The West Bank and Occupied Jerusalem have been experiencing difficult conditions since the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip started some four weeks ago, claiming the lives of some 10,000 Palestinians, including 5,000 children, 2,500 women, and about 1,000 elderly people.
Over 30,000 Palestinians have been injured in this genocidal war waged by Israel on Gaza under the pretext of responding to the 7 October operation by the Palestinian group Hamas that resulted in the killing of around 1,500 Israelis and the injuring of nearly 10,000 others as well as the capture of around 250 detainees.
Palestinians living in the West Bank and Jerusalem, the other part of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, are also experiencing difficult conditions. There has been a daily death toll since 7 October, with 155 deaths so far, along with more than 1,000 others injured. The numbers continue to rise due to ongoing confrontations with Israeli settlers, raids, and arrests that occur on a daily basis.
The Palestinian leadership, represented by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, is being subjected to systematic campaigns accusing him of supporting what Israel calls terrorism. The right-wing Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has launched campaigns against the Palestinian Authority (PA), including by claiming that it supports the terrorism represented by the Hamas Movement.
These accusations aim to cover up the fact that the Hamas attack from Gaza resulted from policies that encroach on Muslim holy sites, the ongoing settlements in the Palestinian Occupied Territories, and the killings and arrests in the West Bank. Meanwhile, the international community is calling for the implementation of an end to the occupation, something that Israel considers as an existential threat if not an opportunity to get rid of the Palestinian leadership entirely.
Recent measures taken by the occupation against the PA include threats from right-wing Israeli ministers to expel it from the West Bank and hold it accountable for the actions of Hamas. One recent action was Israel’s decision to seize the Palestinian tax revenues collected by Israel at border crossings.
In contrast to such policies, the Palestinian leadership, in cooperation with the Arab countries and friends around the world, is continuing its diplomatic efforts along three tracks. The first is to stop the Israeli aggression, the second is to establish a humanitarian corridor in Gaza, and the third is to find a diplomatic solution to the roots of the conflict by establishing an independent Palestinian state according to the two-state solution.
The Palestinian leadership continues to hold meetings with various international parties, including the United States.
Palestinian diplomatic sources told Al-Ahram Weekly that the Palestinian leadership is ready to work with all international parties, including those that have taken a supportive position towards Israel, in order to reach a ceasefire and protect Palestinian lives in Gaza and the West Bank.
The sources indicated that the Palestinian leadership seeks to protect the West Bank, where the Israeli occupation plans to escalate the situation and give the occupying forces the opportunity to destroy everything that has been built in recent years as part of preparations for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
“All the cities in the West Bank have been witnessing mass protests and marches condemning the brutal air strikes targeting the Palestinian people in Gaza since the beginning of the Israeli aggression,” the sources said.
“These reach a peak on Fridays each week, along with the swift actions of Palestinian citizens following the Israeli airforce’s massacres targeting civilians, including children and women, in Gaza. This situation makes the West Bank volatile and prone to explode at any moment.”
Israel imposed comprehensive closures on the West Bank in the early days of the war, including closing the borders with Jordan, shutting down crossings between West Bank cities and Jerusalem, and cutting off communications between West Bank cities by installing barriers at their entrances.
This affects the movement of the Palestinian population, with some cities being isolated from one another and others cut off from surrounding towns. Citizens report that Israeli forces at checkpoints deliberately delay them for hours, sometimes committing attacks against them.
Joseph Handal, an English-language TV channel cameraman, was assaulted, threatened, had some of his equipment confiscated, and was later beaten and forced to leave at the Container Checkpoint between Ramallah and Bethlehem, for example.
Israel occasionally still opens the crossings with Jordan, the only ones available for Palestinians to travel to the outside world, but only for specific hours. During their transit, Palestinians are subjected to frequent questioning and ID checks. Hundreds of violations have been documented at Israeli military checkpoints.
