West Bank’s turn

MERE days after pausing the Gaza genocide, Israel has turned its guns on the occupied West Bank.

Though Israel had been conducting raids in the West Bank while simultaneously carrying out the slaughter in Gaza in the aftermath of Oct 7, 2023, with the ceasefire taking effect in the Strip on Sunday, Tel Aviv is now free to concentrate its attention on the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories.

Raids were stepped up earlier this week, with around a dozen people killed, while residents of the Jenin refugee camp have been forcibly evacuated.

As a UN official has noted, Israel is applying “war fighting” methods in the West Bank. While Tel Aviv had cited Hamas as the casus belli for the Gaza rampage, the West Bank is ruled by the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority. This shows that Israel has a problem with all Palestinians, regardless of their political affiliations.

Israel’s actions in the West Bank have very swiftly shattered the illusion that the Gaza ceasefire would bring peace to the occupied territories. The Zionist state — as it has shown over the decades — thrives on conflict, and peacemaking is not a priority for the Israeli ruling elite.

Couple this with the fact that the current occupant of the White House is surrounded by zealous Zionists, and the future for the Palestinians does not look good. It is highly likely that Israel will try and annex the West Bank, with the Trump administration egging it on. This will likely turbo-charge the Palestinian resistance, as Arabs in both Gaza and the West Bank fight for survival.

It is also a fact that the Lebanon ceasefire is due to expire in a few days, and Tel Aviv has no plans to withdraw from south Lebanon. While Hezbollah may be weakened, it can still put up a fight. Therefore, it may only be a matter of time before the ‘multifront’ war resumes in the region.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2025