Israeli operations expand in the West Bank - World - Al-Ahram Weekly

Al-Ahram Weekly

13-03-2025

Israel has intensified its military operations in the Occupied West Bank, displacing tens of thousands of Palestinians and escalating ethnic cleansing.
For nearly 50 days, Israeli forces have conducted large-scale military operations across the northern West Bank, particularly in the cities of Jenin, Tukaram, and Tubas, as well as their adjacent refugee camps.
Dubbed 'Operation Iron Wall,' the campaign has driven more than 40,000 Palestinians from their homes, according to local estimates.
Israeli media reports indicate that the Israeli government has given the military a green light to expand its operations, deploying additional forces to the northern West Bank. The offensive has left extensive destruction in its wake, while arrest campaigns and raids have increased in other cities, including Nablus, Qalqilya, and Salfit.
Jenin remains the epicentre of Israeli military operations, with heavy assaults continuing for the 49th consecutive day. On Sunday, the Israeli Army extended its operations to include the nearby towns of Qabatiya, Al-Yamoun, and Silat Al-Harithiya, where bulldozers razed large areas of land and tanks were seen rolling into the city.
For the first time in two decades, Israeli Merkava tanks were spotted entering Jenin, firing indiscriminately at civilian homes. The escalation aims to instill fear and force residents to flee to shelters, according to local sources.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops imposed a curfew and carried out widespread demolitions in Qabatiya, leading to fierce confrontations with Palestinian residents. On 25 February, the Israeli Army blocked displaced Palestinians from returning to their homes in the Jenin Refugee Camp and reportedly threatened a Palestinian journalist covering the events.
In Tulkarm, the Israeli military campaign has entered its 28th consecutive day, with reinforcements including armoured bulldozers and tanks continuing to level streets and infrastructure in the Refugee Camp. Civilians are unable to assess the full scale of the destruction due to ongoing military restrictions.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli troops stormed the western district of Nablus, raiding the Balata Refugee Camp and surrounding villages. In Ramallah, the army entered multiple towns, vandalising vehicles and commercial properties. In Qalqilya, shops were ransacked, and dozens of Palestinians were detained in sweeping arrest operations.
In Occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli settlers under heavy military protection have continued daily incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound since the beginning of Ramadan. Israeli forces have set up checkpoints around the city, blocking Palestinians from the West Bank from entering the holy site, heightening fears of further escalation.
Israel has reinforced its network of fixed and mobile checkpoints, severely restricting Palestinian movement. Military closures have triggered major traffic bottlenecks.
In recent days, the Israeli Army has intensified operations in Bethlehem and Hebron, traditionally less volatile compared to the northern West Bank, targeting the Al-Arroub and Al-Fawwar refugee camps in Hebron and the Dheisheh Camp in Bethlehem.
Troops have fired live ammunition and tear gas while storming homes and carrying out arrests, potentially also seeking to provoke unrest in the southern West Bank.
DEEPENING CRISIS
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has warned of an escalating humanitarian crisis, describing the current displacement as the largest in the West Bank since the 1967 War.
It estimates that approximately 40,000 Palestinians have been forced from their homes.
'Entire refugee camps in Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams have been nearly emptied of their residents,' UNRWA said in a statement. 'With the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure, including homes, many people face the prospect of having nowhere to return to.'
Israeli legislative measures started to target UNRWA on 30 January, weakening international protection for Palestinian refugees.
Since the military campaign began, Israeli forces have demolished homes across northern West Bank refugee camps. In the Nur Shams Camp alone, the army razed more than 16 buildings, just days after demolishing 11 houses in the same area. Similar demolitions have taken place in Tulkarm and Jenin.
'These large-scale demolitions represent an alarming new trend,' UNRWA warned. 'They are having an unprecedented impact on Palestinian refugees and appear to be aimed at permanently altering the character of the camps.'
Veteran Palestinian journalist Iyad Hamad said that the West Bank escalation is intrinsically linked to the war on Gaza, with a broader goal of dismantling the Palestinian refugee issue.
'There is an Israeli-American push to end the Palestinian question altogether. The war on Gaza was devastating, but the West Bank is now paying the price without even firing a single shot,' Hamad told Al-Ahram Weekly.
