Israeli forces have this week conducted a major incursion into Palestinian territory, the largest since the Second Intifada in the early 2000s.
Reports vary, but following a sustained period of drone strikes, between 1,000 and 2,000 Israeli soldiers stormed into the city of Jenin in the West Bank, encountering armed resistance.
Jenin, which was established as a Palestinian refugee camp after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, was know by Israeli Defence Forces to be harbouring members of terrorist groups including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
Israel claims that its operation was precise and did not target civilians. The fact of the matter is, anyone who has been to or even seen photos of Jenin knows that is impossible to use any military-grade weapons there and not target civilians. It is bustling, cramped, overcrowded; the perfect place to hide if you’re an Islamic militant, and the worst place for civilians to be should fighting break out.
12 people were killed during the operation, although this number is difficult to verify. Most were young Palestinian men between the ages of 16 and 23, some of whom are confirmed to have been fighting for Hamas or PIJ. One IDF soldier was also killed, reportedly by friendly fire.
Around 100 people were wounded during the operation, 20 critically. This latest action by the IDF has also created more refugees, with 3,000 Palestinians reportedly fleeing their homes to escape the violence.
IDF troops also discovered 3 facilities manufacturing weapons, confiscating large numbers of firearms and explosives that might otherwise have been used against them.
The presence of militants and their weapons caches will serve to justify this operation on the world stage, but the cost of these rewards has been far too high, and not just in human lives. The road towards peace in Israel-Palestine cannot be paved with still more bodies as it has been for the past three-quarters of a century. This latest massacre has set these two nations even further behind in their collective struggle for peace. More violence is not the answer.
I understand how trite that statement is in relation to Israel-Palestine, believe me. That doesn’t make it any less true. Violence foments hate, and hate foments more violence. Progress cannot be made unless at least one of the sides puts down its weapons, but neither have any reason to do so, and both have plenty of reason not to. The events in Jenin this week only add to those reasons.
Ever since Netanyahu and his far-right ultra-Zionist government took power, violence in the occupied West Bank has spiked. The hatred between Jews and Arabs is only growing stronger as the Jews see the ever more extreme position of the government they elected, and the Arabs see that same government begin the process of apartheid against their people in Israel.
Settlers are emboldened by the government’s regressive policy and aggressive rhetoric towards Palestinians, and settlements are growing every day. Some government ministers have been quoted calling for the further expansion of the illegal settlements, including the minister for National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir. He said, “We must settle the land of Israel.” If as high a ranking minister as Ben-Gvir sees the Palestinian West Bank as just more Israel ripe for the taking, it is clear we will never see a just peace under this government.
When it comes to the motives of these types of attacks on Palestinian territory, the aim of Netanyahu’s government is clear. They do not seek to heal wounds or bring people to the negotiating table on equal terms. They want to create as much division and hatred as they can, provoke Palestinian militants into as much violence as they can, creating as good an excuse as any to finish, as Ben-Gvir puts it, settling the land of Israel.
We have extolled the many evils of a one-state solution before on this page, and I’m sure I don’t need to explain it to you again, my dear, educated reader. However, whilst scholarly consensus is still very heavily against such a solution, a growing cohort of otherwise reasonable politicians are starting to lean ever closer towards it as Israeli policy shows no sign of becoming less nasty.
The defensive rhetoric out of Jerusalem is also becoming more vitriolic against criticism levelled against the government. Accusations of antisemitism are popularising amongst those defending Israeli policy, only serving to further complicate and pressurise the debate.
The exitance of a Jewish state is of great importance to the world, but just because Israel is the only majority-Jewish state does not preclude it from the same international law the rest of us abide by (or at least profess to). The first step Israel needs to take along the long path to peace with Palestine is to stop the expansion of settlements in the West Bank.
We will not see any such concession from the current government, I fear, nor any time soon. The next legislative elections in Israel take place in 2026. Hopefully, the power-hungry, oleaginous Netanyahu and his government of crackpots will not screw Israeli-Palestinian relations so far into the dirt that the next government cannot pick up the pieces. And the first pieces that need to be picked up are those illegal settlements. The sooner they are torn down, the better.
stay safe
/e