WEST BANK, PALESTINAN TERRITORIES: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas visited the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday in the wake of a devastating Israeli operation last week.
The president’s first visit to the camp since 2005 came at a time of deep discontentment among Palestinians for his and the Palestinian Authority, the autonomous government which administers areas of the West Bank but whose forces have almost lost control over several militant hubs in the region — including Jenin.
Abbas is widely seen as out of touch with the common people and rarely ventures outside of his headquarters in Ramallah, making Wednesday’s visit remarkable.
Israel’s massive two-day military operation in the camp, the largest in the region in nearly two decades, killed at least twelve Palestinians, forced thousands to displace from their homes and left large partsof the camp in ruins. An Israeli soldier was also lost life in the offensive.
Abbas arrived in Jenin camp aboard a Jordanian helicopter on afternoon. He visited a new graveyard, where he laid a wreath at the graves of those killed in Israeli security forces operation last week, before addressing a huge crowd, AP reported.
Abbas’s visit comes after Netanyahu’s statement
Abbas’s visit also came after a statement by the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his government would take measures to strengthen the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, but gave no details about what measures it would take.
Netanyahu leads one of the most hard-line governments in the history of Israel, made up of ultra-Orthodox and ultranationalist factions along with his ruling Likud party.
Over the last year, Israel has conducted increased number of raids into Palestinian areas.
Over 150 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces so far this year, while at least twenty-six Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks.