Israel’s closure of the checkpoints and brutal behaviour have had various effects on the lives of Palestinians. Palestinian workers and employees in the West Bank are unable to reach their workplaces in Jerusalem and Israel. There have been hundreds of documented violations at military checkpoints, from delays to humiliating treatment. These closures have limited freedom of movement and access to essential services.
ARREST CAMPAIGNS: The West Bank has witnessed ruthless Israeli arrest campaigns and raids since the beginning of the war on Gaza. These arrests have been marked by violent break-ins, including the brutal beatings of prisoners and detainees.
Abdullah Al-Zghari, head of the Palestinian Prisoners Association, said that more than 2,000 Palestinians have been arrested in the West Bank and Jerusalem as part of a brutal arrest campaign. This is characterised by the use of physical violence against detainees during the arrests. Israeli soldiers document their attacks against Palestinian young people and post videos on Israeli social media sites to show off their actions.
Al-Zghari said that convicted prisoners also face retaliatory attacks by the Israeli Prison Service. Prisons have been raided and prisoners’ belongings seized, leaving them with only one set of clothes in some cases. Soldiers from the Israeli Prison Service conduct roll call for prisoners every morning and evening and continuously beat and degrade them.
The Prisoners Association, the PA’s Prisoners’ Affairs Commission, human-rights organisations, and the families of prisoners are calling on the Red Cross to fulfill its responsibilities towards Palestinian prisoners of war according to international agreements.
It is the responsibility of the Red Cross to stop these attacks and ensure that Israel complies with international agreements. However, the organisation has not always taken on this role and does not always announce Israel’s violations of the rights of Palestinian prisoners, prompting some Palestinian activists to close some Red Cross offices in protest at their inaction.
Israeli settlers on the West Bank have also increased their attacks on Palestinians during the ongoing war, and the mobilisation of the Israeli reserves has had repercussions on the Palestinians, according to Munther Amira, head of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Committees in the West Bank.
Amira told the Weekly that hundreds of settlers have joined the Israeli forces, ramping up the already present oppression. The settlers have benefitted from the protection of the Israeli army when preventing Palestinian farmers from going to their work or organising attacks.
Settlers have been reported burning Palestinian homes and vehicles, assaulting farmers, burning agricultural land, and preventing them from accessing their land.
Amira said that these practices, backed by the Israeli government, have led to the isolation of villages and in some cases have led to forced displacement due to fears of attacks. He said it was important for the international community, the Arab countries, and human rights organisations to take action to stop these attacks, which could be no less dangerous than the ongoing ethnic cleansing in Gaza.
He noted that the West Bank is witnessing attacks on Palestinian farmers, popular resistance activists, and human rights defenders. Settlers wearing Israeli army uniforms attacked two activists from the popular resistance at Wadi Al-Siqa near Ramallah, for example, when they were subjected to abuse and beating, detained for hours, stripped of their clothes, and urinated on.
Meanwhile, due to the closures, arrests, and separation of urban areas, the West Bank is experiencing an economic siege that may lead to the collapse of the Palestinian economy. Commercial activities have now been halted for 30 days, and tens of thousands of workers have been unable to work in Israel, a primary source of income, causing a significant decline in the Palestinian economy.
Another reason for the economic collapse is Israel’s decision to pirate Palestinian funds, which means that 170,000 civilian and military employees of the PA will not receive their salaries.
Rida Nairokh, an industrialist in the Bethlehem Industrial Area, explained that the Palestinian economy in the West Bank cannot withstand such challenges. The closures, the blockade, and the checkpoints have led to a halt in the flow of raw materials, he said, and workers from the West Bank have been prevented from reaching their workplaces.
Products cannot be sent to market, leading to factory work being reduced by up to 70 per cent, Nairokh said, adding that factories are unable to meet their obligations, whether to workers or consumers, leading to the seizing up of the broader economy.
All this highlights the urgent need for intervention to stop the Israeli military aggression on Gaza, characterised by the use of military aircraft and heavy artillery as part of a genocidal war against the Palestinians. Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation of the West Bank is working more quietly to achieve the same goals but with less intensity.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 9 November, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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