When the Guardian’s Jerusalem correspondent, Bethan McKernan, received the news on Monday that a large raid had begun at the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, she scrambled for her flak jacket and headed across the border to the city. She found tyres burning, teargas, explosions and gunfire – the biggest Israeli attack on the West Bank in 20 years was under way.
As McKernan tells Michael Safi, the Israeli forces pulled out on Tuesday night declaring the mission a success. Twelve Palestinians were killed, four of whom were under the age of 18. On top of the grief, the destruction left behind will take years to recover from. There is intense anger at the Israelis but also at the Palestinian Authority that runs the West Bank.
This dynamic could be significant for the future of this decades-long conflict. With Israel ruled by the most rightwing government in living memory, there are increasing concerns of a breakdown of order in the West Bank. On Tuesday an attack in Tel Aviv wounded seven Israelis and was described by Islamic Jihad as the “first response” to the raid on Jenin.
Photograph: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/Shutterstock
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