6/24/2024–|Last updated: 6/24/202406:44 PM (Mecca time)
On Monday, the Israeli occupation forces continued arrests and demolished homes in various cities of the occupied West Bank, while the far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that he intends to make the West Bank an integral part of Israel.
Tel Aviv Tribune’s correspondent reported that the Israeli occupation forces stormed this afternoon the town of Anata, northeast of Jerusalem, and carried out raids and arrests of citizens.
The reporter said that the Israeli occupation forces suddenly closed the military checkpoints east of occupied Jerusalem.
The Israeli army arrested at least 12 Palestinians in the West Bank – including a woman, children and former prisoners – on Sunday evening and Monday morning, as confirmed by the Prisoners’ and Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs Authority (official) and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club (Ahli) in a joint statement.
Thus, the total number of arrests in the occupied West Bank rose to 9,360 since the outbreak of the war on the Gaza Strip on October 7 last year.
“The occupation forces also carried out extensive field investigation operations in the towns of Silwad and Kafr Ni’ma in the Ramallah Governorate (central), targeting at least 80 citizens, the majority of whom were later released,” according to the statement.
The two bodies reported that the total number of arrests after October 7 of last year rose to more than 9,360 detainees, some of whom were later released after being subjected to torture and widespread violations.
In conjunction with its war on Gaza, the army and settlers escalated their attacks in the West Bank – including East Jerusalem – which left 553 Palestinian martyrs – including 133 children – and about 5,300 wounded, according to the Ministry of Health.
Demolition of houses
In a related context, the occupation forces delivered 8 demolition notices to Palestinian homes in the village of Khallet al-Daba’ in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, and two notices to two other homes in the village of al-Mufaqara in the same area.
The pace of house demolitions in Masafer Yatta increased after last October 7, when the occupation army and settlers demolished approximately 20 houses under the pretext of building without a permit.
The occupation army also approved an order to demolish the house of prisoner Ahmed Dawabsha in the village of Duma, south of Nablus, on charges of killing a settler last April.
Annexation of the West Bank
For his part, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced – during a meeting of his far-right Religious Zionism party on Monday – that he intends to make the occupied West Bank an integral part of Israel.
Smotrich added, “We will establish sovereignty in Judea and Samaria (the Hebrew name for the West Bank) on the land first, and then through legislation. I intend to legitimize the emerging settlements (illegal settlement outposts).”
Smotrich, one of the most prominent supporters of settlement in the West Bank and its annexation to Israel, continued, “My life’s mission is to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state.”
Yesterday, Sunday, Smotrich confirmed the authenticity of the content of an audio recording published by the American newspaper “The New York Times” last Friday about his efforts to annex the occupied West Bank to Israel.
Smotrich said on the “X” platform, “The majority of the Israeli people are well aware that the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank would endanger Israel’s existence, and they do not oppose what I am doing.”
During a meeting with settlers on June 9, Smotrich said – according to the recording – that “Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is engaged in a secret plan to change the way it governs the West Bank, to strengthen Israel’s control over it irreversibly, without accusing it of formally annexing it.”
The Palestinians say that Israel has been exploiting its war on Gaza since last October 7 to intensify settlement activities and measures to annex the occupied West Bank.
The United Nations considers settlement in the occupied territories illegal, warns that it undermines the chances of addressing the conflict according to the principle of a two-state solution (Palestinian and Israeli), and has been calling for decades to stop it, but to no avail.
According to Israeli estimates, more than 720,000 Israeli settlers reside in settlements and outposts in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.