CrossFireArabia
Hardcore Israeli Minister Smotrich declares 2025 the ‘year of sovereignty’ with full annexation plans for the West Bank underway. Meanwhile, the U.S. stands by Israel’s side, ignoring both the land grab and the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Cartoon by Carlos Latuff
CrossFireArabia
Illegal Israeli settlers uprooted hundreds of centuries-old olive trees in Qaryut village in north West Bank, according to a Palestinian farmer and activist on Wednesday.
“Around 2,000 dunams (2 square kilometers) are now almost empty of olive trees after settlers cut down hundreds of trees,” Bashar al-Qaryuti, an anti-settlement activist, told Anadolu.
He said farmers found the trees uprooted after they were allowed by the Israeli army to head to their farmlands near the settlement of Eli.
“Most of the uprooted trees were perennial,” he added.
Mohammad Badawi, a farmer, called the uprooting of the centuries-old olive trees a “real disaster.”
“I have lost 30 olive trees out of 100 trees by the settlers,” he said.
“For years, we have been facing intimidation and abuse by Israeli settlers,” Badawi added.
According to Palestinian figures, illegal Israeli settlers have carried out some 16,663 attacks on Palestinians and lands and properties across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since October last year
Data from the Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now show that there are half a million illegal settlers in 146 settlements and 224 outposts in the West Bank.
Tensions have been running high across the occupied West Bank due to Israel’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 43,100 Palestinians, mostly women and children, since Oct. 7, 2023.
At least 763 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 6,300 others injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory, according to the Health Ministry.
The escalation follows a landmark opinion in July by the International Court of Justice that declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land “illegal” and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
CrossFireArabia
A year after the Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip and the war’s spread to Lebanon, Israeli politicians must now be involved in a real soul-searching process and study the course of this war on all fronts so may may see whether Israel succeeds in changing the strategic reality in the region or is begining the process of drowning in the mud on all fronts.
According to the Maariv newspaper, Israel is not built for long wars and/or wars of attrition. The Israeli economy relies on human capital and therefore long wars could lead to the collapse of the economy.
To this day, the newspaper says, “three army divisions are conducting maneuvers in the Strip. But so far no combat goal has been achieved in Gaza.
“The Southern Command has not presented an exit plan, the Israeli army has not yet achieved most of the war’s goals: It has not released the 101 remaining hostages, it has not eliminated Yahya Sinwar, and has not been able to dissolve Hamas. It seems that day-after-day we will drown in the Gaza mud,” it said.
The Israeli army is relying on evacuating border villages. In general, the army has taken control of most of the line north of the border fence, but plans for the future are unclear.
For its part, Hezbollah has announced that it intends to operate in a guerrilla style to: Take advantage of the fact that Israel is not interested in a war of attrition.
In the West Bank, the newspaper says, the army is operating in Nablus, Jenin and Tulkarm. It is trying, in cooperation with the Shin Bet, to maintain a level of attack and operations in a way that does not turn the West Bank into another strong front.
In Iran, the Israeli government has not decided what it wants to do. Israel is obligated to attack forcefully after the Iranian attack two weeks ago, but the Iranian issue is complicated.
This is also due to the international community led by the United States, and countries in the Middle East warning of the repercussions of any Israeli response on the economy and oil and gas prices, the expected damage from Iran to the assets of the United States or moderate countries, and its impact on the elections in the USA.
All of these are part of the considerations that the Israeli government must make in order to evaluate what is happening on all fronts, because the future has become unanswerable.
