Palestinians in Jenin evoke painful past as violence flares

The latest wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence has been centered on Jenin, a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank that has long been a bastion of armed struggle against Israeli rule

JENIN REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank -- The journey of the Palestinian who opened fire at a street-side bar in Tel Aviv last week, killing three young Israeli men and sending the city into lockdown, began a two-hour drive away in an impoverished refugee camp deep inside the occupied West Bank.

Twenty years after Jenin saw one of the biggest battles of the second Palestinian uprising, Israel is once again launching near-daily raids into the camp and trading fire with local fighters. Decades of dispossession, poverty and violence have only deepened the camp's reputation as a bastion of armed struggle against Israeli rule.

Tires, gutted appliances and other rubble are piled up near the entrances to the camp, which is transformed into a fortress at night, when the raids usually occur. Narrow roads wind through a confusion of squat concrete homes built on a hillside, some adorned with portraits of slain Palestinians and the flags of armed factions.

Palestinian assailants have killed 14 Israelis in a series of attacks in recent weeks, and clashes at a major Jerusalem holy site on Friday have raised tensions further.