The West Bank has become a crucial front for the battle over political legitimacy among Palestinian factions as a new phase of armed resistance rises.
The past few months have witnessed a worrying increase in Israeli settler attacks, many of which have turned deadly. Those attacks are continuing on a daily basis in the West Bank, with full impunity for the settlers.
Israel has made it clear that this is not the end of its operations in Jenin, and the latest raid has left Palestinians asking, is Israel moving towards a Gaza-type model in Jenin?
The Israeli state sees violent settler mobs as challenging its monopoly over violence. This puts right-wing ministers like Itamar Ben-Gvir in a bind: settlers facilitate the settlement project, but the state wants to control it.
For Palestinians living under Israeli occupation and apartheid, driving comes with more dangers than you can imagine.
The Israeli military has admitted its policy of punitive demolitions does not work as a deterrent measure, and human rights groups have declared the policy violates international law. So, why does Israel continue doing it?
Palestinian armed confrontation continues to spread across the West Bank, while the Israeli settler movement, backed by hardline extremists in government, push for more settlements.
The New York Times barely mentions that the latest settler rampage in Huwwara was a state-sponsored pogrom, presided over by the Israeli army. They don’t want to destroy the two-state illusion.
Hamza Ashqar, 16, reportedly threw a piece of metal towards the army vehicles almost 100 feet away, when an Israeli soldier fired two fatal shots at him from inside one of the vehicles.
Adam Ayyad, 15, was shot and killed by Israeli forces during a raid on the Dheisheh refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem. Ayyad is the third Palestinian killed by the Israeli army in 24 hours, and the first Palestinian child killed in 2023.
In his final handwritten will, Ayyad left behind a message to the world:
“Martyrdom is the end. It’s true that your life ends, but it ends with your happiness, and I want to send this message to the entire world, like [Ibrahim] al-Nabulsi said: ‘I just wish that the people will wake up.’
And now I’m telling you all, set your compass and point it towards the occupation.”