The Mark of Zero Israeli National Self-Esteem: Arab MKs Remain in Knesset While Plotting Against Israel

Tibi Attends Jenin March, by Roee Nahmias (Ynet)

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Five years after IDF’s Operation Defensive Shield in Jenin, dozens of gunmen march through streets of Jenin refugee camp dressed up in suicide explosive belts and wearing IDF uniforms. MK Ahmad Tibi calls for an end to the occupation.

Dozens of armed men participated on Tuesday in a procession marking five years since the IDF’s Operation Defensive Shield, during which over 50 Palestinians were killed in the Jenin refugee camp. Among the participants were Islamic Jihad members dressed up as suicide bombers and children wearing military uniforms and carrying real firearms. Speakers at the event included Knesset Member Ahmad Tibi (United Arab List-Ta’al) and Zakariya Zbeidi, a senior official in Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.

Operation Defensive Shield was launched in early April 2002 following a Passover eve suicide bombing in a Netanya hotel at which 250 people were celebrating the seder meal. In the attack, 29 people were killed and 150 wounded.

In his address, MK Tibi said, “The Palestinian people wants peace, which must be based on freedom achieved through an end to the occupation… Specifically on the Passover holiday, I say to the Israelis that freedom is the right of every nation, including a nation that is under foreign occupation and rule.”

At the event, the governor of Jenin, Kadura Musa, presented MK Tibi with a certificate thanking him for standing with the people of Jenin during the 2002 fighting. Tibi toured the section of the camp in which damaged houses have been rebuilt, commenting that “the contribution of the United Arab Emirates was noble and made possible the reconstruction of scores of houses… 480 houses were destroyed and all of them have been rebuilt.”

The densely populated Jenin refugee camp, situated next to the town of Jenin, is considered a hotbed of Palestinian extremism and produced more than 20 suicide bombers. In April 2002 tens of IDF soldiers were killed in house-to-house fighting in the camp. Much of the battle was concentrated in a small area in the center of the camp, measuring just 200 feet by 200 feet, in which several hundred gunmen were holed up, according to IDF estimates.

During Operation Defensive Shield, the IDF also sent forces into Ramallah, Nablus and Bethlehem and blockaded the residence of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yassir Arafat.