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Much has been written of late about Arafat Jaradat, the 30-year-old
Palestinian
prisoner who died while in custody at Israel’s Megiddo Prison late in
February.
However, one incident that took place
during the funeral
procession for Jaradat in his home village of Kfar Sa’ir, near
Bethlehem, went
unnoticed by the media.
At one point, after
Jaradat’s body was taken from
Hebron to Sa’ir, and as activists yelled anti-Israel epithets at the
entrance of
the village, five masked gunmen climbed up on top of the roof of the
Jaradat
family’s home. These were not Palestinian policemen, many of whom were
busy
escorting the body during the funeral procession. The five were
apparently
linked to the practically defunct al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, a terror
group
associated with Fatah, and wore paramilitary uniforms: One was outfitted
in
camouflage, another in a black shirt, military vest and a helmet. Some
had their
faces hidden behind black masks, others with keffiyehs.
It’s been
years
since armed men like these have been seen on the streets of the West
Bank. The
Palestinian Authority (PA) can be credited with the fact that since the
end of
2007, and up until a few weeks ago, the streets have been free of
gun-toting men
who are not members of the Palestinian security forces. The frequent
appearance
of armed men shooting into the air during the second intifada had all
but
disappeared.
And then during the funeral
procession for Jaradat, as
Palestinian policemen kept order in the street, the five masked men on
the roof
began shooting into the air as if they had limitless ammunition.
Following the
show, the five got down off the roof and began distributing flyers
boosting
al-Aqsa Martyrs, a name that had all but disappeared.
According to the
flyers, revenge for Jaradat’s death will soon be coming.
For now, groups
associated with Fatah do not appear to be engaged in any real militant
acts.
However, the very presence of armed men operating in broad daylight
right under
the noses of the Palestinian Police indicates that there is motivation
to renew
armed activity.
After meeting with residents in
Kfar Sa’ir, as well as in
other refugee camps, such as Balata, near Nablus, I get the feeling that
the
Palestinians are frustrated with both Israel and the PA (the
deteriorating
economic situation and failure to pay salaries). Illegal weapons can
still be
found here – in the small alleyways of the villages and cities, even
though the
majority of Palestinians disapprove of their use – and some residents
have
decided that the time has come to take the guns and ammunition out of
storage
and start shooting.
A third intifada has not
broken out, and things have
quietened down a little since the funeral; but the discontent has
remained.
Public resentment is growing and
something is brewing out
there. It is a complex process that is difficult to call either an
intifada or
an uprising. Some people are comparing the recent incidents to those of
1987,
when the first intifada broke out, or to September 2000, when the second
one
began. The comparisons are valid, but we may, on the other hand, be
experiencing
a new phenomenon unlike any we have encountered in the past.
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