Why is Israel attacking Palestinians in the West Bank where Hamas has no authority ?
On 28 August, the Israeli army initiated ‘Operation Summer Camps’, executing a large-scale and highly brutal attack on Palestinian towns, cities, and refugee camps in the northern occupied West Bank. Since that time, Israeli occupation troops have killed over 50 Palestinians in Tulkarm, Jenin, Tubas, and other cities and camps, including elderly, children, and local fighters.
The operation is essentially open-ended and has thus far been marked by the withdrawal of forces from a specific town, only for the army to re-enter several days later. Airstrikes, the demolition of civilian infrastructure, checkpoints and blockades, along with the extensive deployment of live ammunition, define an offensive unprecedented since the Second Intifada.
What is the rationale behind Israel's significant escalation? Israel claims, for both domestic and international audiences, that the operation constitutes a war against 'terrorist' organizations allegedly acting as an Iranian front. Israel's escalation is intrinsically linked to the overarching objectives of the government and the settler movement in the West Bank, particularly in its northern governorates.
Since October of last year, about two dozen 'outposts' have been built in the West Bank—technically unauthorized colonies that have nonetheless been created and sustained with the cooperation of Israeli authorities. Seventy additional outposts were deemed eligible for government funding, while five other outposts were officially designated as new settlements in a cabinet decision.
Thousands of housing units were developed in settlements, and around 25,000 dunams of land were appropriated by Israeli occupation authorities as 'state land'. In May, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant initiated a process that may allow settlers to return to four colonies dissolved in 2005, located near Jenin and between Jenin and Nablus.
This substantial enlargement of settlements, both existing and proposed, coincides with a rise in assaults by settlers on Palestinian towns and a growing arsenal among Israeli settlers, partly due to the efforts by national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
The aforementioned is a partial summary of developments since 7 October, however these trends extend significantly further back in time. Between 1996 and 2013, around 46 'outposts' were constructed alone in the Nablus governorate. In the months preceding 7 October, throughout the first half of 2023, the Israeli government advanced an unprecedented number of house units in West Bank settlements and retroactively legitimized the status of a record number of outposts.
In August 2023, Yossi Dagan, the head of the settlers’ 'Samaria Regional Council,' which encompasses a significant portion of the northern West Bank, including Nablus, Jenin, and Tulkarm, communicated with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding a proposal endorsed by "hundreds" of settler leaders to increase the settler population in his region to one million by 2050. This would encompass over 25 settlement "cities" in the northern West Bank.
Achieving this objective, or furthering the ongoing settlement expansion, is hindered by various types of Palestinian resistance to such colonial projects, including armed factions that have arisen in the northern West Bank over the past 2-3 years. These groups have been notably influential in the region's refugee camps, which serve as enduring sites and catalysts for political mobilization and national identity.
The proliferation of settlements and annexation efforts contribute to the resurgence and extension of Palestinian armed factions in the northern West Bank, while simultaneously prompting Israel's intention to target and dismantle these groups. In this setting, Israel targets all manifestations of Palestinian national identity and collective expression, resulting in significant destruction in refugee camps and persistent efforts to undermine the existence of UNRWA in both Gaza and the West Bank.
It is not solely the northern West Bank, of course. A new settlement, to be established from scratch, is proposed near Bethlehem, while colonies expand and outposts emerge in both the Jordan Valley and Southern Hebron Hills. In those latter two regions, extensive expulsions of Palestinians have been occurring, specifically targeting smaller, more vulnerable Palestinian communities. This indicates that it is not merely resistance that impedes the settlement-annexation initiative, but rather the very presence of Palestinians.
Consequently, the series of destructive and lethal incursions in the northern governorates is intrinsically linked to Israel's broader objectives in the West Bank, including the expansion of settlements and annexation. In 2017, Bezalel Smotrich, the current Finance Minister and minister within the defense ministry, presented a plan for the West Bank offering its Palestinian population three alternatives: to accept their status in a Jewish state, to emigrate, or to be killed for rejecting the first two options. As annexation progresses, the inhabitants of Jenin and Nour Shams refugee camps, along with the families in Masafer Yatta, are experiencing what many fear will eventually affect everyone in the West Bank.