In a meeting last Wednesday between PA Interior Minister Ziad Hab al-Reeh and the heads of the clans in Hebron, the hosts spoke urgently against a security escalation in the city, Kan11 reported Sunday morning. “We don’t want the operation in the northern West Bank to be repeated here,” said the heads of the clans. “There needs to be an intervention of the clans and information disseminated to our young people.”
The background for the meeting was the recent severe attacks in the Hebron area, including the murder of three Israeli policemen and attempted car bomb attacks, which were carried out by terrorists from Hebron. These raised the Israeli security establishment’s fear that the widespread escalation in northern Samaria has reached Hebron as well.
One of the clan leaders in the city, Nafez al-Jabari, said emphatically: “We don’t want what happened in the north of the West Bank to happen here. We don’t want Hebron to be targeted by an operation that will last 10-20 days and Hebron would be completely shut down. We will protect the district of Hebron so that what happened in the north and Gaza does not happen here. “We will explain to our young people what our interest is.”
Since 28, the IDF has been engaged in a large-scale military operation in Samaria against terrorist enclaves in Jenin, Tulkarem, and other locales. It is Israel’s largest military operation in Judea and Samaria in more than 20 years, and it is taking on some of the characteristics of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, including mass demolitions and bombing from the air using drones. The IDF calls it “Operation Summer Camps,” while PA terrorists have labeled it “Operation Horror of the Camps.”
The meeting in Hebron was also attended by Governor Khaled Dodin, an appointee of Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Police Commissioner Alam al-Saka, and the heads of the security forces in Hebron. It quickly centered on the hosts’ fear of a security deterioration in the city, which would lead to destruction, similar to the scenes in Gaza and the northern PA territories.
Minister Ziad Hab al-Reeh, who until his appointment served for many years as head of one of the PA security forces, said, “We cannot allow the destruction of Gaza to be repeated in the West Bank as well. We are not divided from Gaza, but in this matter, we are confident in our political principles.” He also referred more explicitly to the escalation in Samaria and expressed his hope that the clans in Hebron, which are more dominant in the city than elsewhere in Judea and Samaria, will know how to calm the spirits.
“Many of our Palestinian people have their hand on the trigger,” said the minister. “There is preparation for a painful scene on the ground. But Hebron and its clans are smart. God willing, there will be a quick intervention of the clans, and this will bring peace to the hearts of the Palestinians. This is what we want to see in the coming days.”
See? And you thought a show of force doesn’t yield results.
