(JNS) Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas made a rare visit to Jenin on Wednesday, July 12, a week after the IDF concluded a major counterterrorism operation in the northern Shomron city.
The visit marked Abbas’s second official trip to Jenin since being elected P.A. chairman 18 years ago, with his last known public tour of the city having taken place in the summer of 2012.
Recent polling shows that the 87-year-old Abbas is deeply unpopular among Palestinians, who increasingly support armed terrorist groups. In Jenin specifically, at least 45% of residents are believed to be affiliated with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Indeed, the P.A., which is obligated under the Oslo Accords to arrest terrorists, has allowed Jenin to become a hornet’s nest for Palestinian armed groups. Terrorists from Jenin have been responsible for more than 50 shootings in 2023, and 59 people from the city have carried out terror attacks since early 2022, killing three civilians and wounding 14.
The visit was said to be coordinated with the Israeli military and Israel Security Agency.
