Imad Abu Awad: The escalation by the occupation government and its settlers in the West Bank aims to resolve the conflict and expand it to include other parties in the region
Mazen Al-Jabri: The escalation is ongoing and may widen during the current and upcoming months as Israel begins to lose its narrative before the world
Wadi Awada: The occupation army and the settlement project have become a single entity waging war in the West Bank to push towards silent displacement
Adel Shadid: The Israeli talk of "preparing for a possible escalation" is an attempt to justify the implementation of the annexation and displacement plan in the West Bank
Ismat Mansour: The settlers seek to undermine the national project and the very existence of the Palestinian people, not just to prevent the establishment of a state
The West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, is witnessing a comprehensive and dual escalation; from the occupation government and its military institution and from the militias of extremist settlers who have been armed by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, seeking to steal what remains of West Bank lands and expel their owners and residents.
Analysts and writers who spoke to "Y" expect the situation in the West Bank to worsen due to the systematic and escalating Israeli crimes; including land confiscation, theft of agricultural products and livestock, demolition and expulsion of population gatherings, cutting off water, in addition to daily assaults by settlers on Bedouin families and burning their homes, escalating incursions and arrests, spreading checkpoints and tightening restrictions on citizens, withholding tax revenues, and using a policy of "economic strangulation," alongside efforts to enhance and expand the settlement project, and the announced threats of annexing the West Bank, which means ethnic cleansing and a silent genocide against the land and its citizens.
They clarified that the occupation army and the settlement project have today become a single entity, unlike the past, as the army now directly and openly supports all settlement projects, especially under the current government, noting that the extremist Bezalel Smotrich, in addition to being the Minister of Finance, also holds an additional position in the Ministry of Defense, effectively making him the actual ruler of the West Bank and responsible for what is called "the civil administration," working almost openly to implement what is known as the "decisive theory," while warning at the same time of committing massacres against innocent civilians, especially in light of Israeli officials discussing the possibility of an explosion in the West Bank, indicating the intention of the settlement government in Tel Aviv to expand the circle of aggression and take additional punitive steps, in an attempt to provoke Palestinian reactions, especially with the approaching convening of the United Nations General Assembly and the expected recognitions of the Palestinian state.
Increasing escalation with a dual nature
Israeli affairs specialist Imad Abu Awad confirmed that the escalation in the West Bank has a dual nature; on one hand, it is a comprehensive Israeli escalation through the government and military institution, and on the other hand, it is an increasing escalation by the militias of settlers who have been armed by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, with the highest levels of extremism injected into their ranks.
He pointed out that about 38% to 40% of settlers belong to the religious Zionist stream and follow a number of extremist rabbis, such as Dov Lior, Druckman, Kook, and others, which means there is a fertile ground for extremism, reinforced by the army's protection of settlers and the wide powers granted by the government for settlement, in addition to the presence of a number of settlers as ministers and Knesset members in this government, which has come to be described in the West Bank as the "settlement government."
Israel is preparing to take additional retaliatory steps
Abu Awad explained that Israel's talk about the possibility of an explosion in the West Bank, even if not yet manifest, means that on the ground, Palestinians have no choice but to explode, after all political, economic, and social horizons have been closed in their faces.
He added: Israel realizes that its practices on the ground will lead to a Palestinian reaction, and may be preparing to take additional punitive and retaliatory steps to pressure Palestinians and prevent any movement in the West Bank.
Abu Awad also noted that Israel seeks to escalate there under the pretext of responding to what the United Nations may do, even though it has practically left nothing for Palestinians in the West Bank, having annexed large parts of it, and
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Army and settler assaults.. A double escalation to empty the land and implement annexation.