CrossFireArabia
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been forcibly displaced by Israeli occupation forces during the latest military campaign against Palestinians in the northern West Bank. The goal of the offensive, which is occurring in Palestinian cities, villages, and refugee camps, is to drive the Palestinians from their homes and establish new realities that defy international law.
A Euro-Med Monitor field team observed these forced relocation efforts on Saturday 8 February, when the Israeli occupation army targeted hundreds of Palestinians from the Far’a camp in Tubas, in the northern West Bank. This displacement is part of a larger offensive that started on 2 February and has involved Israeli forces conducting frequent raids on the town of Tamoun and the Far’a camp, destroying infrastructure and homes while enforcing a rigorous curfew on the populace.
Dozens of families have been displaced in recent days, but Saturday’s displacement operations took a more dangerous turn, as hundreds of families were compelled to evacuate due to the threat of home bombings, starvation, and siege. In the face of humiliating and degrading measures, taking place in cold weather and without the provision of adequate shelter, residents were compelled to evacuate their homes via routes imposed by the Israeli military.
The Israeli occupation announced the start of a massive military operation known as “Iron Wall” on 21 January, which started in Jenin, its refugee camp, and its towns. On 27 January, the Israeli military operation expanded to Tulkarm and the governorate’s Tulkarm and Nour Shams refugee camps. This is just one example of the systematic practices, most notably mass forced displacement, by which Israeli forces are intensifying their operations in the West Bank.
The Israeli occupation army has conducted one of the biggest forced displacement operations in the West Bank in decades, displacing over 11,000 residents of the Tulkarm camps and the majority of the Jenin camp’s 13,000 residents. These actions are akin to the strategy used by the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip, where dozens of illegitimate eviction orders resulted in the forced relocation of nearly two million Palestinians.
Israel’s practice of forcibly displacing and expelling Palestinian residents in the West Bank has been in place for years, and has worsened in the last two years. Previously, however, the perpetrators were mostly individuals or members of small groups, as evidenced by their destruction of homes, unlawful confiscation of land and properties, dismantling of a population’s infrastructure, and ejection of indigenous families or communities in favour of establishing settlement outposts, as was the case in multiple locations in Hebron and the Jordan Valley.
In addition to forced displacement, the Israeli military’s current genocidal strategy in the West Bank has involved widespread destruction. This destruction has included the bombing and burning of residential buildings and infrastructure, the cutting off of water, electricity, and communications supplies, and a killing policy that has resulted in the deaths of 30 Palestinians—including four children—and the injury of almost 300 others over the course of 19 days.
The Israeli occupation has employed a variety of additional tactics to create harsh living conditions in the West Bank. Israeli politicians have made public remarks encouraging the spread of violence there, for example. In particular, an Israeli security official speaking on Channel 14 about the cabinet’s decision to start the Jenin campaign stated, “We are starting a massive campaign in the northern West Bank, which could go on for months. We will act there just as we did in Gaza. We will leave them in ruins.”
Israel is encouraged by its decades-long impunity and the international community’s general attitude of helplessness that accompanied the Israeli crime of in the Gaza Strip for over 15 months. With its recent escalation in aggression, Israel threatens to repeat its Gaza genocide in the West Bank.
In order to protect Palestinian civilians and put an end to Israel’s operation in the West Bank, the international community must act immediately. Israel has repeatedly declared its intention to annex the West Bank and establish sovereignty over it, which has led to the ongoing military operation.
The international community must uphold the Palestinian people’s rights to freedom and dignity; support their right to self-determination, in line with international law; stop Israeli settler colonialism and illegal occupation of Palestinian territory; dismantle its apartheid against, and systematic isolation of, the Palestinians; lift the illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip; hold Israeli perpetrators and their Western allies accountable and prosecute them; and ensure surviving Palestinian victims receive compensation and redress.
Saleem Ayoub Quna
