Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades
In the 1980s and 1990s, Balata residents played a leading role in the uprisings known as the First Intifada and the Second Intifada. In November 2007, Palestinian National Authority police officers climbed rooftops in Balata and engaged in gun battles with militants of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades who had turned the camp into a military stronghold. Five residents and a policeman were wounded in the shooting.