Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to visit the city of Jenin and its refugee camp on Wednesday, more than one week after the large-scale Israeli military operation there, PA presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudaineh announced on Tuesday.
Abbas will meet with local residents and officials and receive a briefing about efforts to “rebuild” the city and its refugee camp in the aftermath of the Israeli military operation, Abu Rudaineh said.
This will be Abbas’s first visit to Jenin since 2012, when he briefly visited the city to offer condolences over the death of former governor Kadoura Musa.
It will be his first visit to Jenin Refugee Camp since he was elected PA president in 2005.
Abbas will be accompanied by PLO Executive Committee Secretary-General Hussein al-Sheikh and General Intelligence Service chief Majed Faraj.
Jordanian military helicopter will transport Abbas
Palestinian sources said a Jordanian military helicopter will take Abbas and the senior officials from Ramallah to Jenin.
PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh and members of his cabinet, as well as senior Fatah officials, will receive Abbas upon his arrival in Jenin, the sources said.
On the eve of the visit, hundreds of Palestinian security officers were deployed in the city and its refugee camp in a show of force designed to send a message that the PA has not lost control of the area.
The rare visit comes amid growing criticism of the PA and its security forces for failing to protect the Palestinians during the Israeli military operation. PA security forces stayed in their bases during the raid and made no attempt to engage the Israeli troops.
The visit also comes amid reports that the PA security forces have lost control of the city and its refugee camp, where Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have a strong presence.
Additionally, the PA has been denounced by several Palestinians for its continued crackdown on members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the West Bank.
The two groups said on Tuesday that the PA security crackdown on their members could sabotage efforts to hold a meeting of leaders of all the Palestinian factions in the Egyptian capital of Cairo at the end of this month. Abbas had invited the leaders of the factions to the meeting in response to the Israeli military operation. Abbas said the purpose of the meeting was to reach agreement on “a comprehensive national vision and achieve [Palestinian] unity.”
Two senior officials from Abbas’s ruling Fatah faction, Mahmoud al-Aloul and Azzam al-Ahmed, were driven away from the funerals of some of the Palestinians killed by the IDF during the operation. Aloul and Ahmed later returned to Jenin Refugee Camp and met with local residents and gunmen belonging to Fatah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.