The British Economist magazine reported West Bank The occupation said in it that the settlers there are causing chaos, and that the acts of violence committed by them and the Israeli army against the Palestinians have increased sharply since the attack by the Islamic Resistance Movement.agitationOn Israel on the seventh of last October, indicating that because of this violence, the West Bank is approaching the boiling point.
She explained that the Israeli army and settlers have killed at least 155 Palestinians in the West Bank since the Hamas attack last month, noting that this is considered a significant increase from the death rate in the past few months and years.
More deadly to the Palestinians
The magazine said that last year was the bloodiest for Palestinians in the West Bank in 20 years, as settler groups became bolder and the army intensified its raids on Palestinian towns and cities. But since the 7th of last month, things have worsened significantly. At the current rate, the four weeks that followed the “Al-Aqsa Flood” will be more deadly for Palestinians in the West Bank than the entire last year.
Reported that the war is on Gaza It raised some of the most violent groups of settlers in the West Bank. Some are taking revenge for the Hamas attack, and others are taking advantage of the army’s preoccupation in Gaza and the northern front with Lebanon. As a result, Palestinians in the West Bank feel more vulnerable than usual.
In the village of Qasra, located southeast Nablus citySettlers killed 4 Palestinians on October 11. The next day, during a funeral procession for the four martyrs, two more were killed by settlers’ bullets.
Soldiers cooperate with settlers
What has changed in the past few weeks, says the Economist, is that it appears that elements of the army and settlers bent on violence have cooperated, and that soldiers who were idly folded before, doing nothing, are now joining the settlers in their attacks.
The magazine said that the government of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu It pleased the settlers by allocating large sums of money to build their roads, from which Palestinians are generally prohibited. Settlers are rarely punished for initiating violence. For example, last June, they invaded the Palestinian village of Turmos Aya, setting fire to homes and cars. Although an Israeli officer described this as “terrorism,” no serious consequences followed.
The Economist pointed out that some Palestinian officials and foreign observers have been warning for years about a third intifada, and now fear that it is about to break out.
As for Tawfiq Tirawi Leader Palestinian security The former, who has strong ties to the refugee camps in the West Bank – and who disagreed with the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud AbbasHe says, “It has already exploded. People are full of anger and revolutionary spirit.”
A plan to expel the Palestinians from the West Bank
Some Palestinian activists say that the Israeli government, with the help of settlers, wants to evacuate the West Bank of its Palestinian residents, and they prove this by the fact that there are 13 Palestinian villages near Khalil city Large, some of its residents have abandoned it as a result of threats of settler violence, and they point out that many Palestinians see this violence as part of a plan to eventually expel them from the West Bank completely.
The Economist says that the Palestinian Authority, which is supposed to administer parts of the West Bank, is largely unable to protect Palestinian civilians, and that its senior officials strongly oppose the possibility of another intifada, fearing that this would give Hamas an opportunity to become the dominant Palestinian force in the occupied West Bank.
The magazine concluded its report with a veteran Palestinian official saying that he fears that one incident could lead to the outbreak of an intifada, adding, “I smell blood in the West Bank. I don’t know where it will be, but it is coming: the settlers will do something terrible.”
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