Beirut, Lebanon The Palestinian Authority is taking tough measures against armed groups in the Jenin refugee camp, in what experts say is an attempt to restore its limited authority in the occupied West Bank and convince incoming US President Donald Trump that this could be useful security. a partner.

However, the crackdown has drawn condemnation from many Palestinians, especially after the killing on Saturday night of 21-year-old journalist Shatha Sabbagh, who was writing from Jenin and whose family said was shot dead by the Palestinian Authority.

Since the beginning of the Palestinian Authority’s raids, they have been criticized as serving Israel’s interests at the expense of supporting the Palestinian struggle for freedom and self-determination.

Omar Rahman, an expert on Israeli affairs, said: “Over the past few years, the Palestinian Authority has lost control of the West Bank, and I imagine it is trying to regain control to prove its value to its clients – Israel and the United States.” – Palestine with the Middle East Council for Global Affairs, a think tank based in Doha, Qatar.

“I think she is trying to prove that she can play a role that is still relevant, especially at a time when there are voices in the Israeli government trying to force the collapse of the Palestinian Authority,” Rahman told Al Jazeera.

Severe crackdown

Over the past three years, Israeli raids – whether launched by the army or settlers – have killed and displaced many civilians in the West Bank and destroyed homes and livelihoods.

Since the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, Israeli forces and settlers have intensified their attacks in the West Bank, killing 729 Palestinians, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

At least 63 were from Jenin camp.

Palestinian Authority security forces have mirrored some Israeli tactics since launching an operation against the camp in early December.

They surrounded the camp with armored personnel carriers, shot indiscriminately at civilians, arrested and ill-treated young men, and cut off water and electricity supplies.

One video circulated online and verified by Sanad, Al Jazeera’s verification agency, shows Palestinian Authority officers putting a young man in a trash can and beating him.

“[The Americans] They trained Palestinian Authority security forces to act as SWAT teams and special forces – not as civilian police – to suppress them. [Palestinian] “Armed groups,” said Tahani Mustafa, an expert on Israel and Palestine at the International Crisis Group.

“Whenever you see American involvement in terms of training, that’s when you see hardline and coercive tactics deployed against Palestinians,” she told Al Jazeera.

Security cooperation

It was the Palestinian Authority It was ostensibly created to establish a Palestinian state After the Oslo Accords in 1993 and 1995, which began the peace process between the then Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and the then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Under the agreements, the Palestinian Authority’s Western donors — the European Union and the United States — tasked the Authority with supporting Israel’s security by eliminating Palestinian armed groups throughout the occupied Palestinian territories, according to Diana Buteau, a Palestinian legal scholar and former advisor and spokeswoman for the Palestinian Authority. .

She explained that in the 1990s, the Palestinian Authority defended its repressive campaign against armed groups as necessary to protect the peace process.

She added that the peace process has in fact been dead for at least two decades due to Israel’s continued confiscation of Palestinian lands to build Israeli settlements.

These settlements are illegal under international law, and since Oslo, the number of settlers has risen from 250,000 to more than 700,000, according to Peace Now, an Israeli nonprofit that tracks illegal settlements.

Peace Now Israel said since October 7, 2023 It confiscated more Palestinians More land in the West Bank – 23.7 square kilometers (9.15 sq mi) – than in the previous 20 years combined.

Bhutto blames Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, because he is still adhering to the Oslo process while Israel has blatantly abandoned it.

“He is pursuing people who want to be freed, not from him, but from Israel,” Bhutto told Al Jazeera.

The security mandate granted to the Palestinian Authority brought it into direct conflict with Hamas, the rival faction that refused to renounce the armed struggle against the Israeli occupation after its victory over Fatah in the 2006 legislative elections.

Western donors to the Palestinian Authority – Mainly the United States He pressured Fatah to rein in Hamas, which exacerbated tensions between the two factions and led to a short civil war that began in 2006.

The conflict led to a division in the Palestinian national movement that has not yet been overcome, despite numerous reconciliation attempts.

Since then, Fatah, under the leadership of the Palestinian Authority, has administered two-thirds of the West Bank while Hamas controlled Gaza.

“the [PA’s] The tactic was never successful. “He never won the hearts and minds of the Palestinians,” Bhutto said.

Fighting to survive

Palestinian Authority officials reportedly say the operation in the Jenin refugee camp is necessary or else Israel will use the presence of fighters there as an excuse to expel more Palestinians from their homes and lands in the West Bank, as it did in Gaza.

However, experts say Israel plans to formally annex the West Bank and collapse the Palestinian Authority, regardless of whether armed resistance continues.

The far-right Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has already come close to this Crushing the Palestinian banking system By refusing to renew the government exemption allowing Israeli banks to deal with Palestinian banks.

The Palestinian Authority does not have its own central bank and therefore relies on the Israeli banking system to pay salaries and secure vital imports.

Bowing to US pressure, Smotrich renewed the exemption for a year in early December, but experts fear he will not do so again during Trump’s presidency, which begins on January 20.

Failure to do so would collapse the Palestinian Authority — and the West Bank — economically and accelerate the process of formal annexation of the West Bank, said Rahman of the Middle East Council.

Additionally, Rahman warned that the ensuing chaos could serve as an Israeli pretext for ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, which is why he believes the Palestinian Authority is trying to convince the incoming Trump administration that it remains a valuable partner in strengthening Israel’s security.

“You can’t blame the Palestinian Authority for trying to prevent something like this from happening,” Rahman told Al Jazeera. At the same time, they have no alternative vision.”

Mustafa, from the International Crisis Group, agreed, adding that the Palestinian Authority has isolated itself from regional countries and their voters, making its survival dependent on Israel and its supporters.

She said: “Israel will annex the West Bank, and we are already seeing this reality – de facto and de jure.” “[Annexation] It won’t be a big deal, but it will be a slow burn.

“The Palestinian Authority is really counting its days.”