Military and political objectives of West Bank invasions

Various cities in the occupied West Bank are witnessing continuous incursions and invasions by the occupation forces, the reasons for which and their pretexts are multiple, but they are united in their goals and objectives, especially since they coincide with the brutal war that Israel is waging against the Gaza Strip. Therefore, it integrates with them in political goals, confirming that the Palestinian people, with all their groups, sectors, and political and social forces, are the target of these operations, and not a specific faction. The claims of the Israeli government and its army regarding the declared goals of the war on Gaza are misleading. Indeed, the real goals of these waves of oppression and brutality are the same ones that existed before the war, and their essence is to subjugate the Palestinian people and resolve the conflict with them on the basis of liquidating their national rights.

The occupation government has abandoned its hands for many years, specifically since the Al-Aqsa Intifada in the year 2000, from the divisions of the occupied Palestinian territories provided for in the Oslo Accords, which classified the main cities as Category A, so that administrative and security responsibilities fall within the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority. Although the aforementioned agreement contained provisions allowing the occupation forces to invade Area A under the pretext of “hot pursuit,” that is, intervening in the event of information that a person is on his way to carry out a military operation against the occupation, this pretext has turned over time into a fixed approach that allows for the appropriation of lands. Palestinian territories, regardless of their classification, at any time and for any reason the army deems appropriate, such as arresting wanted persons, demolishing homes, carrying out assassinations of resistance members, or closing press offices, television stations, and civil society organizations, all the way to the attack on exchange companies last week, which included pirating the sector’s funds. Private, in addition to the periodic theft of public sector funds through the detention and confiscation of Palestinian funds known as clearing.

Israeli military operations in the West Bank include carrying out assassinations of activists or wanted persons using warplanes, helicopters, or drones, all of which are deaf tools that do not distinguish between wanted persons and those who happen to be near them. Moreover, these executions take place in areas that are completely under Israeli control. Therefore, an occupation army force can arrest wanted persons who are only a few minutes' walk from the nearest occupation army camp. But the feeling of overconfidence that Israel will escape punishment and accountability no matter what it does is what pushes the occupation army and its political leadership to continue these criminal policies without distinction between fighters and civilians, or between adults and children, as Palestinian statistics indicate that among the martyrs there are more than 520. More than 90 children were martyred during the year 2023.

These invasions are closely linked to the war on Gaza, considering that any Palestinian is a legitimate target for operations of revenge and torture in response to what happened on October 7, and to prevent the rise of a mass movement in the West Bank in support of our people who are being slaughtered in Gaza in public and amid the silence of the world, and thus prevent the West Bank from turning into a third front. It is burning alongside the Gaza and northern fronts, and in this context, the arrest of about five thousand Palestinian activists from all areas of the West Bank and from various political orientations came as a kind of waving a big stick against any activity opposing the occupation in the West Bank, even if it was just a passing comment on social media.

The open campaigns of repression are linked to the political plan adopted by the ruling far-right coalition, the summary of which is that force alone, and not negotiations or agreements, is capable of resolving the conflict with the Palestinians. In this context, there are partial and special agendas carried by extremist settler groups, and others carried by the army and security services, and they all intersect and meet. In a unified format to control Palestinian lands, displace some population centers, and settle scores with a number of sites that represented advanced models of resistance in its renewed forms, especially the camps in the north: Jenin, Nour Shams, Tulkarm, and Balata, which were the scene of widespread torture and displacement operations that the occupation seeks to change. The terrain of these camps and erasing them from the map if necessary.

In addition to all of the above, there are political calculations that are strongly present with all Palestinians, especially with the Authority and its leadership. These invasions, in addition to the theft of clearance funds, contribute to weakening and embarrassing the Authority and making it appear incapable of protecting its people. It is no secret that the Israeli extreme right does not care about the collapse of power. Rather, it is working towards this goal, claiming that it has ready-made alternatives for elected local leaders.

The continued invasion policies and settler violence have raised public observations and reservations by the US administration and the West in general, warning against these policies that may lead to a state of chaos not only in the West Bank but in the region in general. However, the Netanyahu government has some margin of disagreement with the US administration, and is using it as an excuse. At the time when some demands are made of it, Netanyahu and the central movement in Israel may not have reached a final conviction regarding the collapse of authority, but he is always working to weaken it, reduce its role and blackmail it to force it to accept that its fate depends on Israel’s satisfaction and therefore it must abandon its national aspirations. Here, it must be pointed out that whatever the Authority does or whatever concessions it makes, it will not gain the satisfaction of Israel, which rejects “Hamastan” with the same force it rejects “Fathestan,” not out of love for this or hate for that, but rather in support of the permanent Palestinian division and rejection of the unified Palestinian entity. With the national rights it symbolizes.