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JENIN: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas vowed to rebuild the Jenin refugee camp during a rare and brief visit on Wednesday, a week after a deadly Israeli raid destroyed much of the camp in the occupied West Bank.
Abbas, 87, hailed the Jenin camp as an “icon of struggle” during his first trip to the area in more than a decade, a period during which fighters have gained popular support at the expense of his Palestinian Authority.
The two-day Israeli raid last week — the largest such operation in years, involving hundreds of troops, drone strikes and armoured bulldozers — killed 12 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier.
Israel views the densely-populated urban area, a stronghold of fighter groups including Islamic Jihad and Hamas, as a “terrorism hub” and has launched frequent armed raids there since early last year.
Popular discontent with the PA, which cooperates with Israel on security, has been simmering in Jenin, and crowds last week heckled several visiting top officials of Abbas’s Fatah party, including deputy chairman Mahmoud Aloul.
On Wednesday, Abbas expressed determination to back Jenin’s reconstruction and security, describing the camp as an “icon of steadfastness and struggle” in a short address to cheering supporters.
“We have come to say that we are one authority, one state, one law,” Abbas said, warning against anyone who “tampers with the unity and security of our people”. He vowed to oversee the reconstruction of the camp and the wider city to restore it “to what it was, or even better”.
As he concluded his visit, Abbas laid a wreath on the graves of Palestinians who lost their lives in recent Israeli raids.
A number of Arab countries have announced aid for the camp after last week’s offensive.
Ahead of Abbas’s arrival, hundreds of soldiers from the presidential guard patrolled the streets of the camp, an AFP journalist said, and snipers were positioned on rooftops.
Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2023
