‘Guardians of the Homeland’: PA's Power Struggle Amid Israeli Tensions

The authorities routinely clash with resistance groups, particularly the Jenin Brigade.
In its most significant test of competence, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has launched its fiercest military operation since its establishment three decades ago—not against “Israel,” but aimed at dismantling resistance factions in Jenin, in the northern West Bank.
The PA’s security forces, under the leadership of Mahmoud Abbas, initiated the operation in early December 2024, seeking to demonstrate their ability to maintain security in the limited areas under their control in the West Bank, while also positioning themselves for a potential role in governing the Gaza Strip following the war.
This campaign marks an unprecedented step for the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, long ostracized by the United States and sidelined by “Israel” from playing a larger role in both the West Bank and Gaza.
The operation coincides with the looming return of the elected U.S. President, Donald Trump, to the White House, fueling Israeli hopes of annexing the West Bank, reoccupying Gaza, and permanently burying the two-state solution.
Throughout its history, the PA has launched numerous security campaigns targeting resistance groups and detaining opponents, imprisoning dozens of Hamas leaders and operatives across the West Bank and Gaza.
However, this new operation is a rare, full-scale confrontation with arms in the refugee camps and streets.
‘Guardians of the Homeland’
The Palestinian security forces named the operation they launched on December 4th "Guardians of the Homeland."
Notably, their official statements described the resistance groups as "elements outside the law, seeking to disrupt civil order and spread chaos," with the campaign’s stated goal being to "end the security vacuum."
Anwar Rajab, spokesperson for the Palestinian security forces, stated that "all these actions and policies (resisting the occupation) undermine the Authority’s work, and these groups provide Israel with a pretext to implement its plans in the West Bank."
On December 22nd, a Palestinian security officer from the Presidential Guard was killed while pursuing militants, and two other security personnel were wounded during the armed clashes in the Jenin refugee camp.
This marked the first fatality among security forces, while Palestinian Authority forces have killed 14 Palestinians, including eight in Jenin, since Hamas launched its Operation al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, 2023.
The PA regularly clashes with militants, particularly the Jenin Brigade, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades.
The operation involves the use of various weaponry, armored vehicles, and masked elite forces, presenting an unprecedented display of the Palestinian Authority’s military presence in the West Bank.

Anwar Rajab, spokesperson for the Palestinian security forces, claimed that the "achievements" of the operation included the arrest of over 20 wanted militants, the injury of others, the dismantling of dozens of explosives, and "advances on key fronts" within the refugee camp.
The situation escalated following the deaths of three individuals: Yazid Ja'ayseh, a leader of the Jenin Brigade, a 19-year-old man riding a motorcycle, and a 14-year-old boy, all killed during a raid on the city’s refugee camp on December 14.
Masked security forces continue to patrol around the Jenin Government Hospital, located on the outskirts of the camp, while snipers are positioned on rooftops to prevent militants from entering or hiding.
However, nearly three weeks into the campaign, militants still roam freely within the camp, as gunfire echoes day and night.
Meanwhile, al-Quds Brigades in the West Bank have called for a general strike and mass mobilizations at key intersections.
According to Saba news, “the Al-Quds Brigades also called on Ahrar Jenin, its camps, the surrounding towns and villages, and all those who can reach Jenin camp to go out in mass marches towards the camp, to lift the siege on the camp and its heroes and to end this era, which only serves the occupation entity and its extremist government to annex the West Bank and settlements.”
“This move represents the least moral and legal duty we can undertake in support of Palestinian blood, solidarity with the Jenin camp and its resistance, and in solidarity with the sacrifices of the people of besieged Gaza, who continue to suffer under the brutal occupation’s violence,” the Brigades added in a statement.
“The time has come for the message to be sent: we must rise for the right to Palestinian blood, reject the siege of Jenin camp, and show our solidarity with our people in Gaza.”
As the operation continued, the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) suspended classes in schools and several shops and businesses closed their doors in response to the escalating crackdown and tightening siege on the camp.
What’s the Real Objective?
While the Palestinian Authority has named its military operation "Guardians of the Homeland", analysts and activists argue that the campaign serves to protect only the occupation.
Public anger, already high, has intensified in response to the PA's military actions, which, in line with its security agreements with “Israel,” focus on combating resistance groups, while remaining passive in the face of settler attacks and deadly Israeli airstrikes.
Since the launch of Hamas’s Operation al-Aqsa Flood, the Israeli military has carried out extensive assaults across the West Bank under the pretext of thwarting Palestinian armed operations at their source.
These attacks have resulted in the deaths of over 800 Palestinians, with around 6,500 wounded and more than 11,000 others arrested, according to official data.
Many Palestinians view the PA’s security forces as little more than subcontractors for “Israel”—tools of Mahmoud Abbas’s regime to perpetuate corruption and suppress domestic opposition.
Most Palestinian political factions, with the notable exception of Fatah (the PA’s own party), believe the true goal of the campaign is to dismantle the military resistance movements in the Jenin camp.

