The events of recent days suggest we may be seeing the Israeli endgame take shape. Netanyahu’s far right government’s goals are not limited to Gaza: it wants to take over all of Palestine and start a war with Hezbollah and Iran as well.
Israeli forces conducted a four-hour long raid in the norther Jordan valley, killing three Palestinians. Residents say one of the targets of the raid was a resistance fighter and commander of a local battalion called the Tubas Brigade.
It was a typical Friday afternoon when Ibrahim Kharoubi led a popular local hiking group on a trip from Ramallah to the outskirts of Jericho. However, midway through the hike they saw a group of hooded figures coming down from the hilltop in front of them.
As the group got closer, the hikers could make out the wooden clubs in their hands and M16’s strapped around them. It was in that moment when it dawned on them that they were in real danger.
On Monday morning, Israeli armed forces and Civil Administration authorities arrived at Khirbet Humsah, a Bedouin enclave in the northern Jordan Valley, with bulldozers and proceeded to dismantle at least 28 structures, including homes and agricultural pens. This was not the first time Khirbet Humsah’s residents were left homeless and displaced. On November 3rd, 2020, just hours before the US elections, Israeli forces also completely razed the village to the ground, leaving its residents to spend a cold and rainy winter night without shelter.
As the world was engulfed in the unfolding US elections on November 3rd, Israel quietly demolished an entire Bedouin enclave in the northern Jordan Valley, leaving more than 70 Palestinians homeless just as temperatures started to drop in the occupied West Bank.
As part of COVID-19 series in Palestine, Yumna Patel traveled to the Jordan Valley to see what life is like for Palestinians there as they fight two battles: one against the coronavirus, and one against annexation. “In this area, the occupation is even worse for us than the coronavirus pandemic. The occupation has taken advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to take over more land in the Jordan Valley,” Motaz Bisharat, a Palestinian activist based in the northern Jordan Valley tells Mondoweiss.
From lock down inside of Hebron Badia Dwaik writes, “While we do not know when Netanyahu will resume his annexation bid, our crisis is not over.”
As annexation day approaches, Palestinians on the ground are gearing up for a new reality, one they say they’ve been forced to get ready for for years. Zayd Sawafta, a farmer and mayor of the small village of Bardala, tells Mondoweiss that even when annexation does go through, Palestinians aren’t leaving. “We have learned from experience,” Sawafta says. “They will do everything they can to kick us off this land and take it for themselves, but this time, we are not leaving.”
“As the whole world battles an unprecedented and paralyzing healthcare crisis, Israel’s military is devoting time and resources to harassing the most vulnerable Palestinian communities in the West Bank that Israel has attempted to drive out for decades. Shutting down a first-aid community initiative during a health crisis is an especially cruel example of the regular abuse inflicted on these communities.” –B’Tselem reports on the destruction of a field clinic in Khirbet Ibziq in the occupied Jordan Valley.
The morning after President Donald Trump committed to recognizing Israeli sovereignty over parts of the West Bank during the release of his much-awaited Middle East peace plan, Palestinians protested the deal that would annex the Jordan Valley, the breadbasket of the West Bank, by motoring trackers through an Israeli checkpoint.