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SvennoJ on 29 August 2024
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Palestinians feel that Israel is reminding them of its ‘ultimate power and control’

People have ceased repairing the damage left by Israeli raids, as the intervals between reconstructions and subsequent attacks are short, leaving them vulnerable to new assaults.

Reports indicate that some armed groups are retaliating against the Israeli forces. We’ve seen videos showing improvised explosive devices detonating as Israeli soldiers move through the refugee camps.

However, Israeli forces assert their intent to intensify their crackdown on Palestinian fighters.

However, it is important to note that Palestinians view these groups as part of their resistance against Israel’s prolonged occupation. Many feel that Israeli forces are executing a strategy to remind the people of their ultimate power and control over every aspect of their lives.


‘No one protecting the Palestinians’



Diana Buttu, a Palestinian lawyer, says it is not surprising that Israeli forces are now assaulting the occupied West Bank.

“Look, when you see what has happened in Israel and the fact that Israel’s been allowed to get away with genocide for nearly 11 months … with very little condemnation by the international community, of course they’re going to turn their sights to the West Bank,” she told Al Jazeera. “Their aim is to try to get rid of as many Palestinians as possible.”

Buttu said the lack of support from the international community means that there is little support for Palestinians’ “right to resist”.

“It’s terrifying to be a Palestinian, and it’s terrifying to be a Palestinian knowing that Israel can do whatever it wants to do and literally, quite literally, get away with it,” she said. “Nobody … is protecting the Palestinians.”


Situation in the West Bank is continuation of war against Palestinian people



Adel Abdel Ghafar, the director of the foreign policy and security programme at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, says the situation in the West Bank is “troubling” as it highlights a potential expansion of the Israel-Gaza conflict into the West Bank.

“I think the Israelis here are pursuing two objectives. First of all, their stated objective is to go after the militants in the West Bank,” he told Al Jazeera. “But more widely, really, this is the continuation of the war against the Palestinian people and the potential expansion of the settlement.”

Ghafar added that increased settler violence and the increasingly harsh rhetoric of the Netanyahu government all point in that direction.

"This is really part and parcel of the collective punishment of Palestinian people. We’ve seen 40,000 dead, destruction of the civilian infrastructure, the return of polio, the use of starvation as a weapon of war.”


Israel’s West Bank operation must not go ‘down the path’ of Gaza

More from Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch and visiting professor at Princeton University, who spoke to Al Jazeera earlier about Israel’s major incursion into the occupied West Bank

“The last thing that we want is this kind of massive displacement taking place in the West Bank, too,” Roth told Al Jazeera.

“Frankly, ‘the dream’ of the far-right ministers in Netanyahu’s government is to ‘solve the problem’ of the West Bank. ‘Solve the problem’ of the apartheid regime that Israel is maintaining there, by just getting rid of the Palestinians,” Roth said.

“That would be a massive war crime. But this is what certain members of the Netanyahu government – whose votes in the Knesset Netanyahu needs to stay in power – this is what they talk about,” he said.

“This is an urgent reason to nip this in the bud and not to let this continue down the path that we have seen in Gaza,” he added.


Palestinians face ‘unlawful killings’ in West Bank: Amnesty

Israeli forces have followed their “escalation in unlawful killings” in the occupied West Bank with a major military assault on the Palestinian territory that puts “more Palestinians at risk”, Amnesty International said.

Describing an already “horrifying spike in lethal force” against Palestinians by Israeli soldiers and armed settlers, Amnesty said the new military operation will result “in further loss of Palestinian lives” as well as “an increase in forced displacement, destruction of critical infrastructure and measures of collective punishment”.

“Amid alarming reports that Israeli forces have encircled and blocked off access to hospitals, Amnesty International urges the Israeli authorities to take action to safeguard health facilities and personnel,” Amnesty’s Erika Guevara Rosas said in a statement.

“As the occupying power, Israel has a clear obligation to protect Palestinians, their homes and the infrastructure throughout the occupied Palestinian territory,” Guevara Rosas said.