Some people can see better than others


Why Jenin is staying out of current wave of terrorism


Simply put, some of Jenin’s more responsible citizens realized the damage the terror attacks were doing to their own community. Do read the whole thing. If you cannot be bothered, here are a few extracts worthy of noting:

“In each of the four attempted attacks that happened here between late October and early November, the terrorists came out of the long line of vehicles. All four were children or teenagers, all wielding knives, they were all from the Jenin-district town of Qabatiya – they even all went to the same school.”

Do you think, just perhaps, there might be some incitement going on at that school?

“But no kids have been seen on the Palestinian side of the checkpoint for the past month. In fact, nobody walks there, stands there, or sells krembos there. The reason is that 100 meters away from the checkpoint, plain-clothed Palestinian policemen are stationed, wearing black caps that broadcast their identity to all Palestinians. Some check some of the cars that want to go through the checkpoint, others look around, trying to spot potential suspicious activity. Someone told us that there are also more policemen there, whose job is to see and not be seen. The efforts have borne fruit: The guards have already managed to stop three different women who each wanted to perpetrate a stabbing attack.”

Do you think, just perhaps, there might be a degree of Fatah responsibility for their failure to do this security screening elsewhere?

“But Qabatiya is not the Jenin governor’s only problem. Another big problem is one of the city’s symbols, the Jenin refugee camp – a former Palestinian territory with some 50,000 residents. Almost every time the Palestinian security forces enter the camp, they exchange fire with the armed militants. The Palestinian Authority has no real control over the camp. Every few weeks, IDF troops enter the camp and normally these raids are met with armed fire exchanges, arrests of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants, and the seizure of weapons.”

Do you think, just perhaps, it’s time the Palestinian Authority did something about the refugee camps? There is no need for them to exist. None. The people there are political pawns, and it is a scandal the funders of the PA do not insist on that being sorted out.

“The main person to credit with this economic development is former Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad, the man who came up with the “Jenin model” last decade, a model that helped the town and the district to rise back up from the lows of the second intifada. Fayyad reached the conclusion that economic prosperity is ultimately what leads to calm on the security front, and decided to implement this model particularly in the city that took the hardest blows during the second intifada.”

Bibi has been saying the same thing for decades. If only more of the Palestinian leadership recognized this, and did something about it (see the preceding quote for an obvious starting point) there might be a reduction in incitement, and there might be positive progress made towards peace.

Calling the BBC. Calling the Guardian. Hello?

Finally, what do you think the chances are of any of this being covered at the Guardian or by the BBC? You could almost believe that if that journal of hate Haaretz doesn’t cover it, there is no chance the Guardian or the BBC will. Do tell me if I am wrong. No wonder that most people outside of Israel have such a warped perspective on what is going on here.