(Gatestone Institute) Khaled Abu Toameh - Armed and funded by Iran, new armed "battalions," whose members are affiliated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas, and the ruling Fatah faction headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, began operating in the northern West Bank more than three years ago. Gunmen belonging to these groups have carried out countless attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers. Recently, the gunmen started using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) against Israeli civilian and military vehicles. Some of these militias are based only a few hundred meters away from Israeli communities, both in the West Bank and inside Israel. In May, Hamas terrorists in Tulkarem recorded themselves shooting toward Bat Hefer, an Israeli town near the border of the West Bank. PA security forces haven't really done anything to disband or disarm the militias in the areas under their control. The PA's failure to crack down on the "battalions" means that Iran now has a small army in the West Bank. Those who persist in advocating for the establishment of a Palestinian state next to Israel must take into consideration that doing so would lead to the rise of more Iran-backed "battalions" in the West Bank and other areas over which the PA is given control. The writer, a veteran Israeli journalist, is a senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs.
2024-09-01 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive