The West Bank, a parallel “war” for Jewish settlers

2023 was already the bloodiest year in two decades for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, long before the bloody war erupted in the long-suffering Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip.

It is no coincidence that before Hamas’ terrorist attack on southern Israel on October 7, all eyes were anxiously focused on the Jordan Valley as the potential “spark” of the Third Intifada.

There, in areas under the administrative control of the Palestinian Authority – the only internationally recognized institution in the Palestinian territories – attacks had already intensified.

Not only by the Israeli army, but also by extremist Jewish settlers.

This violence has now escalated dangerously in the West Bank, coinciding with the Israeli military operation in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

The figures released by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) are revealing.

The average settler attacks rose to seven per day, more than doubling the previous three attacks per day by 2023.

Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, it is estimated that at least eight Palestinians have been killed by settlers – one of them just last weekend while picking olives.

In total, attacks by the Israeli army and settlers killed at least 120 Palestinians in the West Bank.

And more than 2000 wounded.

More than a thousand are arrested, including now the Secretary-General of Fatah in Jenin, Atta Abu Rumaila.

From approx 2.000 Palestinians who were forcibly displaced by settlers during the past year, 43% of them after October 7.

In 15 herding communities in the West Bank, at least 98 families with a total of 828 individuals have been evacuated over the past three weeks.

Among them are 313 children

Groups of settlers set fire to homes, vandalized Palestinian property and destroyed crops.

They operate with almost impunity.

The number is increasing day by day.

Violence, intimidation and displacement

The newspaper wrote: “While Israel and the world focus on Hamas’s atrocities, the settlers and their supporters are working to realize their dream of actual annexation of the West Bank.” Haaretz, Shortly after the October 7 attack, journalist Amira Hass, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, was killed.

“The lack of concern has allowed the settlers and their official (military and police) and semi-official (settlement security officers and right-wing volunteers who serve as escorts) agencies to escalate their attacks on Palestinian shepherds and farmers with the clear aim of expelling more communities from their lands and homes,” she said.

The number of illegal settlements, under international law, in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, is constantly growing.

They are “swallowing” the Palestinian territories with the “blessings” of Tel Aviv, inflaming tensions in the region and undermining the prospects for a two-state solution.

Their number is constantly increasing, as is their population.

It is now estimated that about half a million Jewish settlers live in the occupied Palestinian territories.

“In Area C, 60% of the sparsely populated West Bank is under Israeli control [καθώς δεν έχει μεταβιβαστεί στην Παλαιστινιακή Αρχή]“It is threatened by annexation,” his correspondent writes in a report from the region Guardian In Jerusalem, Bethan McKernan.

“Palestinian water tanks, solar panels, roads and buildings here are being demolished, often under the pretext of not having building permits, which are almost impossible to obtain, while the surrounding illegal Israeli settlements flourish,” he points out.

“Settler violence is now worse than ever,” says Nasser Nawaja of the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem.

He points out, “Sometimes they wear reserve uniforms, and we no longer know who is the army and who is the settler.”

Like most people, he no longer hides his concern about the mass displacement of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank either.

Settlers carry weapons

For the Netanyahu government – the most extreme right-wing government in Israel’s history – expanding settlements and protecting settlers was a priority from the beginning.

After all, they have a strong presence in the Cabinet itself.

The Ministers of National Security and Finance, Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, both extremist Zionists, are settlers in the occupied West Bank.

In agreement with the Israeli Prime Minister, it is expected to annex the lands and expel the Palestinians.

They increased military forces and repression in the occupied West Bank.

Now Jewish settlers have begun receiving weapons from the Israeli government itself, on the initiative of Ben Gvir.

Local armed volunteer groups are increasing and taking active action against the Palestinian population.

They stressed in a joint statement that “the Israeli government supports these attacks and does nothing to stop this violence.” advertisement 30 Israeli human rights and civil society organizations.

“In many cases, the army is present or even involved in violence, including incidents of killing of Palestinians by settlers,” they complain.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that in nearly half of the conflicts that have erupted since October 7, Israeli forces have “accompanied or actively supported” settlers in attacks.

The scale of the problem has reached such an extent that since last week, US President Biden called on the Netanyahu government to take measures to control extremist settlers, warning that they are “pouring fuel on the fire.”

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Tuesday expressed “deep concern” about the same issue.

But for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who is now fighting for his political survival – as well as his legal one, as he stands on trial for corruption – it is clear that what comes first is the “terrible revenge” he promised in response to the Hamas attack.