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אל המקום אשר...
*Guardians of the Mountains- שומרי ההרים*
*GUARDIANS OF THE MOUNTAINS CHANNEL*-
*שומרי ההרים ערוץ*
*On the Table: The Barrel Map of the Palestinian Authority*
By Meir Ettinger, Hakol HaYehudi
11 Cheshvan 5787 – 22/10/20
*The map before you is being published here for the first time, but the troubling point is that we must assume the IDF has already drawn it for itself, just as we did in this Hakol HaYehudi investigation.*
Unlike the story in Gaza, the forces you see here—nine mobile battalions plus at least one special mobile force (named 101!), plus more than 60 police points—are visible, and some of them are even in contact with the IDF.
What little we gathered is almost certainly only a small part of the surprises prepared there. *Why don’t the Israeli government and security forces dismantle all of this tonight?*
[Above: Map of PA National Security battalions and key bases across Judea and Samaria.
Hakol HaYehudi investigation, open-source intelligence].
*When people talk about the Palestinian Authority, most of us picture the PA chairman demanding a state at the UN, or debates about ending the Oslo Accords and canceling the A, B, and C areas. Yet the real military infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority—the one that is actually preparing the ground and waiting for the right moment—escapes public view.*
The picture of the situation before you was assembled with tweezers from open-source intelligence. It is a data puzzle collected through painstaking work locating muqata’as (administrative compounds) and governing centers, and cross-referencing official publications, videos, and information published on social media by the Palestinian forces themselves.
We must assume that this open information is also somewhere in the hands of the IDF and the security establishment. Even so, the picture that emerges when all the pieces of this mosaic are put together is incomprehensible. It is hard to understand how the political echelon and the military system allow such an infrastructure to continue operating and growing even one more day.
*The order-of-battle picture is incomprehensible: an estimated force of tens of thousands of fighters across the various apparatuses. At the center of the military force stand ten “National Security” battalions—nine regional battalions deployed on the ground, plus “Battalion 101,” which serves as a special reserve force that moves from place to place. The estimate is roughly 8,000 fighters. Beyond that, more than 60 police points and stations are deployed on the ground, and armed forces sit in them as well.*
While the Authority and international actors present all the forces as internal police bodies meant to enforce order and disperse demonstrations, in practice the Authority operates a mechanism that functions as a full army in every respect, organized in battalions and well-trained.
*This infrastructure, which lies completely before our eyes, has never been fully assembled into one transparent and clear picture for the Israeli public.*
*An Army Under Camouflage: What Are the “National Security” Battalions Really?*
Several different apparatuses currently operate in the Palestinian Authority—a legacy from the days of Yasser Arafat, who established many organizations in order to maintain absolute control on the ground.
Toward the international community, the Authority is careful to present these forces as internal policing bodies meant to maintain public order. Within the Palestinian system itself, however, the “National Security” apparatus (one of several existing apparatuses) is perceived and functions as a full army in every respect.
This process did not happen in one day. After the Second Intifada, in an attempt to stabilize Palestinian Authority rule against hostile domestic elements, American General Keith Dayton arrived in the area.
The plan he led began training the National Security battalions class after class, and thus, gradually, these forces took an increasingly broad hold on the ground.
Today their training is far from being only local policing drills.
The dedicated training base is at the Nu’eima camp near Jericho. According to the data we collected, force training has an extensive international history.
Hakol HaYehudi investigations have already exposed training of security apparatus operatives in various countries, including training conducted inside Authority territory, training held in Jordan for years, and training in additional countries.
A flagship Hakol HaYehudi investigation previously exposed unique training the forces underwent in Pakistan. From the current investigation it emerges that most battalion commanders underwent private training in Algeria.
In terms of official and daily purpose, the National Security forces carry out missions whose character resembles those of the Israeli Border Police (Magav), such as dispersing demonstrations or intervening in focal points where the regular police fail to cope (as happened vis-à-vis terror organizations in Jenin).
*But their organizational structure betrays their military purpose: they are not organized as police stations, but as ten distinct battalions.*
*Alongside this military force operates the regular Palestinian police. These are forces responsible for daily civilian missions similar to the “blue police,” and they are deployed in dozens of stations across Judea and Samaria.*
In each such police station, between 15 and 40 armed officers usually serve, who received military training of a lower level than that of the National Security battalions.
Nevertheless, one must not be mistaken about their ostensibly civilian character: these officers too are well-armed, and on the day of command they are expected to form an inseparable part of the combat array directed against us.
To understand the full picture of this weapons deployment, in the second article we will publish *we will focus on the deployment of these policing points, which have also become targets the IDF avoids entering routinely.* *No one really even knows the scale of weapons in each such station.*
*From the Chain of Command to the Fence of Ariel*
At the beginning of 2026 a change of personnel occurred at the top of Palestinian National Security: Nidal Abu Dukhan finished his role, and command of the forces was received by Maj. Gen. Al-Abd Ibrahim Abd a-Salam Khalil.
