PA security forces to join upcoming terror campaigns, Palestinian analyst warns

The Palestinian Authority’s security forces, which receive funding from the United States and other Western countries, are predicted to join in upcoming terror campaigns, according to Palestinian analyst Akram Al-Natsheh who was cited in an article by Palestinian Media Watch published on Sunday.

Noting the PA’s security forces previous role in the second intifada, from 2000-2005, and the Nablus terror wave from 2022-2023, Al-Natsheh expressed he thought it likely the group would perpetrate terrorism in West Bank fighting in the near future.

From what does Al-Natsheh base his claims?

“The participation of former or present Security [Forces] members [in operations] is no longer unusual…” Al-Natsheh was cited as having written in Al Jazeera in March.

“Recently, we have seen the participation of security members in operations…They provide an important indication about the possibility that this group will participate [in the fighting] if a confrontation will develop in the West Bank, like in the Al-Aqsa Intifada (i.e., PA terror campaign 2000-2005, more than 1,100 Israelis murdered) or like what we saw with armed groups such as the Lion’s Den in Nablus… which relied on the Palestinian Security Forces members who resigned from their positions.”

Official Fatah Spokesman Abd Al-Fattah Doleh, Fatah’s Information and Culture Commission, was cited as evidence of Al-Natsheh’s predictions. 

In a January visit to Lebanon, Al-Fattah reportedly said “Today we are speaking about nearly 8,000 prisoners inside the occupation’s (i.e., Israel’s) prisons. More than half of the prisoners’ movement is from Fatah, and the remaining less than half are from the rest of the factions together. This shows that Fatah still adheres to the benefit of the struggle, regardless of what will be.

“It has carried the flag of armed struggle, it carried the flag of popular resistance in the popular [first] Stone Intifada (i.e., Palestinian terror wave, approximately 200 Israelis murdered, 1987-1993), it returned to armed resistance in the Al-Aqsa Intifada (i.e., PA terror campaign 2000-2005, more than 1,100 Israelis murdered), and today it is in favor of popular resistance (i.e., Palestinian term, includes use of violence and terror), and these strategies change and replace each other at every stage, but Fatah has not abandoned any one of its (i.e., terror) options.”

PMW, further supporting the analysis, quoted the Director of the Palestinian Center for Strategic Studies Muhammad Al-Masri. Al-Masri appeared on official PA TV where he reportedly stated “More than roughly 63-65% of the number of Martyrs in the West Bank, in the daily confrontations, are members of the Fatah Movement. And most of them are members of the [PA] Security Forces or their sons…

“The ones who are being pursued in the streets, arrested, and imprisoned are the Palestinian Security Forces officers.”

Adding validity to the statistics provided by Al-Masri, Fatah reported similar numbers on its official channel. The Awdah TV host: “More than two thirds of the Martyrs in the West Bank over [the last] year-and-a-half belong to the Fatah Movement and the PA…More than 355 of our Palestinian people’s prisoners inside the prisons are from the Palestinian [PA] Security Forces–in other words, the PA’s soldiers.”