By : Najla M. Shahwan
Jordan Daily – The Israeli military has launched the largest, deadliest West Bank attack of the year on August 28, killing at least 16 people.
The current Israeli violence in the West Bank is an expansion of genocide that has been going on in the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023.
As the world’s eyes have been focused, understandably, on the atrocities Israel has been committing in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military has been intensifying its assaults on Palestinians living in the West Bank.
Israel has cordoned off Palestinian communities, blocking the entrances and restricting movement in and out, while Israeli settlers have been allowed to roam freely across rural areas, firing eagerly at Palestinians who cross their paths.
Israel has been allowing and supporting its settlers’ attacks and violent crimes against Palestinians in different parts of the West Bank, including crimes of murder, threats, and destruction of private and immovable property, as well as the destruction and theft of agricultural crops.
With the Israeli army’s recent announcement of the start of a massive military operation known as “Summer Camps” that targets the northern West Bank, the attacks have taken on an increasingly severe form.
The military operations have been concentrated in Jenin, Tubas, Tulkarem and the Israeli forces have been imposing a tight siege and storming the cities from several axes.
The forces were supported by large number of vehicles and bulldozers and were also under the cover of Israeli helicopters and drones.
These attacks are part of Israel’s return since last October to using warplanes, helicopters, and drones of all kinds to launch air raids on Palestinian homes, cars, and gatherings in the West Bank.
More than 47 raids have been carried out by Israel since October 2023, resulting in numerous Palestinian deaths and injuries.
Immediately after entering the West Bank, the Israeli army began besieging hospitals, ambulances, and emergency centers, replicating its horrifying and systematic policy of breaching and taking control of health institutions that it has employed in the Gaza Strip.
In all areas it invaded, the Israeli army forces destroyed property, infrastructure, and streets. Simultaneously, with the storming of these areas, raid and arrest campaigns were carried out in most cities in the West Bank amidst gunfire that resulted in the injury of many Palestinians. Since last October, 660 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed as a result of the Israeli military’s systematic, large-scale, premeditated killings.
Israel is planning to carry out the crime of forced displacement in the West Bank, as it has against thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. This is particularly evident in the public statements and incitements made by ministers within the Israeli government, such as Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz, who stated that Israel must treat the West Bank “just as we deal with the infrastructure in Gaza, including temporary evacuation of residents and any steps that may be required”.
Besides, Itamar Ben Gvir, the minister of national security who have openly called for the annexation of the West Bank.
His department has also been arming settlers with military-grade rifles, effectively giving them carte blanche to do as they please and seize as much land as they can.
According to Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, “an organized evacuation of the Palestinian civilian population will be carried out according to the…combat centers” during the ongoing military operation.
This is a clear indication of Israel’s intention to commit genocide against Palestinians in the West Bank, just as it has done against those in the Gaza Strip.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that between 7 October 2023 and 19 August 2024, Israeli authorities demolished, confiscated, or forced the demolition of 1,416 Palestinian structures across the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem, displacing more than 3,200 Palestinians, including 1,400 children.
The demolitions after last October include inhabited and uninhabited residential structures, agricultural, water and sanitation (WASH) structures, livelihood and infrastructures.
Additionally , as part of its operations, the Israeli military has shut off electricity, water, mobile, and internet service.
The silence of the international community has led Israel to violate different conventions and different rights included in international law.
Amid this silence, Israel’s crime of genocide could not have occurred and escalated in the Gaza Strip and now be extended to the West Bank.
The world’s nations are not taking concrete action to protect Palestinian civilians, halt the mass killings, and stop the genocide from being completed.
Gaza, Jerusalem, and the West Bank are recognized as occupied territory under international law, and therefore Israel is obligated to protect the people living there.
Israel denies that it is occupying Palestinian lands, but the line between law and politics had been sharply drawn last July when the UN’s top court – the international court of justice (ICJ) – declared that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, is against international law and should end.
Along with putting an immediate stop to Israel’s illegal occupation and settler-colonization of Palestinian land, including the Gaza Strip, the international community must also work to remove the apartheid regime that is currently imposed on all Palestinians; lift the illegal blockade that has been placed on the Gaza Strip and its inhabitants for 17 years now; and take decisive action to support the path of Palestinian liberation and their right to self-determination.
The time to act is now and ensure justice for Palestinians.
Najla M. Shahwan is Palestinian author, researcher and freelance journalist.She is also Chairwoman of the Palestinian Center for Children’s Literature ( PCCL ) , founder of Jana Woman Cultural Magazine and recipient of two prizes from the Palestinian Union of Writers.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the Jordan Daily.
