Every inch of the remaining walls and ceiling is covered in bullet holes. Eyewitnesses said that after an hours-long gunfight, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) used shoulder-fired rockets to open the metal doors. The rockets destroyed the heavy stonework that crushed the hugely popular young “Lion of Nablus”, wanted for attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians. Nablusi and two others were killed and 40 others wounded in the massive August 9 raid, part of Operation Breakwater, a six-month campaign of near-nightly IDF raids, arrests, targeted killings and house demolitions in the occupied West Bank. . Designed to flush out fighters from al-Aqsa, Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s military wing, al-Quds, the offensive has become one of the largest non-wartime Israeli military operations in decades. “There were arrests last night. It’s not safe to go out at night, they’ll shoot you, like I was last year,” said Ali Rafiq Sabah, 56, a restaurant owner in the Balata refugee camp on the outskirts of the city, who lifted his shirt to show two glass scars on his trunk when the Guardian visited last week. “This is a desperate place. Every young man here has a gun and these attacks make him more determined to fight back.” Operation Breakwater was launched this spring in response to one of the deadliest waves of Palestinian terror attacks in Israel in years. According to the Palestinian health ministry, 98 Palestinians – mostly armed men, but also many civilians – have been killed across the West Bank so far this year, a seven-year record. In the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, a surprise three-day Israeli bombing campaign in August killed another 51 Palestinians, including 17 children. This Israeli attrition strategy known as “cutting the grass” has two goals: reducing the enemy’s ability to attack and temporary deterrence. But instead of quelling Palestinian armed resistance, Operation Breakwater appears to be fueling more violence in the West Bank – and mobilizing a new generation of fighters. Two new armed groups have emerged in recent months – the Nablus Brigade and the Toumba Brigade – and organized armed resistance has steadily grown since unrest in Jerusalem last May culminated in an 11-day war in Gaza and scenes of intercommunal violence on Israel’s streets. “The Israelis call us terrorists, but throwing stones is not enough when they have guns. We also need weapons to protect ourselves,” said 17-year-old Mustafa, a regular visitor to the Yafa youth center in Balata. His friend Mahmoud, 21, added: “Our generation is not like our parents. They had to leave their homes, they were afraid. They saw the peace process [in the 1990s]perhaps they still believe that peace is possible. “For us, we don’t think there will be peace. The only solution is to fight.” In a statement, the IDF said that “counter-terrorist activity is based on accurate intelligence and continuous assessments of the situation. In some cases, heavy exchanges of fire developed between the IDF forces and the terrorists… It should be noted that the security forces use actual fire only after all other options have been exhausted.” Nablus, an ancient city in the northern West Bank, nestled in a valley between two mountains, has long been a center of Palestinian political activism. He witnessed some of the worst violence of the second Intifada. the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militant group linked to Fatah, which is the dominant force of the Palestinian Authority (PA), was created in 2000 amid the poverty of the Balata camp. The group, designated a terrorist organization by Israel and its Western allies, agreed to disband and surrender its weapons in a 2007 deal brokered by the Palestinian Authority. However, in response to continued IDF and settler attacks, it has re-armed and attracted new recruits in recent years. While its command structure is secret, al-Aqsa now appears to operate independently of Fatah in both Nablus and nearby Jenin, another restive city. Since the start of Operation Breakwater, it has become clear that al-Aqsa is engaging in new, closer cooperation with other militias, such as the al-Quds Brigade of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, to repel the intensifying Israeli operation. The climate in Nablus is tense and challenging. The city walls are covered with posters of dead fighters and civilians, and children wear necklaces with photos of their slain friends. The Israel Defense Forces said it was considering using armed drones in the West Bank for the first time, reinforcing a sense that worse is yet to come. The destroyed Nablusi safe house has become something of a pilgrimage site: a steady stream of people come every day to see the place where the Lion of Nablus was defeated, taking pictures and leaving flowers. Fearing spies, the militants began preventing foreigners from entering the old city, as well as the sprawling Balata camp. The Palestinian Authority, widely seen throughout Palestinian society as colluding with Israel to suppress armed and nonviolent resistance, has almost no power here. Fatah itself is also increasingly divided between factions loyal to the aging and deeply unpopular Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, and those who believe he has made no meaningful progress. Oppressive governance and rampant corruption have also eroded the Palestinian people’s trust in their leaders. For many in the city, the raid that killed Nablushi, reportedly with the help of Palestinian Authority security forces, may prove to be a watershed moment. The killing of a 53-year-old civilian on Tuesday during clashes between PA security forces and the al-Qassam brigade, the armed wing of Hamas, intensified hostility toward the West Bank authority. “Fatah, Hamas – they haven’t solved our problems. They are not aimed at young people. we do not feel that we belong to these movements. We need a different way of doing things,” Mahmoud said. “If we don’t defend our country, who will?” According to Dr Hanan Asrawi, a civil society activist and former member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee, last year’s canceled PA elections – which would have been the first since 2006 – calcified the belief of the new generation that “the political system is not fit for purpose”. “There are young people who would happily enter the political arena, roll up their sleeves and make a difference, but last year the door slammed shut. They are angrier and more militant because they have seen nothing but bloodshed and pain. There is a feeling of hopelessness,” he said. The director of the Yafa center, Fayez Arafat, has struggled for years to keep teenagers and young people away from the militias and gangsters who rule the camp, providing activities and workshops that are a much-needed respite from the slum-like conditions. The area, however, is littered with firearms smuggled in from neighboring Jordan and stolen from IDF bases. Arafat estimates that unemployment is about 70 percent, and about half of the camp’s 30,000 residents are under 18, making his job harder than ever. “If the Israelis would leave us alone, maybe things could change. But in circumstances like this, collective punishment, it’s inevitable that it’s going to explode. I think Israelis want it to be that way,” he said. “My son is 33 and decided just a few months ago to join Islamic Jihad. Because this? It is a result of the terrible things he has experienced while living here. He felt there was no other choice.”
