The Israeli army is launching a large-scale military operation in the northern West Bank, claiming it aims to prevent the regrouping of armed resistance groups in the Tubas district. But the real reason may be related to settlement expansion.
As several Western nations announce their recognition of a Palestinian state ahead of an upcoming UN General Assembly vote, Israel is accelerating its illegal annexation measures of the occupied West Bank to render a Palestinian state impossible.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich released a map proposing to annex over 80% of the West Bank. He’s not far off from the rest of the Israeli political establishment — even the “pragmatic” opposition.
The Knesset’s motion supporting the annexation of the West Bank signals Israel’s intention of formalizing what it has already been doing at an accelerated pace since October 7 — establishing total Israeli control over Palestinian land.
Netanyahu’s government is building on a long-standing legal matrix to accelerate Israel’s de facto annexation in the West Bank
The villagers of Taybeh have lived in harmony with the nearby Bedouins for generations. Israeli colonization and the shrinking land available to these communities are now straining social relations, as Israeli settler violence threatens both.
Israeli settlers went on a rampage in the town of Kufr Malek, northeast of Ramallah, killing three Palestinians. The attack is the latest in an escalating wave of settler pogroms against Palestinian communities between the Jordan Valley and Ramallah.
Israel is using the war on Iran to further its colonization and annexation of the West Bank, turning Palestinian communities into caged enclaves.
Israel’s decision last week to create 22 new settlements in the West Bank was reported as somewhat uneventful news in the media. The reality is, however, that it’s the latest in a series of moves to cement Israeli control of the occupied territory.
Israeli settlers are taking over Palestinian land by creating “farming outposts” with the goal of ethnically cleansing Palestinians. This strategy complements the Israeli state’s broader plans for annexing the West Bank.