West Bank is the next flashpoint – The Forward

Relatives and gunmen attend the funeral of five Palestinians killed in an Israeli attack in Jenin in the occupied West Bank, August 6. Photo by Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP via Getty Images

Columnist
Dan Perry
August 28, 2024

No one can say for sure what Hamas had in mind when it launched the current war on October 7. But it is likely that it wanted not only to drag Israel into the quagmire of Gaza but also to unleash a new Intifada in the West Bank, causing chaos and bloodshed in Israel between Arabs and Jews and wars on other fronts.

The desired quagmire has certainly become a reality, thanks to the strategic shortcomings of the deplorable Israeli government. And also a front in the north, where Hezbollah has been firing on Israel for almost 11 months, causing the evacuation of almost 100,000 people. But the Israeli army has so far managed to keep the West Bank somewhat under control. But the pot is quickly starting to boil.

The latest reflection of that came on Wednesday in a large-scale counter-terror operation involving hundreds of Israeli soldiers. at least nine Palestinian gunmen were killed by the Israel Defense Forces in the cities of Tulkarm and Jenin. The raids involved the Kfir Brigade, Duvdevan Commando Unit and combat engineers, and the army indicated that it is expected to last for several days.

Although a full-scale uprising has been thwarted so far, the West Bank is boiling. Since October 7, more than 650 Palestinians have been killed in airstrikes and raids (according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), and nearly 5,000 have been arrested, almost half of them known Hamas affiliates. Settlers have also been rampaging with impunity in the West Bank. Shin Bet leader Ronen Bar, the colonists’ actions were highlighted in particular — which resulted in a Palestinian death in the village of Jit last week — as causing “unspeakable” damage.

Palestinians in the West Bank are also on the brink of economic ruin. more than 100,000 Palestinians with permits to work in Israel have been unable to do so since the Hamas attacks, when Israel indefinitely froze the majority of permits. Under extremist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Israel has also withheld millions in funding from the beleaguered Palestinian Authority, creating further desperation in the occupied territory.

With ceasefire talks seemingly collapsing and tensions with Iran rising following the July assassination (attributed to Israel) of Hamas leader Israel Haniyeh in Tehran, there are growing fears that the lid could come off. In a series of reports and briefings in recent days, Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet officials have warned that an explosion could be imminent.

This week’s IDF operation appears to be a response to a recent suicide bombing attempt in Tel Aviv that the Israeli military believes was orchestrated by a terror network based in Tulkarm. But it could also be related to unfinished business with Iran, which has threatened direct retaliation against Israel since Haniyeh’s July 31 killing.

Israeli security officials have been warning for weeks that Iran is now trying to smuggle weapons into the West Bank. According to The New York Times This week, Iran is sending the munitions through a complex network of militants, intelligence agencies and criminal gangs. The report, citing anonymous U.S., Israeli and Iranian officials, said the weapons are being transported along a route that spans Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, with Bedouin smugglers playing a major role in moving the weapons to Israel.

Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz expressed these concerns in a tweet this week: “Iran is working to build a terror front against Israel in (the West Bank), following the model it used in Lebanon and Gaza, by financing and arming terrorists and smuggling advanced weapons from Jordan,” he tweeted.

He too proposed temporarily relocating Palestinians from the West Bank during invasions — such as in Gaza during the war there: “We must deal with the (terror) threat in the same way we deal with the terror infrastructure in Gaza, including the temporary evacuation of Palestinian civilians and all other necessary steps.”

It is a dangerous idea, because treating the West Bank the same way Israel treats the people of Gaza – some of whom have been forced to flee Israeli bombardments seven or eight times – could spark an even bigger conflict; exactly what Israel should not want, and what Hamas does.

It wouldn’t be the first time that Katz, not known for his Solomonic wisdom, has helped Israel’s enemies. Oct 13 he wrote on X: “We will fight and destroy the terrorist organization Hamas. The entire civilian population in Gaza (sic) is ordered to leave immediately. We will win. They will not be given a drop of water or a single battery until they leave the world.”

That statement was a key piece of evidence in South Africa’s lawsuit against Israel for genocide at the International Court of Justice. The case is still ongoing and the Court will also take into account Israel’s actions in the West Bank.

Whatever happens on the ground in Jenin and Tulkarm now will not change the fundamental situation: the West Bank territory that Israel captured in the 1967 war has three million Palestinians. The territory has strategic and historical value for Israel, and it is a place of great importance to religious Jews. But if Israel does not find a way to eventually break away from its three million Palestinians, there will be no Jewish state.