At the beginning of February, armed clashes broke out between the Palestinian security apparatuses and what they called “wanted armed groups” in the Balata refugee camp near the city of Nablus in the West Bank. Though the Palestinian Authority (PA) says these groups are arms or drug dealers, the camp's officials deny this. Al-Monitor learned that these groups belong to the Fatah movement.
The clashes once again sparked a debate on the return of chaos and lawlessness to the West Bank, though the crisis ostensibly ended when 10 young men handed themselves over to the security services on Feb. 12.