Hamad pointed to Israel's simultaneous attacks on UNRWA and the refugee camps as part of a wider strategy. 'The systematic targeting of refugee camps and the efforts to dismantle UNRWA aim to erase the Palestinian refugee issue entirely,' he said. 'This is a calculated plan to prevent any future discussion on the right of return.'
According to Hamad, Israel's long-term strategy is to depopulate West Bank refugee camps and eliminate the legal status of Palestinian refugees, thus undermining their internationally recognised right to return to their ancestral lands.
Regarding the inclusion of the West Bank in the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, Hammad said that a ceasefire is an agreement between two parties, whereas there is no actual war in the West Bank.
'The aggressor is the Israeli Army, while Palestinian citizens are the victims. There is no ceasefire here because there are no two warring sides in the West Bank,' he said, emphasising that pressure must be exerted on Israel to halt its aggression.
He highlighted that the ongoing siege, economic and financial hardships, checkpoints, closures, raids, and killings indicate that the West Bank is under Israeli control around the clock.
He added that the future of the West Bank is clear and has already been mapped out by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's extreme-right government.
'The goal is the annexation of the West Bank. There are voices within the Israeli government openly calling for the dismantling of the Oslo Accords and the complete erasure of the Palestinian issue,' he explained.
He noted that since 7 October 2023, settlement expansion and land confiscation in the West Bank have surged dramatically, while the Israeli authorities continue to support settler violence aimed at seizing Palestinian land and attacking villages, refugee camps, and cities under the protection of the Israeli Army.
A significant recent statement came from former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, who declared an expansion of military activities in the northern West Bank.
He instructed the army to prepare for a prolonged presence in the Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams refugee camps for at least a year.
Gallant said that approximately 40,000 Palestinians have been displaced from these camps, which are now 'completely empty of residents.' Furthermore, the operations have led to the suspension of UNRWA activities in these areas.
ISRAELI ACTIONS
Commenting on these developments, Israeli affairs analyst Fouad Lahham argued that Israel's military campaign in the West Bank is not about security or countering armed groups, as the Israeli government claims, but is instead driven by political objectives.
'The primary aim is to launch a large-scale assault on the West Bank to create conditions that force Palestinians to flee, thereby reducing their presence. But the more direct and fundamental goal is to demolish the Palestinian refugee camps and transform them into residential suburbs, thereby erasing a key physical and symbolic reminder of the Palestinian refugee issue,' Lahham said.
He added that part of this strategy involves dismantling UNRWA facilities and halting its operations in the camps.
Lahham warned that the actions might not be confined to northern West Bank camps but could extend to central and southern areas. '
Speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly, Lahham pointed out that Israel is aware that the resistance in the West Bank consists of small groups armed with light weapons, having managed these for years without resorting to large-scale destruction.
'Now, Israel is using this as a pretext to completely wipe out the camps and eliminate the last physical witness to the forced displacement of the Palestinians in 1948,' he asserted.
Regarding a ceasefire, Lahham expressed scepticism about the inclusion of the West Bank in the ongoing negotiations in Doha.
'There are two main reasons for this. First, Israel seeks to turn the West Bank into an active conflict zone to justify its long-term settlement expansion and annexation plans. It wants the West Bank to be a battleground but does not want it included in any ceasefire agreement.'
'Second, Israel's right-wing government views the political situation in the West Bank as entirely distinct from Gaza and treats them as separate entities,' he explained.
'Unfortunately, the future of the West Bank is now being dictated by the whims of figures like US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government. The direction is clear: either full annexation or the fragmentation of the West Bank into disconnected Palestinian enclaves that are unlivable and surrounded by iron barriers,' he said.
Israel would continue pressuring Palestinians to leave through so-called voluntary migration schemes , he said.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 13 March, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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