“Israel” has failed to achieve its objectives despite repeated raids, assassinations, arrests, and "military operations"—both on the ground and in the air.
In a report published on December 22, The Washington Post outlined the Palestinian Authority’s aim, stating, with Western backing, the Palestinian Authority “is trying to prove it can manage security in the limited areas of the West Bank it controls as it seeks to also govern a postwar Gaza Strip.”
A Palestinian official close to President Mahmoud Abbas, speaking anonymously, told the paper that Abbas had decided that the PA "will enforce its authority, and there will be no turning back."
Political analyst Ibrahim al-Madhoun believes that what the PA is doing is an attempt to appease the occupation, but this will not satisfy them. Instead, it will fuel their arrogance and greed, accelerating the annexation of the West Bank.
Speaking to Al-Estiklal, al-Madhoun explained that this move will only lead “Israel” to demand more from the PA. "It seems that Israel is blackmailing the Authority, threatening its leaders and putting pressure on them."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out the return of the Palestinian Authority (PA) to Gaza, while key figures in his far-right coalition push for the annexation of part or all of the Palestinian territories.
However, in the latest round of ceasefire negotiations, “Israel” agreed to allow the PA to take control of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt for a brief period, according to a former Egyptian official who spoke to The Washington Post on condition of anonymity.
It appears that the PA is attempting to secure its credentials with both the new U.S. administration and “Israel,” using its recent military operation as evidence that it can be a trusted partner, amid ongoing Israeli ambivalence and division over its role.
Since the onset of war on Gaza, Netanyahu’s government has linked the Operation al-Aqsa Flood with the Palestinian Authority, insisting that it is "no different from Hamas in its practice of terrorism," and that the PA will have no role in Gaza’s future once the mission is completed.
This has led the PA to pursue multiple tracks, including the recent attempt to unify the Fatah movement and appoint a new government in the West Bank, suggesting a shift, while simultaneously seeking a resolution with Hamas to remove it from Gaza’s administration.
However, no substantial results have emerged thus far.
Israeli Approval
Amid these developments, “Israel” is split into two factions: one supports the Jenin operation, viewing it as a means to further its objectives, while the other sees it as a transparent ploy by Mahmoud Abbas to gain approval from Washington and, by extension, “Tel Aviv.”
Israel Hayom reported the outrage among members of Netanyahu’s Likud party and far-right ministers in the Israeli government regarding the role the Palestinian Authority is attempting to play in confronting what it has called "subversive cells."
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and Minister for Settlement Affairs, Orit Strock, have urged the Israeli government to exert pressure to halt the PA’s operation immediately, arguing that it "harms Israel’s political and security interests."
Strock, the Minister for Settlement Affairs, asserted that the PA is positioning itself to assume a future role in Gaza by waging its campaign against militants in Jenin.
Ben-Gvir went further, insisting that the Israeli government cease its support for the PA’s operation, particularly under the leadership of Abbas, whom he believes is using the campaign to secure a future, consensual role for himself with “Israel” in Gaza after the war.

“CHANNEL 14: Israel sent a warning to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that the deadline for the mission carried out by the security services in the Jenin camp in the northern West Bank is approaching,” according to The Palestine Chronicle.
Meanwhile, “Israel's” security cabinet in “Tel Aviv” approved measures that would enhance security coordination with the Palestinian Authority.
Haaretz reported that the decision, made by the Israeli ministerial committee, outlines support for PA security forces to increase their effectiveness and resolve in dealing with "terrorist organizations," according to Israeli terminology.
An Israeli military source told the newspaper that the government was considering "providing defensive military equipment to Palestinian Authority security forces to assist them in dealing with terrorist groups," a proposal that was rejected by the three ministers mentioned above.
The PA security forces are among the last remaining threads connecting the Oslo Accords of 1993, which established a framework for a Palestinian state encompassing the occupied West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem—a prospect that Israel has effectively dismantled.
Over the decades since, “Israel” has expanded and solidified its control over the West Bank, gradually eroding the PA's jurisdiction and powers.
The last time Palestinian factions clashed in the streets was in 2007, when Hamas, the main rival to Fatah, ousted the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Gaza and established its own government.
Since then, both the United States and the European Union have invested heavily in reforming and training Palestinian security forces.
However, the security forces continue to suffer from chronic underfunding and are ill-equipped to shoulder the responsibilities envisioned by Washington for the West Bank and Gaza post-war, compounded by “Israel’s” refusal to expand their roles, branding them as a terrorist threat.
"Unfortunately, the Palestinian Authority continues to decline, evading the fight against Israel’s annexation of the West Bank in favor of confronting resistance factions in Jenin, which leads to internal chaos," Political analyst Ibrahim al-Madhoun said.
In an interview with Al-Estiklal, he emphasized that the PA has "become a tool used against its own people—a fact underscored by its rejection of the Gaza Solidarity Committee and its negative role in the war on Gaza, as well as its impotence in the face of Israel's escalating violence. By confronting resistance factions, it finds itself in a new, even more precarious position."
Al-Madhoun believes the PA has effectively volunteered to perform “Israel’s” role, launching a war on Jenin in place of the occupation itself.
On December 22, the Jenin Brigade issued a statement saying, "The remarks made by the spokesperson for the PA security forces (Anwar Rajab) against the resistance are in line with those of the Israeli military spokesperson. Our message to the soldiers is: return to your senses, we have warned you, and do not test our patience."
As the Palestinian Authority seeks to solidify its rule in the West Bank and make a return to Gaza with Israeli tanks as its ride, “Israel” continues to push forward with its annexation plans and the acceleration of settlement construction, amid Palestinian fragmentation and international Arab indifference.
Haaretz reported that “Israel demolished Palestinian buildings in the area. It thereby also violated the Wye agreement.”
“The Oslo II Accord of 1995 divided the West Bank into three zones: Area A under full Palestinian control, Area B under Palestinian civil and administrative control and Israeli security control, and Area C under full Israeli civil, administrative, and security control,” as mentioned in Anadolu Ajansi.
According to Haaretz, “Supporters of annexation are no longer making do with Area C of the West Bank – that is, the part assigned to full Israeli control by the Oslo Accords. The success of the theft enterprise in Area C has increased their appetite, and they are constantly seeking to expand to other areas,” a vision that “Israel” has long hoped to complete with the arrival of Donald Trump in the White House.