In Occupied West Bank, New Armed Groups Emerge
NABLUS, West Bank — After a violent uprising by Palestinians against Israel subsided nearly two decades ago, Abu Abdallah, then a leader of a Palestinian militia, stashed away his assault rifle and became a civil servant in Nablus.
When Israeli troops raided the Palestinian city late last month, Abu Abdallah, now 42, lent that rifle to a group of Palestinian gunmen 20 years younger who were locked in a four-hour gun battle with the soldiers. He was a party to the conflict for the first time in years — one of several former fighters who returned to the fray that day, he said.
“We have this feeling that we need to do our duty,” said Abu Abdallah, who asked to be identified by his code name to avoid legal repercussions.
For years, the Palestinian Authority, which administers cities in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, worked with Israel to keep Palestinian militias in relative check, in hopes that building trust with Israeli leaders would persuade them to allow the formation of a Palestinian state. But the authority’s control is ebbing as hopes of statehood all but evaporate.
Younger gunmen have become increasingly active over the past year, as frustration grows with the entrenchment of Israeli settlements in the territory and attacks by settlers. They are mounting more shooting attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians, and opening fire far more often during Israeli raids on their towns. Foremost among them is a new group, the Lions’ Den — the target of the Israeli raid in Nablus last month. Its support is growing even as its ranks have dwindled through killings and arrests — from 60 at its peak in September to between 10 and 30 now, according to different estimates. Deadly violence in the West Bank has risen sharply in 2023, and polls show that both Palestinians and Israeli Jews feel the region is on the cusp of an intifada, or a Palestinian national uprising, for the first time since the last one subsided in 2005.
The Lions’ Den has been responsible for much of the rise in violence. In 2022, there were 61 shooting attacks, one of them deadly, on Israeli soldiers and civilians in and around Nablus, up from only three in 2020, according to Israeli records.
These attacks have prompted an increasingly forceful Israeli military campaign. More than 60 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank this year, the deadliest start to any year this century in the region, according to Palestinian officials. Most died during gun battles between Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen started by Israeli operations to arrest people suspected of carrying out or plotting attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians.
Signs of support for violent resistance — and, in particular, the Lions’ Den — are found across Nablus. Many residents have placed photographs of slain Lions’ Den members on amulets hanging in the city’s main square. Their faces are seen on shop fronts, car windows and cellphone screens.
To many residents, the gunmen are doing what the Palestinian Authority will not: fighting Israel.
Among Palestinians across the West Bank and Gaza Strip, more than half would support an intifada and more than seven in 10 support the Lions’ Den, according to a poll in December. And gunmen from the Lions’ Den believe an uprising is underway.
“We are already in an intifada,” said one 24-year-old fighter in Nablus.
“An intifada without the Palestinian Authority,” interjected a second fighter, 25.