West Bank, a region "on the verge of exploding" due to Israeli repression and the radicalization of Palestinian youth

With the world watching the Israeli bombings in Gaza and the borderline humanitarian situation of the Strip's civilians, another Palestinian region is currently on alert for increasing violence.. The Hamas attack at the beginning of October has made the West Bank a target for Israel, which considers that these territories have become a “terrorist haven.” In these three weeks the conflict has reached its highest levels since the Second Intifada, but the situation of tension between Palestinians and Israelis comes from behind.. In the last year, settler violence, raids by Israeli forces in refugee camps and the radicalization of Palestinian society have turned the region into an explosive cocktail that could explode at any moment.

In the early hours of this Friday at least four people were killed and another 15 were injured in raids by the Israeli Army in different parts of the occupied West Bank.. Since the war between Israel and Hamas began, more than 100 Palestinians have died in this region (including 31 children, according to Doctors Without Borders) and nearly 2,000 have been injured.. Additionally, 1,000 Palestinians have been detained, including about 500 allegedly linked to Hamas, according to Israel.. During this period, unprecedented situations have been experienced in recent years, such as the bombing of the Jenin mosque, something that frequently occurs in Gaza but does not usually occur in the West Bank.

“We are facing a very dangerous situation that could end up exploding,” Moussa Bourekba, principal investigator at CIDOB (Barcelona Center for International Affairs), told 20minutos.. “The Hamas attacks could encourage certain people to believe that violence is the only way out because non-violence has so far brought little results,” says Bourekba, adding that although not all Palestinians are in favor of the actions of Hamas, it is precisely this lack of prospect of peace or improvement of their situation that could “push or make more attractive the violent offer as a solution to remedy this problem.”

An increasingly radicalized society?

This whole situation comes in the middle of a political confrontation between Palestinians for control of the cause. The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) has not called elections for almost two decades, fearing that, as happened then, Hamas could win the elections. The president of the ANP, Mahmud Abbas, has become a schism within the young Palestinian society, disconnected with the leadership of the octogenarian president. “Many times the Palestinians have pointed out that they are experiencing a double occupation: by Israel and by their Government, which, especially on security issues, collaborates with Israel in the West Bank,” Natàlia Queralt, an analyst at El Orden, tells this medium. World.

Abbas's loss of legitimacy has caused an internal clash in the West Bank, where there has been a radicalization of the population, who see how the peace processes have not changed their reality.. This year marks thirty years since the Oslo Accords, which not only have not changed anything, but, considering the number of Israeli settlements, it has gotten worse.

Since 2017, attacks against Israeli citizens have increased, some of them by followers of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad or the Al Qasam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.. The last of them occurred last July when a Palestinian ran over several pedestrians and stabbed others with a knife in Tel Aviv.

Added to this is the appearance of armed groups. In the last year, the Tulkarem Brigade has emerged, which brings together several militias made up of young people from the Nur Shams refugee camp.. But it's not the only one. Another case that has received extensive media coverage is that of the so-called Lions' Den, who appeared on social media patrolling the streets of Nablus a year ago and have already had clashes with Israeli forces. Some of these armed groups are not affiliated with political parties, which demonstrates the disagreement between young people and the Palestinian political class.

Clashes with settlers and more settlements

That clashes between the Israeli Armed Forces and the West Bank have increased for months is no coincidence. “The current far-right government is openly racist, anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian and promotes the occupation of territories. Their intention is to annex the West Bank and culminate with the idea of a greater Israel,” says Queralt. Both analysts agree, however, that this is a policy that has been carried out by all Israeli governments, both left and right, with the objective of “reducing the Palestinian territory as much as possible and making the two-party solution States is unviable”.

What has changed with this new Government is the power of the settlers, thus multiplying assaults and violence.. In fact, this week the president of the United States, Joe Biden, said he was “alarmed” by the fact that some “extremist settlers” are attacking Palestinians in the West Bank.. “They are attacking them in places where they have the right to be. They have to stop, be accountable and stop now,” said the president.

That is the conclusion also reached by the UN Human Rights Council.. In a report published in May 2021, they stated that “the Israeli authorities are committing the majority of violations as part of the Israeli Government's objective to consolidate its permanent occupation at the expense of the rights of the Palestinian people.”

At the end of 2022, organizations such as Jewish Power and Religious Zionism came to power, led by settlers who in the 1980s belonged to marginalized formations within the Knesset (Israeli Parliament).. “Years ago, the positions that we now see in the Government were repudiated and considered too extremist and radicalized to have representation in Parliament,” recalls the El Orden Mundial analyst. “In the current context it seems that tolerance for hate speech and violence has decreased. For Israeli settlers it is a dream that their leaders are now at the head of the Government with positions of responsibility,” he adds.

The UN Security Council itself declared in February of this year that it was “concerned” by the Israeli Government's announcement to continue “the construction and expansion of settlements.”. For Bourekba, in the eyes of the settlers who “have already expelled dozens of Palestinians from their homes,” this moment of open conflict is also an opportunity to continue along this line, by equating all Palestinians in the West Bank with Hamas and, therefore, So much so, with terrorists.

Can the same thing happen in the West Bank as in Gaza?

Imagining a situation in the West Bank similar to that of Gaza, with continuous bombing and a ground operation about to begin, is still complicated.. The reality is very different in both territories. Gaza has been under a blockade for 15 years and is under the government of the Islamist organization Hamas, which after the attacks of October 7 has been shown to be less controlled by Israel than the Jewish State believed.

On the other hand, in the West Bank the Israeli Army carries out raids from time to time, as has happened in recent weeks in refugee camps.. Control is much greater in this territory. And, although popular uprisings may occur, the ability to organize as Hamas has done in Gaza is complicated by the very characteristics of the West Bank, which does not have territorial continuity due to the Israeli occupation.. However, “what happens in Gaza has an effect in the West Bank,” since, as the analyst clarifies, “there is a shared feeling of desperation.”. “They are two different realities, but it is the same town,” he adds.

Although knowing the degree of support that Hamas has in the West Bank is complicated, the truth is that the problem would not end with the total or partial elimination of this group. “Even if Israel ends Hamas, other movements will emerge to take its place. There is a fundamental problem here… and it is political,” says Queralt.