West Bank assault: ‘Israel accelerating ethnic cleansing for absolute and permanent control’

By Rabia Ali

ISTANBUL (AA) – Israel is carrying out a major military assault on the occupied West Bank, just miles away from Gaza, where its deadly offensive has already killed and wounded over 135,000 Palestinians.

Since Wednesday, hundreds of Israeli soldiers, armored vehicles, drones, fighter jets and bulldozers have been deployed in northern parts of the West Bank, particularly targeting the cities of Jenin, Tulkarem and Tubas.

This is Israel’s largest military operation in the West Bank in more than two decades. Its forces have killed and wounded scores of Palestinians in the past two days, adding to the over 6,000 casualties in the occupied territory since the Gaza war began on Oct. 7.

They have also destroyed several Palestinian homes and properties, along with critical infrastructure including roads, water and sewage networks, and electricity poles.

For Palestinian political analyst Nour Odeh, the major escalation in the West Bank is a clear reflection of an Israeli mentality seeking “absolute and complete control that is permanent.”

“It is very clearly spelled out in the Israeli government program, which says that the overarching goal of the government is the annexation of the West Bank,” Odeh told Anadolu.

She dismissed Israeli attempts at “framing this assault as a response to escalating attacks by Palestinian fighters.”

“Strategically and realistically, this is not about combating Palestinian resistance, which is nominal in the West Bank. It is extremely limited and with very little effect on Israel per se, in comparison with what is happening in Gaza,” she said.

- ‘Accelerating steps to facilitate ethnic cleansing’

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has called on the army to replicate measures it has taken to devastating effect in Gaza, saying in a Wednesday statement that the West Bank operation involves the “temporary evacuation of Palestinian residents.”

“When you hear the Israeli foreign minister saying … we need to strike the way we’re fighting in Gaza, that gives an idea of the mindset that is operating or making these decisions,” said Odeh.

“That’s why you see the Israeli army obstructing paramedics, surrounding hospitals, deciding who gets treatment ... destroying civilian infrastructure, cutting off water and electricity, and so on. You see a ‘Gaza-fication’ almost, if you will, of the West Bank.

“In the reverse, there is an attempt to turn Gaza into the West Bank … by dissecting it, by fragmenting it, obstructing movement from north to south, and by talking about the appointment of a military ruler.”

What Israel is doing in the West Bank, she said, is “accelerating steps to facilitate ethnic cleansing, to drive out as many Palestinians as possible from their homes and communities.”

“They (Israeli officials) do not mince their words about that, and this does not target one area specifically in the West Bank. The whole of the West Bank is on the Israeli right-wing radar. They want it all,” she said, reiterating that their objective is “ultimate control.”

“Militarily, Israel has supreme rule over the West Bank, over the movement of Palestinians, the movement of goods in Palestine, the supply of water. They control every aspect of life,” Odeh asserted.

Israel’s current escalation is “paving the way to not just decimating heavily populated population centers like Tulkarem, Jenin and others, but also facilitating the reconstruction of settlements in those areas, especially in Jenin, where there are very few settlements,” she added.

All of this is happening on “the heels of two record-breaking years of Israeli violence in the West Bank, breaking the record of the number of Palestinians killed, the number of homes demolished, the numbers of land confiscated,” she continued.

Since Oct. 7, Israel has killed at least 670 Palestinians and wounded nearly 5,400 others in the West Bank, apart from arresting some 10,300 more.

Expansion of settlements, which are all illegal under international law, has also been ramped up, along with the seizure of Palestinian land.

Last month, Israel approved the largest land seizure in the occupied West Bank since the Oslo Accords, with Israeli anti-settlement watchdog PeaceNow warning that “the year 2024 marks a peak in the extent of declarations of state land.”

“They’ve taken over more land than they’ve done since the beginning of the Oslo process,” said Odeh, a former spokesperson of the Palestinian Authority.

“It really speaks to the program of the Israeli government and what it intends to do, which is to completely take over the West Bank … For that complete takeover, it considers settlement construction and expansion to be a high national goal.”

- ‘Irreversible and complete colonization’

​​​​​​​In a landmark advisory opinion on July 19, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land unlawful and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The ICJ is also separately evaluating Israel’s actions in Gaza, a case brought by South Africa, to determine whether they constitute a genocide. The court’s deliberations are expected to take years to conclude.

“What is, I think, interesting and ironic at the same time about everything that is happening, is that it has pushed the highest court of the world … to not only declare that the Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza is illegal, but that it must end and it must be dismantled in all its manifestations, including the military presence and the settlements, which are a war crime,” said Odeh.

“They (ICJ judges) even talk about Israeli settler attacks, and they consider it to be part of the structure of violence and the illegal structure of occupation that employs extreme violence and racism against Palestinians in order to entrench control.”

Another aspect addressed by the ICJ was the complicity of countries and their obligation “to stop aiding or abetting, in any way, the continued illegal occupation of Palestinian territory and the continuous military assault on Palestinians, which is a necessary component of maintaining this occupation,” she added.

Odeh said that while some countries might be saying the rights things now instead of staying silent or completely buying into the Israeli narrative, the crucial thing remains concrete action to pressure Israel.

“As long as there are no actions, the right actions, Israel will not feel any pressure to cease its military assault in the West Bank, to stop its genocide in Gaza, to rein in the settlers, to stop taking over land,” she said.

“This will continue on the path that the Israeli right has started, which is irreversible and complete colonization.”

Odeh also urged caution against Israel’s “masterful attempt at fragmenting the picture.”

“I think it’s important to call out what the overall Israeli actions are, and to always remember that Gaza and the West Bank are not two separate worlds or two separate entities,” she said.

“Israel’s war on the Palestinians is comprehensive. It doesn’t distinguish between Palestinians depending on where they live. We are equal targets in the Israeli right-wing mind, and everybody is a target for ethnic cleansing and forced displacement, because the ultimate goal of this government, and of the political reality that it represents, is Palestine without the Palestinians.”