| by Jonathan Kuttab What is happening in the West Bank these days? Since the beginning of the Gaza Genocide, people in the West Bank have been silently suffering numerous measures imposed on them by the Israeli authorities without much resistance or pushback. Such measures include: The denial of work permits (about 200,000 West Bankers who worked in Israel have been denied their permits). This has compounded significantly the economic hardships that resulted from a lack of tourism and increased restrictions on money coming in from the outside. The salaries of public sector employees (about 150,000) have been slashed by around 50% and many go for months without even their reduced salaries. Movement and travel restrictions have increased, with new obstacles and even steel gates placed at almost all entrances to villages, refugee camps and towns. Never mind the absence of any political horizon, as Smotrich, the Israeli “governor of the West Bank,” openly spouts his dreams of pushing all Palestinians out. The army now freely invades Areas A and B, arresting thousands as prison conditions are worsening. Thousands more are arrested and Ben Gvir openly speaks of “punishing” prisoners by torturing, humiliating, and denying them basic rights. Yet in spite of all that, instances of demonstrations and stone throwing have been reduced to a minimum. The fear is that Israel is itching for a chance to dish out to West Bankers the same genocidal treatment it is employing in Gaza with total impunity. Palestinians in the West Bank legitimately fear that they may meet the same treatment, even though there are no Hamas forces, no tunnels, no missiles aimed at Israel, no hostages, and no possible excuse for Israeli attacks on them. To the contrary, the Palestinian Authority, which is woefully inadequate at addressing their needs is very proficient in cooperating with Israel to stop any form of resistance and to fully cooperate in ensuring no resistance either. One group of Israelis and their supporters, however, view things more urgently. They see in the war on Gaza, as well as the Iran war and the invasion of South Lebanon, a divinely sent opportunity to accelerate the process of their takeover of the West Bank lands, ethnically cleansing it by driving out its inhabitants and provoking conditions that would enable the fulfillment of their designs on the West Bank and beyond. Over years, settlers have established a pattern of “pushing the envelope” and advancing the Zionist goal of the Judaization of all of Palestine through brazen acts, ones that the Israeli government and army could not openly support but which they definitely enable and eventually legitimize and legalize retroactively. That process of establishing illegal (even by Israeli standards) outposts, scaring and terrorizing the population, and counting on the Army to provide protection, infrastructure, and eventual legalization has been the pattern of colonization, settlement and expansion in place for many years. One element in this scheme is the provision of direct funding through US “charitable organizations” that provide equipment, salaries, machinery , drones, and “security equipment” for activities that the Israeli government itself would not publicly support. This also provides “political cover” as different Israeli governments could pretend to favor or disfavor particular settlement activities while fully allowing them to continue. The government could even pretend to obstruct, and occasionally even demolish such “illegal outposts” only to see them rebuilt. This also allows liberal Zionists to take the posture of opposing settlement extremists, and supporting a phantom two-state solution while in reality acquiescing to the ultimate goals of the settlers who openly say they would never allow a Palestinian state, that they own all the land, and that they are willing to even fight the Israeli army to keep it and to drive Palestinians out. The war on Gaza gave a great boost to those extremist elements, as they witnessed the impunity with which even blatant genocidal actions could take place. They redoubled their efforts, using “shepherding farms” to spread their areas of control to the very edges of Palestinian villages, and then also to physically attack and chase Palestinians out of their homes, steal their sheep, destroy their property, and deny them access to their fields and agricultural areas. If the Palestinians dared to resist, the settlers would call in the army to arrest, attack, and even shoot at the Palestinians. Last week, when one unarmed Palestinian being beaten and attacked by armed settlers wrested the weapon from the attacker and fired at him, he and four Palestinians were killed. The army came in to conduct wide ranging arrests, road closures, house demolitions and other measures against “Palestinian terrorism” while settlers gleefully organized what was termed openly in the Israeli press as pogroms. They called for the erasure of entire villages, of “turning them into Beit Hanun” (a city in Gaza that literally no longer exists, as it was levelled entirely.) Two settlers were killed, apparently by Israeli “friendly fire,” but this was then used as an excuse for massive attacks, house demolitions, arrests, and a whole campaign by the army, as well as increased attacks by settlers, to “avenge” the settlers who had died. The whole of the West Bank now anticipates a major operation by the Israeli army. As the activities of these settlers became more and more vicious, pressure mounted on the Israeli Army and government to do something to reign in the more violent extremists. Even die-hard apologists for Israel, like Bret Stephens, recently published an opinion piece in the New York Times bemoaning “Jewish Terrorism” and calling on Israel to reign them in. Pundits and analysts have expressed fear that the West Bank may indeed erupt in a third intifada, or at least open resistance to the settlers, which would directly lead to massive settler and army retaliation. Lord have mercy. |
