The day is approaching when the IDF and the defense establishment will be forced to reexamine their working assumption that the Palestinian Authority is a partner that helps Israel fight terrorism. The recent terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria and the IDF's incessant war against the terrorist organizations there reaffirm a disturbing fact: the separation between Hamas and Fatah terror is becoming more difficult by the day. Fatah and its Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades carry out attacks and are partners in terrorism. Many senior Fatah figures, including district secretaries who are intimately connected to the PA, also back Fatah's involvement in terrorism.
A few days ago we received another illustration of the mixing of the terrorist organizations, when it turned out that the fathers of four of the nine killed in Jenin and Tulkarm serve as officers in the PA's security forces, and that two of the six killed in the Israeli airstrike in Jenin were Fatah members. The rest were identified as Hamas operatives.
Only a week ago, during an operational activity, a military force stationed at the northern entrance to Jericho opened fire at the Istiklal College, an institution used to train Palestinian policemen and as the main training base for members of the Palestinian security forces (Channel 14). The fact that IDF fighters are being fired from there should set off a red light for anyone who still refuses to reevaluate cooperation with the Palestinian Authority apparatuses, both in Israel and in the United States.
Mahmoud Abbas (archive), photo: AP
Near the communities of Talem and Adora in the western Hebron Hills, reservists in the area of the village of Tarqumiya recently exposed what they described as "preparation for a terror tunnel," just a few hundred meters from the village of Talm. The IDF Spokesperson identified the excavation as a cesspit, but Jewish residents of the area fear that it is a cover for something else entirely.
In Bat Hefer, east of which is the village of Shweika, residents also heard digging sounds. In the past, bullets fired from there hit homes in the community.
A demonstration in support of Hamas in Nablus, photo: GettyImages
In Kochav Yair-Tzur Yigal, near the seam line, residents complain about the noise of tunnel excavations and report tremors felt in their homes. In Jenin and Tulkarm, tunneling infrastructure attempting to imitate Gaza has already been identified.
Above ground, however, the reality is much clearer: the wave of mourning notices by the heads of local authorities in the PA, mayors and councils for the assassination of murderer al-Arouri clearly indicates where the wind is blowing. After the assassination, Jamal Haweil, a Fatah council member, declared that "all the factions of the Palestinian uprising that are subordinate to Allah alone... They will speak to the criminal Zionist entity with their rifle bullets and missiles."
Jibril Rajoub, a senior PA official, called to console Ismail Haniyeh and posted a joint photo of himself alongside al-Arouri. Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh condemned al-Arouri's assassination, and Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades at the Balata camp in Nablus described al-Arouri as "the arsonist of the revolution and the West Bank" and "the architect of the Al-Aqsa Flood."
IDF forces in Jenin, photo: IDF Spokesperson
Since Operation Guardian of the Walls, more than 100 members of the PA security forces have been killed while attempting to carry out attacks, and in 2023, more than 100 attacks and attempted attacks have been carried out by Palestinian policemen and members of the PA security services. In the area of assassinations and arrests, the picture is similar: not only Hamas and Jihad members are killed or arrested, but also many hundreds of Fatah members. More and more terrorist infrastructures shared by rival organizations such as Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the PFLP are being exposed, and this requires a reassessment of our relations with the PA and its security apparatuses.
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