West Bank 'on verge of exploding' as Israeli violence goes unchecked: Report
Israeli officers are lamenting that the army has ‘lost authority on the ground’ due to the support extremist settlers receive from the government
Israeli security officials cited in a report by Haaretz on 18 November are warning that the occupied West Bank is “on the verge of an explosion.”
"There is no one today dealing with the West Bank. Everyone understands we are on the verge of an explosion. But no one will stand up and speak,” one of the sources said.
"Commanders on the ground are genuinely afraid to raise problems or enforce the law. Because they immediately become targets for extremists who enjoy backing from ministers and Knesset members," the source added, referring to illegal settlers backed by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Another source who participated in a military exercise in the West Bank last week said the territory is the “most combustible arena," despite ongoing attacks in Gaza and Lebanon.
"We are silent, but one incident could ignite all of Judea and Samaria. The whole IDF would be swallowed up in it,” the source added. Other sources revealed that “neither the government nor the defense establishment has held a strategic discussion on developments in the West Bank for months.”
The report states that although Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is actively pushing forward annexation plans, Defense Minister Israel Katz has “removed himself” from any involvement in West Bank matters.
“Officers and senior commanders in the West Bank have for years faced attacks by Jewish settlers, but the present moment is the most severe yet. Lawless actors who harm Palestinians and IDF troops in the West Bank are receiving support from Israeli leaders who create a permissive environment that enables them to act freely,” it added.
A former security official said the Israeli army has “lost its powers and its standing to such an extent that no one is willing to raise problems with the political leadership," adding that “at the next cabinet meeting, where commanders are invited, they will be turned into the ministers' punching bag."
The report highlights that soldiers are sent to secure farmland for illegal settler outposts, and that the military has been “weakened” to the point that it is not able to do anything about the settler violence.
Settler violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank has surged significantly in the past few months. Palestinian farmland and crops are constantly set ablaze, and civilians are attacked on a near-daily basis.
Land-grabs and settlement expansion continue unabated. The Israeli army also remains deployed in several West Bank camps, displacing Palestinians and destroying infrastructure daily.
Jewish pogroms take place with clear army backing, and settlers face no repercussions.
Over the past two decades, about 94 percent of all investigations opened by the Israel Police into settler violence ended without indictment, according to the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din.
During the same period, just three percent of case files opened into settler violence have led to full or partial convictions.
"One act of settler violence in which several Palestinians are killed could instantly turn the West Bank into a major war zone that draws the entire IDF into it,” a senior officer told Haaretz.
On Tuesday, a stabbing operation left one Israeli dead and injured three others at the Gush Etzion Junction in the West Bank. The two Palestinians behind the operation were shot dead.
The army claimed it found explosive devices in the attackers’ vehicle and dismantled them.