By Jamal Kanj
History has shown that Palestinian resilience cannot be broken by military force. As in 2002, a new destruction will not erase the Palestinian struggle.
The ongoing Israeli military assault on Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank is part of a larger Israeli ethnic cleansing plan, a systematic effort to forcibly displace Palestinians from their homes and erase their historical and national identity.
As the world watches in silence, the relentless incursions into these camps—home to some of the most vulnerable Palestinian communities—are reducing entire neighborhoods to rubble, killing civilians, and forcing thousands to flee.
Meanwhile and as Israel wages a brutal genocidal campaign, the Palestinian Authority (PA) stands idly by, unwilling to defend its people. Worse yet, on Monday, March 10, 2025, the PA security forces carried out Israel’s bidding, assassinating seasoned Jenin fighter Abdul-Rahman Abu al-Muna.
The refugee camps of Jenin, Nur Shams, Balata, and others have long been the heart of Palestinian resistance. Housing Palestinians who were ethnically cleansed from their homes in 1948, and today, they stand as grim reminders of Israel’s original sin—the Nakba.
Through generations, the Palestinian camp has become a powerful symbol of Palestinian identity, embodying the deep-rooted longing to Palestine. The camp is not just a physical space—it represents a collective memory, a repository of cultural heritage, and a reminder of the ongoing struggle for self-determination and homeland restoration. Thus, their erasure—much like the destruction of their original villages in 1948 historical Palestine—has become an Israeli obsession aimed at wiping out their existence.
The Israeli war on the camps is not about security. In reality, what is unfolding is a merciless campaign of destruction, aimed at crushing the spirit of Palestinian resistance and making life unbearable for those who dare to remain. Homes are demolished, roads are torn apart, electricity and water supplies are severed, and entire communities are left in ruins.
Israel destroys civilian infrastructure, not for military tactical objectives, but purely to make life unbearable for residents, ensuring that even those who survive are left with an unlivable environment. This collective punishment is a blatant war crime under international law.
The ongoing assault on Palestinian refugee camps is not just about military strategy—it is deeply tied to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Endless War for Political Survival. Facing corruption charges and mounting political pressure, Netanyahu has relied on endless war and heightened violence to maintain his fragile coalition of right-wing and racist factions.
By escalating attacks on Palestinians, he ensures the continued support of ultranationalist and Jewish racist groups who demand harsher measures against the occupied population. This cycle of aggression is a deliberate strategy to prolong his grip on power at the expense of Palestinian lives.
The core issue is not just the military assaults but the very nature of the Israeli occupation and the hordes of violent settlers who terrorize Palestinian communities with impunity. The expansion of illegal Jewish-only colonies, backed by the Israeli military, has emboldened Jewish supremacists to carry out attacks against Palestinians, including arson, physical assaults, and even outright murder. This settler-colonial project aims to replace Palestinian existence with a network of Jewish-only colonies, erasing any hope for a Palestinian state.
Israel’s strategy of targeting refugee camps is part of this broader policy. The destruction of Jenin camp in 2002 was supposed to end Palestinian resistance, yet it did not. Two decades later, Israel is fighting the progeny of those it murdered more than 20 years ago, repeating the same failed strategy and hoping that this new wave of destruction will achieve what past massacres could not.
But history has shown that Palestinian resilience cannot be broken by military force. As in 2002, a new destruction will not erase the Palestinian struggle—it will only fuel the determination of a people who refuse to disappear.
While Israel carries out these atrocities, the Palestinian Authority remains paralyzed, offering nothing but empty words of condemnation. The PA, which was established through the Oslo Accords with the promise of leading Palestinians toward statehood, has instead become an enforcer of Israeli security serving as an administrative subcontractor rather than a true representative government. Its continued security coordination with Israel, even as refugee camps are emptied of their inhabitants, is nothing short of a betrayal.
At a time when the Palestinian people long for real leadership, the PA has shown itself to be an institution of self-preservation, more concerned with maintaining its own grip on power than resisting a malevolent occupation. It has failed to mobilize international support, and has failed to take any meaningful action to stop Israel’s aggression.
The reality is clear: the Palestinian Authority is complicit in the suffering of its own people through its inaction and its continued subservience to Israeli dictates. Worse still, the PA refuses to intervene because its leadership is more focused on protecting the privileges and VIP status granted to them under Israeli occupation.
Rather than safeguarding Palestinian lives, the PA’s primary concern has become maintaining its elite class’s access to special permits, security arrangements, and economic benefits that Israel doles out to ensure its cooperation.
If the PA continues on this trajectory, it will cease to have any role in shaping the future of Palestine. The people will inevitably turn elsewhere for leadership—whether to civil society organizations, local resistance groups, or new political movements that truly represent their aspirations. The Palestinian cause does not need an institution that stands on the sidelines while its people are ethnically cleansed; it needs a leadership that will fight for its survival and sovereignty.
The Israeli destruction of Palestinian refugee camps is not just a military operation; it is a calculated strategy of population displacement. By forcing thousands to flee, Israel is laying the groundwork for a West Bank emptied of Palestinians, paving the way for further annexation and settlement expansion. This is a slow-motion ethnic cleansing that the Palestinian leadership cannot afford to ignore.
The United Nations, human rights organizations, and the world at large must hold Israel accountable for its crimes and pressure the Palestinian Authority to end its complicity. If the PA continues to stand idly by as its people are being ethnically cleansed, it will descend into irrelevance and its leadership will ultimately fade into the dustbin of history.
– Jamal Kanj is the author of “Children of Catastrophe,” Journey from a Palestinian Refugee Camp to America, and other books. He writes frequently on Arab world issues for various national and international commentaries. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle
