Palestinian teenager Ribhi al-Shalabi (19) was shot dead in Jenin, in the northern occupied West Bank on Monday, December 9. His cousin Hassan al-Shalabi (15) sustained an injury in the eye. The incident occurred during clashes between the Palestinian Authority’s security forces and Jenin Brigade, affiliated with Saraya al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement.
Ribhi’s family accused the Palestinian security forces of deliberately killing their son, describing the incident as a “field execution,” and announced that they will maintain their right to legally prosecute the perpetrators. However, the Palestinian Security Forces issued a statement on Monday, mourning Ribhi and accusing what they called outlaws of killing him.
Although the Palestinian security forces tried to distance themselves from the responsibility of killing Ribhi, a video shared on social media along with the testimony of his cousin Hassan refuted their claims. The video shows a Palestinian security personnel opening fire at Ribhi and Hassan, who were riding a motorbike, while passing by a jeep belonging to the Palestinian security forces. Ribhi appeared in the video stopping his motorbike, then raising his arm in front of the forces briefly before being shot.
It is worth noting that clashes between the Palestinian security forces and Jenin Brigade in Jenin city and its camp began one week ago, after the security forces had arrested a number of Palestinian freedom fighters affiliated with the Islamic Jihad from the camp. The security forces have been besieging Jenin city and its camp amid tension that has further increased after Ribhi al-Shalabi was killed.
Al-Shalbi’s killing and the targeting of Palestinian resistance fighters have been widely condemned by the Palestinian people, their resistance movements, and even by personnel serving in the Palestinian Security Forces. During Al-Shalabi’s funeral, Palestinian security Officer Lieutenant Colonel Mustafa Ibrahim Khader Saleh announced his defection from the forces, after he renounced them and described them as “murderers”.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, December 10, the Islamic Jihad slammed the actions of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and its security forces, saying, “The actions of the Ramallah Authority security services cross religious, national and familial lines, in a suspicious insistence on dragging the occupied West Bank into strife, internal conflict and fighting that serves the interests of the enemy, which is violating the Palestinian people wherever they are, seizing their homes, and destroying public and private property before the eyes of the whole world.”
“With funds belonging to the families of martyrs being confiscated, the refugee camp being besieged and armored vehicles and snipers being deployed, the PA campaign is reminiscent of the [Israeli] enemy’s actions in its raids,” the Islamic Jihad added.
The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas also issued a strongly worded statement mourning Al-Shalabi and denouncing the PA’s “targeting of Palestinian resistance fighters and those wanted by the Israeli occupation across the West Bank, especially in Jenin governorate.”
The movement also called on the Palestinian factions and national forces, political, legal and human rights institutions “to take a decisive stance against the persecution and attacks carried out by the PA’s security apparatus against the Palestinian people and resistance fighters.”
PA rejects Gaza’s joint committee proposal
The actions of the PA’s security forces in the West Bank coincided with media reports claiming that the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah), which leads the PA, rejected an Egyptian proposal to form a joint social support committee to govern post-war Gaza. The rejection came a couple of days after Hamas announced that it had accepted the proposal.
Fatah’s reported rejection has once again aborted Palestinian aspirations for national unity and put another hurdle in the way of Gaza ceasefire talks, as it destroyed a consensual day-after-war plan.
