New ‘Nakba’ fears grow as Israel ramps up occupied West Bank assault
Journalists based in the northern occupied West Bank report seeing several tanks move into Jenin, long a bastion of armed struggle against Israel.
The camps are home to descendants of Palestinians who fled or were forced to flee during wars with Israel decades ago. It was not clear how long an estimated 40,000 Palestinians would be prevented from returning.
The West Bank, seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, is seen by Palestinians as the core of a future Palestinian state, along with Gaza, but there have been increasingly open calls by Israeli hardliners for its annexation.
US President Donald Trump, who stunned the region with a call for Palestinians to be moved out of Gaza to make way for a US development project, has not yet said whether he would support full annexation.
However, his call in Gaza has already awakened fears among Palestinians of a second “Nakba”, or catastrophe, the name given to the loss of many of their lands in the 1948 war.
‘Dangerous Israeli escalation will not lead to stability’
Israeli tanks rolled into the occupied West Bank for the first time in more than 20 years as the government ordered the military to prepare for an “extended stay”.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the decision to deploy tanks in the northern West Bank. “This is a dangerous Israeli escalation that will not lead to stability or calm,” said Abu Rudeineh.
While Israeli troops have been constantly active in the occupied West Bank, the use of heavy tanks in addition to armoured personnel carriers underscores how intensely the military is trying to pressure armed groups.
Jordan and Arab League urge action to prevent further West Bank unrest
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and the Arab League’s Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit stressed the need to prevent further deterioration of the situation in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reports.
During a meeting in the Jordanian capital Amman, the two leaders discussed the need to strengthen the fragile Gaza ceasefire to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. They also opposed the displacement of Palestinians and expressed support for Egypt’s reconstruction plan for Gaza.
The meeting in Jordan comes after Arab leaders met in Saudi Arabia on Friday to discuss a counter-proposal to President Donald Trump’s controversial “plan” for the US to take over the Strip, displace its residents, and rebuild the territory into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
Under discussion is a plan drafted by Egypt that is to be presented in Cairo on March 4 at an emergency summit of the Arab League.
Israeli forces attack funeral in occupied West Bank
The Wafa news agency reports that Israeli troops attacked mourners attending the funeral of a Palestinian man in the town of al-Issawiya near occupied East Jerusalem.
Nael Obeid, 46, was released last week as part of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. He spent 21 years in detention and died on Saturday after falling from the roof of his house, the news report said.
Israeli soldiers stormed the town and fired tear gas at the cemetery and nearby streets during the funeral.
The attack took place as Israeli forces stepped up raids and mass detentions across the occupied West Bank. On Sunday, Israeli tanks rolled into Jenin for the first time in more than 20 years as the government ordered the military to prepare for an “extended stay”.
