The Battle in Jenin


Conditions Surrounding the Battle


Any discussion of the battle that took place in the Jenin Refugee Camp needs, first and foremost, to present an overview of the Palestinian terrorist activists prior to the entry of the IDF. The Jenin refugee camp covers an area of 450,000 sq. meters, is a highly populated urban area and is scattered with narrow alleys and streets. Within the camp, a couple of hundred activists from different terrorist organizations and members of the security forces of the Palestinian Authority were deployed. According to Basam Sa’adi, one of the leaders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Jenin, there were 250 Palestinian “fighters” in the camp prior to the battle (this information appeared on the internet site www.jihadonline.com).



The terrorist activists planted thousands of explosive charges and booby-traps along the access road to the camp, in the narrow alleys, in houses, in water pipes, and every where possible. In addition, they were equipped with huge amounts of weapons.



Ramadan Shelah, the Secretary General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, whose headquarters is located in Damascus, said in an interview to the Al-Khieyat daily on April 4, 2002:



“The Mujahdeen in Jenin prepared themselves …and they prepared large amounts of explosives, so that Mahmud Tualba, an explosive engineer, prepared on his own prior to the battle more than 1000 kg of explosives… [The fighters] placed explosive charges in different places in the streets, such as in dustbins and cars … They placed booby traps in their houses…on the doors or inside, even in the furniture, in closets or even in books…”



“Omar”, a Palestinian terrorist activist from Jenin, stated in an interview with Jonathan Cook (“Al-Aharam”, Cairo, April 18-24, 2002):



“Of all the fighters in the West Bank we were best prepared, …We started to work on our plan: to hold up the Israeli soldiers and blow them up – from the time that the Israeli tanks left Jenin the month before…we booby trapped more than fifty houses throughout the camp…we cut up parts of the main water pipes and filled them with explosives and nails. Then we laid them at a distance of four meters from each other around the houses – in closets, under sinks, in sofas…”



The terrorist activists fought, dressed in civilian clothes, from houses that they had turned them into fortified posts. They deliberately blurred the distinction between terrorist activists and the civilian population that remained in the camp (most of the civilian population had already fled the camp), while cynically using civilians as “human shields”. Thus, for example, in a message published by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, it was stated that their leader, Mahmud Tulaba, prevented the exit of civilians from the camp and thwarted efforts by the IDF from evacuating them from the camp (published 10.4.02 on www.jihadonline.com).