Inside West Bank BusyNobody can make plans. No movement has been guaranteed since October 7th. In most cases, leaving the city is a long journey. In others, a death penalty. HE Israeli army closes road checkpoints without prior notice. In contrast, sporadic actions colonialists They continue to turn a deaf ear to their authorities by blocking roads and attacking Palestinian travelers with stones and guns. Moreover 248 Palestinians He was shot dead by both soldiers and settlers who converged on the area in recent weeks. a single threatThere are more and more armed and uniformed settlers, and there is uninterrupted military protection for those still wearing civilian clothes. For Israel, most of whose troops are stationed in occupied Palestinian territory, the West Bank is already another important front in his deadliest war.
Even its most loyal ally is warning Israel of the dangers of the current situation. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in his third visit this Thursday since the beginning of the conflict, asked Hebrew authorities to take “immediate measures to capture those responsible.” extremist settlers Because of the violence against Palestinians in the West Bank,” the US President said early last month. Joe Bidenwas threatened visa ban to violent settlers. Palestinian journalist and political analyst, after examining Israel’s most blatant attacks on the Gaza Strip, Meryem BarghoutiHe condemned “this effort” on Al Jazeera Israeli ethnic cleansing It has spread to the occupied West Bank and is advancing a similar plan there, albeit more secretly.
Claims confirming these accusations are coming from all over the occupied West Bank. “Settlers throw stones at my sheep while we graze, because They want to drive us from our lands and we will place a police station but we have centennial papers It confirms that this land belongs to us,” the old priest accuses Ali Abu Mehzi from the Jordan Valley. Further north, in a refugee camp in Nablus, Salih Abu SalihHe agrees with the criticism: “The Israelis don’t care if you belong to an armed group or carry a gun, they will cause you problems just for that.” you are Palestinian“. Inside RamallahIn places where calmness is usually the norm, tension is felt along with the tension in the environment. resignation. Miles-long queues on roads to access any point have worsened since the Israeli Army closed some access control points in the Palestinian administrative capital.
Settlers’ impunity
since October 7 828 PalestiniansMore than 13 Palestinians, including 313 children, were deported from the community in Area C, which is entirely under Israeli control. In the first month of the war, Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din 185 violent incidents by settlers in occupied territories Killing of 7 Palestinians. “Settler violence has intensified over the past month under the guise of war with the aim of changing reality on the West Bank,” they condemned. In the first eight months of 2023, there were an average of three incidents of settler violence per day, an increase from the previous year. since October 7 seven a dayAccording to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Also Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben GvirHe gave the following instructions to senior police officers in the region of Judea and Samaria, names used by Israeli authorities in the Bible: evading the law Against far-right groups committing crimes against Palestinians. In order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past on their part, the Hebrew authorities put all their resources into “unity intifada”, Like what happened in May 2021 after another violent attack on Palestinians from Israel, the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In the first two weeks starting from October 7, Attacks have tripled Protests were organized by Palestinian armed groups in solidarity with the region.
Although only 200 prisoners, including women and children, were released, thousands of Palestinians have been killed in recent days. detained The number of detainees increased to 1 in the last two months 7,000. Raids and raids of the Israeli army are repeated without results, especially refugee camps In the north of the West Bank. HE October 22Israeli air force strikes for first time since Second Intifada bombings This area turns a mosque in rural Jenin into rubble. But not only does the Army bring out its cannons every day to punish the locals, they also punish the locals. authorities branch to residents of illegal settlements under international law.
“Multi-front war”
“While Israel is focused on its just struggle against Hamas in Gaza, it cannot fail to address what is happening in the West Bank, where settler violence is taking place. Threatens the integrity of democracy and security “Israel’s,” the analyst condemned. Alex Ledermanin the magazine time. “A responsible Israeli government will find a solution to Israel’s problem in the West Bank. war on two fronts “What it really is: against both Palestinian and Jewish violence,” he adds. But warnings before the unprecedented escalation of violence against the broad and impunity freedom enjoyed by settlers in the occupied territories were ignored by the Israeli leadership. political leaders Like Ben Gvir or Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. They are settlers, they dominate the institutions, they have been arrested for violence in the past, and this depends on the support of the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahustay in power.
A few weeks ago the authorities Biden Administration They warned their senior Israeli counterparts that the situation in the West Bank was about to explode. Palestinian authority could lose control of major cities there. Former Minister of Defense and current member of the emergency government, Benny GantzHe acknowledged that his country was fighting a “multi-front war”. A month ago, the Israeli military spokesman said, Jonathan ConricusIn Reuters, he accused Hamas of “trying to force Israel into a stalemate.” “a war on two or three fronts”, also refers to the Lebanese border. After two months of active conflict, Israeli authorities are confident that the events of May 2021 will not be repeated, or at least not on the same scale. This 2023, the armed resistance in the West Bank, although more vibrant than in the last two decades, has already suffered from constant attacks on Palestinians, with more than 220 people killed before October 7. deadliest year Since the Second Intifada.