defend Jenin, defend Palestine, and stand with the Palestinian people and their brave resistance as they fight for a free Palestine, from the river to the sea.
Follow up-to-date news in English from the Resistance at https://t.me/PalestineResist
Events and actions
The following events and actions are organized by groups and organizations around the world. We urge all to contact the organizers for more information:
- Manchester, England – Manchester stands with Jenin, Manchester stands with Palestine! Tuesday, July 4, 4 pm, Whalley Range/Old Stafford Brooks Bar Main Junction
- London – Hands off Jenin! Emergency Protest, Wednesday, July 5, 6 pm, Israeli Embassy
- Dublin, Ireland – IPSC Emergency Demo for Palestine, Wednesday, July 5, 5:30 pm, The Spire
- Berlin – Stop the Aggression against Jenin, Wednesday, July 5, 5 pm, Potsdamer Platz
- Copenhagen – Demonstration for Jenin, Tuesday, July 4, 6 pm, Norrebro
- Vancouver – Banner Drop for Jenin, Wednesday, July 5, 4 pm, Main St and Prior St, Vancouver
- Rotterdam – Rotterdam Supports Jenin, Wednesday, July 5, 3 pm, Binnenwegplein, Rotterdam
- Vienna – Vigil for Jenin, Thursday, July 6, 9 pm, Stephansplatz, Vienna
- NYC – Free Walid Daqqah Demonstration, Friday July 7, 4:30 pm, UN Headquarters
- Vancouver – Kanafani Lives, Palestine Lives! Evening, Saturday, July 8, 7 pm, Grandview Church, 1803 East 1st Avenue, Vancouver
- Göteborg – Cultural Afternoon in Honour of Ghassan Kanafani, Saturday, July 8, 2 pm, Syndikalistisk Forum, Linnégatan 21, Göteborg
- Montreal – Free Walid Daqqah Demonstration, Saturday, July 8, 3 pm, St Catherine & Guy