Under him operates a well-organized headquarters that includes a general inspector (Jihad Jarrah), a deputy commander (Hafiz Rifai), and directors of dedicated departments—from public relations and international ties, through medicine and psychological support, to the “Development and Artificial Intelligence” department.
Under this command, the operational deployment on the ground relies on nine regional battalions and one special reserve battalion.
Here are some central examples
PA base 350 meters from the city of Ariel – The most tangible example of the concept of “touching distance” is in Salfit. The area headquarters, under the command of district commander Col. Ahmed al-Baz, controls the National Security base located an inconceivable distance of only about 340 meters from the fence of the Israeli city of Ariel.
[Above see Satellite view: PA National Security base in Salfit, ~340 meters from the Ariel fence (red circle marks the base).]
From the springboard: Jenin Battalion sits on the ruins of an abandoned Nahal outpost – In Jenin, the city that became a central terror hub, National Security—under the command of area commander Munir Abu Kashak—holds two central points: one in the muqata’a on Haifa Street in the city, and the second in “Horesh Sa’ada” camp.
Horesh Sa’ada camp is a large, fortified, and particularly impressive base that also carries a chilling symbolic meaning: it was established and sits physically on the ruins of an Israeli Nahal outpost.
The Palestinian officers’ city: Jericho (Battalion 9) – Jericho is not only a regional headquarters but a large military compound that constitutes one of the Authority’s prominent power centers.
Under the command of area commander Muta’ab al-Atawneh, two central bases effectively operate in the area: Nu’eima base and a training camp base.
Nu’eima base (established in 2008), where the ninth battalion commanded by Hamza Dara’ameh apparently sits, is located very close to the Israeli communities of Mevo’ot Yericho and Na’ama.
Nearby operates the main training center of National Security, commanded by Lt. Col. Zafer Abd a-Raziq. This training camp is a particularly large compound that stands in disturbing and dangerous proximity to Highway 90—a fact clearly visible in aerial photographs. The bases in Jericho, similar to the camp in Tubas (Battalion 2), are characterized by the appearance of impressive and large military camps.
*In the heart of the population: City headquarters*– In the other central cities in Judea and Samaria, the National Security battalions positioned themselves right in the heart of the urban space, usually inside the muqata’a compounds. This is the case in Hebron (Battalion 1), located in the local muqata’a under the command of Jamal Masrawa (or Asia), and likewise in Nablus (Battalion 5 in Jneid camp and the muqata’a), Bethlehem (Battalion 6), and Tulkarm (Battalion 7). The muqata’a in Ramallah houses Battalion 8, commanded by Ahmed Jaber al-Haroub—an officer who underwent military training in Algeria, further evidence of the quality of training of these forces. In addition to these, a “local battalion” operates in the Qalqilya area, and there is also a branch defined as Jerusalem area command under Ismail Salah a-Din.
The roaming force: Battalion 101 – Alongside the fixed infrastructures, the Authority operates the special Battalion 101. This is a reinforcement and special reserve force that is not tied to one sector but moves from place to place and from sector to sector according to operational need. This unit has been documented with sniper rifles, machine guns, armored vehicles, and even anti-tank missiles. According to estimates, the home base of this mobile force is also most likely at Nu’eima camp in Jericho.
The name of the battalion—which ironically echoes the name of the IDF’s historic commando unit, Unit 101—leaves no room for doubt regarding its purpose and the self-conception of its founders.
*Meet the Commanders the IDF Will Fight Against*
To complete the picture, one cannot ignore the people holding the command wheel. While the Palestinian Authority tries to give these forces a moderate image, anyone who wants to only needs to glance at the profiles of the battalion commanders and their publications on social media to understand who we are dealing with.
First, the military training: these are not traffic cops. A significant portion of the battalion commanders, including Ahmed Jaber al-Haroub (commander of Battalion 8 in Ramallah), underwent professional military training in foreign countries, such as Algeria.
Second, the ideology and support for terror: National Security officers do not hide their positions. The raw materials we collected from the official and personal Facebook pages of the commanders reveal open sympathy for terrorists. The most prominent example is Ahmed Abu al-Ghiab, commander of Battalion 2 in Tubas. On his open account he publishes posts praising “shahids” and security prisoners, including posters and photos glorifying mothers of terrorists eliminated by our forces.
*Waking Up to Tomorrow Morning’s Reality*
No current information on the exact order of battle of the Palestinian Authority apparatuses is published online today. The available data relies on research and estimates from about a decade ago, and it is reasonable to assume that since then this force has only grown and strengthened significantly.
We must assume that the IDF and Shin Bet know these data and locations well, but for the State of Israel—at the military and political levels—to change its approach and act, the public must be exposed to their meaning and begin talking about it. There is no possibility of talking about breaking a conception as long as this map exists.
*Sovereignty & Security for Israel Now! TRANSFER IS THE ANSWER*
*כבוש-גרוש-והתישוות🇮🇱*
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