Recently, Israel has also intensified its action against Palestinian militants in the West Bank. On Sunday night, the army said it attacked a “terrorist cell” in a mosque in the Jenin refugee camp. There is a risk “that the situation will spiral out of control”, warned UN emergency relief coordinator Martin Griffiths at a recent emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. “We are extremely concerned about the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in the occupied West Bank and the increase in the illegal use of lethal force,” said Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for UN Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.
The West Bank and East Jerusalem have been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War. Since then, hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens have settled in the occupied territories of the West Bank. Part of it has been under Palestinian administration since 1994 and is controlled by the Fatah party. Palestinians claim the areas for an independent state of Palestine, with Arab-dominated eastern Jerusalem as their capital.
Graphics: APA/ORF; Source: ISW
“Scary” mood among the population
If the struggle between Israel and the Palestinians is indeed at the heart of the conflict in the Middle East, then the future of Israeli settlements in the West Bank will dramatically influence the fate of the region, wrote the German NDR in early September. The population is growing three times faster than in the rest of Israel.
About 2.5 million Palestinians and about 430,000 Jews live in the region, according to the CIA, which has seen an increase in arrests in Israeli counterterrorism operations and in deadly clashes between soldiers and settlers since the start of the recent conflict. The mood among the Palestinian population is currently frightening, reports “Zeit”. There is sadness and anger about the situation in Gaza and the bombings, but above all there is “great fear”.
debate
How to avoid escalation in the Middle East?
Violence was already increasing before October 7
According to reports from the New York Times, the worst clashes occurred on Thursday in the Nur Shams refugee camp, a densely populated residential area that Israeli forces invaded. The Israeli military said it “arrested wanted people, thwarted terrorist infrastructures and confiscated weapons.” Palestinians in the camp retaliated, shooting at Israeli soldiers and throwing improvised bombs.
But violence in the West Bank has not only increased since the war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which also includes right-wing extremist settlers, has announced several times that it would take action against militant Palestinian groups across the territory. According to the UN, the West Bank was already affected by “the deadliest outbreak of violence since at least 2005” before October 7, and Palestinians have regularly clashed with the Israeli army and Israeli settlers over the past year.
Portal/Raneen Sawafta Clean-up operations in Tulkarm, West Bank
Worry about forest fires
However, the current unrest is fueling international concerns that the violence could soon spread to surrounding areas and trigger a region-wide conflagration in the coming weeks and months, reports “Zeit”. Israeli media outlets also point to the West Bank, along with Lebanon and Iran-backed Hezbollah, as a possible third front in a broader war.
On the one hand, there is concern about Palestinian attacks from the West Bank and, on the other hand, there is concern that anger over the occupation will become so great that street battles could break out again, reports “Zeit”. There are also international fears that an Israeli ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, expected soon, could further inflame violence in the West Bank.
Analysts say a great danger to Israel would be Palestinians in the West Bank who, despite their different loyalties, show contempt for the Israeli occupation. Polls show that they overwhelmingly support armed groups, such as local militias. Portal also reports a growing willingness to engage in armed resistance. “We should pull the reins and fight the occupation with all possible means,” said Mowafak Sehweel, a Fatah official.
APA/AFP/Hazem Bader Men at market stalls in Hebron, in the West Bank
Israel on alert
The Israeli military is on high alert and is also preparing for Hamas fighting in the West Bank, it was said recently. Itamar Ben Gvir, Israeli public security minister from the far-right Osma Jehudit party, announced last week that he would purchase 10,000 assault rifles and distribute them to Israeli residents in the West Bank. 4,000 of them are said to have been distributed last week.
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Hamas borrows from IS
For years, Hamas “tried everything to activate terrorists in the West Bank,” says Lior Akerman, a former Israeli national intelligence officer. In Ramallah there are more and more voices in support of the military wing of Hamas. The terrorist organization is trying to “engage Israel in a two- or three-front war,” which also includes the Lebanese border and the West Bank, Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus also told Portal.
There has recently been widespread support for Islamic Hamas among the Palestinian population of the West Bank. There are no official numbers on the membership of the Hamas organization. However, a poll carried out in September showed that, in the event of presidential elections, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh could expect half of the votes – if the only other candidate were President Mahmoud Abbas.