WEST BANK (Dispatches) – Palestinian resistance groups have announced a general mobilization among their fighters in the West Bank city of Jenin, saying they will respond with an “iron fist” to the escalating Zionist aggression in the occupied territories.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, a coalition of Palestinian armed groups in the occupied West Bank, made the announcement in a statement on Saturday, stressing that the occupying regime’s continued acts of aggression against the Palestinian people in Beita, Jabal Sabih and Barqa will meet with painful strikes.
The spokesman of the Brigades, whose name was not mentioned in reports, emphasized that the occupying regime will never enjoy security and stability unless it leaves the Palestinian territories. He noted that ambushes and attacks await the Zionist aggressors. The battle will remain open-ended and resistance will continue until the occupying forces are expelled from Palestine, the spokesman said.
Violent raids by Zionist troops are a regular practice in the occupied West Bank, during which Palestinians are exposed to live fire, arrests, assaults and killings. An 80-year-old Palestinian man, Omar Abdel-Majid Asaad, died in the West Bank city of Ramallah on January 19 after being arrested and beaten in handcuffs by Zionist troops.
Asaad was found in a critical condition after the assault near his home in Jiljilya village north of Ramallah. He died before reaching the hospital.
On Friday, clashes erupted between anti-settlement protesters and Israeli forces in several areas across the West Bank, leaving a number of Palestinians injured. Zionist troops attacked weekly anti-settlement protests in the town of Beita, south of Nablus.
Since May, Beita has seen intensified clashes between regime troops and Palestinians protesting against a settlement outpost that has been established on Sobeih Mountain by settlers under the protection of Israeli troops.
More than 600,000 Zionists live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Al-Quds. All the settlements are illegal under international law as they are built on occupied land. The United Nations Security Council has condemned the regime’s settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.
Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state with East Al-Quds as its capital.