Israel is accelerating its genocide and annexation not just in Gaza, but also in the Palestinian West Bank.
Since 7 October 2023, Israel has annexed more land there than in the past 20 years. Violent attacks by Israeli settlers and the IDF, endorsed by Netanyahu’s regime, have killed over 1000 Palestinians and wounded more than 8000.
“In the first half of this year, settlers have unleashed over 750 attacks on Palestinians and their properties, an average of nearly 130 per month, the highest on record,” a Palestinian activist from the West Bank told Solidarity.
In July, 20-year-old Palestinian-US citizen Saif al-Din Musalat was beaten to death by Israeli settlers after trying to prevent their seizure of his family’s farmland.
A Palestinian farmer described how after seizing his land, “The settlers guard it with weapons. They can shoot us at any time, they have permission from the authorities.”
Occupation
Israel has occupied the West Bank and imposed military rule over Palestinians living there since the Six Day War in 1967. After the Oslo Accords in 1993, the building of Israeli settlements massively expanded.
The Accords split the territory in Areas A, B and C. Area C is under full Israeli military rule and comprises 60 per cent of the West Bank.
Before the Oslo Accords, the settler population was around 100,000. Today, it numbers more than 700,000, making up 10 per cent of Israel’s total population.
Israeli settlements are often built near Palestinian neighbourhoods and Palestinians are ruthlessly prevented from entering them.
The Palestinian refugee camp near Jalazone, for instance, is overlooked by an Israeli settlement, Beit El.
“They use the camp as a dump,” a Palestinian from the area told Solidarity. “The soldiers in the watchtowers, when they get bored, they point their lasers at us and make us run … they post it on Tik Tok.”
Israel’s occupation throttles the Palestinian economy and access to basic services, while funnelling resources to the Israeli settlements.
“In the camp, there is only access to water twice a week, while the settlement has water all the time.”
She described how Israeli settlers release wild boars into Palestinian olive groves, which destroy the crops and endanger Palestinians trying to harvest their olives.
Recently, Israeli settlers destroyed over 10,000 olive trees, some more than 100 years old, as part of the three-day siege of a Palestinian village in the West Bank, al-Mughayyir, after an Israeli settler was reportedly attacked.
In the West Bank, Palestinians are continually monitored. Their movement between areas is throttled by 849 checkpoints, where Israeli soldiers can search and detain any Palestinian.
The activist’s mother’s dental practice in Ramallah was unable to operate for almost a year after 7 October 2023 due to Israel closing the checkpoints connecting Ramallah to neighbouring towns and villages.
Israel’s occupation aims to make life intolerable for Palestinians, while expanding their annexation of Palestinian land. It is a systematic attempt at ethnic cleansing, as in Gaza.
Expansion
Earlier this month, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, had approved plans for further annexation. This involves seizing a 12-kilometre strip of land east of Jerusalem, in an area designated “E1” by Israel.
This new settlement will sever East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank and cut Palestinians in the north of the West Bank off from the south.
Smotrich explained that this new settlement, “Buries the idea of a Palestinian state,” and that “Whoever in the world is trying to recognise a Palestinian state today will receive our answer on the ground. Not with documents nor with decisions or statements, but with facts. Facts of houses. Facts of neighbourhoods.”
In May, Israel announced the construction of 22 new settlements, the largest single settlement expansion since 1993.
The Israeli cabinet has been toying with the complete annexation of the West Bank for months, passing a symbolic motion in the Knesset in July which declared its ultimate intent to take full control of the territory.
As recently as the start of September, the Israeli cabinet was reportedly “tossing up” plans to incorporate the whole of Area C into Israel.
But the takeover of the West Bank is already occurring every day. Israeli settler violence, seizures of farmland, house demolitions and raids on villages are a daily occurrence.
This rapid expansion of settlements exposes that the genocide in Gaza has never been simply about fighting Hamas—it is part of a broader aim of seizing complete control of historic Palestine and cleansing the area of Palestinians.
By Maeve Larkins
