Photo and credits: Palestinians mourn the martyrs of the "Lions' Den" in the city of Nablus, October 25, 2022 (Jaafar Shtayyeh/AFP)
“The old will die, and the young will forget” is a premise Israeli leaders had hoped for in their colonization of Palestine and the continuation of discrimination against the Palestinian people. However, Palestinian resistance movements continue in various forms. Recently, the Palestinian people were introduced to the Lion’s Den (Areen al-Usud), a newly formed armed youth movement in the northern West Bank — most of whom were born post the 1993 Oslo Accords.
The “informal” movement was established in the heart of the Old City of Nablus. The Nablus Governorate is home to almost 400,000 Palestinians, of whom over 170,000 reside in Nablus City. Nablus boasts the largest university, An-Najah University, with critical access to medical services. On October 11, 2022, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) imposed a siege on Nablus after the Lion’s Den gained notoriety for taking responsibility for several attacks against settlers, checkpoints, and the use of military force against their tormentors, including one by the Shavei Shomron settlement in the Northwest of Nablus. Nablus was under siege for almost a month with “heavy restrictions on the movement of about 420,000 Palestinians.”
As Professor Yara Asi wrote for Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), a form of “Gaza-fication” is underway in the “shrinking Palestinian pockets of the West Bank.” Nablus is located in area A, a sovereign geographic area administered by the Palestinian Authority (PA), according to the Oslo Accords. The consecutive daily raids on Palestinian homes, schools, health facilities, etc., serve as an exposé to the reality of which the Israeli government is in full control of every aspect of Palestinians’ lives, regardless of the classification and supposed jurisdiction of the area.
We are witnessing a new chapter of resistance. Though the Lion’s Den appears to have no formal affiliation with an established political party, it’s “thought to have grown out of the so-called ‘Nablus Battalion’ — a local umbrella group comprising Islamic Jihad’s al Quds Brigades, Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Hamas; Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades,” and former employees of the PA. In fact, some of the Lion Den’s members have been arrested by the PA for possessing arms including members of Fateh.
For nearly a month, Israel executed the “Break the Wave” operation, raiding Palestinian homes daily, maintaining its surveillance, arresting, and killing dozens of Palestinians. More than 130 Palestinians were killed in 2022, making it the deadliest year since 2015. Israel continues to use the same form of collective punishment as we are all familiar with in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank — blocking roads by gates, checkpoints, dirt mount, and tires, and above all, total control of air space, the sea and all natural resources, and all land entry points in and out of the country.
The role of the United States vis à vis Palestine and Israel is a part one could not overlook. The support the U.S. gives to Israel is inexplicable. In 2005, the U.S. established the United States Security Coordinator (USSC) for Israel and the Palestinian Authority. As stated on the U.S. Department of State’s website, the U.S. coordinates the efforts to enhance security cooperation, with Israel leading the coalition “efforts in advising the Palestinian Authority [in the West Bank] on security sector reform; and recommend[ing] opportunities for nations and international organizations to contribute to the development of a self-sustaining Palestinian security sector.”
The form the USSC is assisting Palestinians regarding security exacerbates the problem. Palestinians are living under Israeli military rule and PA ‘security’ coordination with the Israeli government. The USSC “oversees much of the training, which takes place near Amman at the Jordan International Police Training Center, using the same facilities, and many of the same trainers who rebuilt the Iraqi police forces after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.” The role of the U.S. is pivotal in this situation because it funds Israel with almost $4 billion in military aid annually. According to international law and the recent findings of Amnesty International, Israel is an occupier and an apartheid state. Thereby, unconditional U.S. funding sustains the occupation, sending messages of impunity and making the U.S. complicit in war crimes against Palestinians.
For so long, Palestinians have resisted colonization peacefully. Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS), prisoner hunger strikes, and mass non-violent protests are a few of the many ways Palestinians used to fight against Israel and its barbarism. The PA was established to negotiate with the Israeli government and attempt to make “peace.” Since the 1993 Oslo Accords, however, the situation in Palestine has only gotten worse with more violence against the Palestinian people. For instance, Before Oslo, there were about 100,000 settlers in the West Bank. Currently, there are more than 750,000 illegal settlers. The silence of the U.S. and the international community on the crimes Israel commits against the Palestinians furthers the growth of fighter groups, leading Israel to enact a more fascist regime against the Palestinians. How long are Palestinians expected to endure humiliation, policing, and inhumane treatment? When will the U.S. take a solid stance against Israel, the occupier, just like it is against Russia’s war on Ukraine?
This article has been written by Noor Almaslamani, an intern at The Jerusalem Fund. She holds a BA in political science and MA in Public Administration from Clark University. The views in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Jerusalem Fund.
