The Israeli occupation army continues its escalation in the West Bank, with bloody military raids on cities and towns, reinforced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s raid on the Palestinian Jordan Valley, in a move that reveals – according to observers – dangerous dimensions of the occupation’s policy towards the West Bank.
Netanyahu had visited the Jordan Valley region in the Palestinian territories, accompanied by Israeli army leaders, and announced his intention to build a wall on the border with Jordan to prevent what he claimed were attempts to smuggle weapons and fighters from the kingdom to the West Bank and Israel, in a revival of a project that was previously proposed about 20 years ago.
According to Dr. Hassan Khreisha, Deputy Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Netanyahu’s declared goal is to eradicate the Palestinian resistance, but his strategic goal is to liquidate the Palestinian cause and re-establish control over the entire West Bank, including Jerusalem.
He considered that the deliberate and repeated Israeli entry into areas classified as “A” means that Israel wants to say that there are no longer any agreements between it and the Palestinian side, in addition to its efforts to displace Palestinians from some areas, especially the camps, as they are the title of the issue.
For his part, academic and expert in Israeli affairs Dr. Muhannad Mustafa stresses that Israel wants to practice a new occupation of the West Bank that is consistent with the right-wing orientations and Netanyahu’s plan to impose military rule in the West Bank, displace the population, and pave the way for the annexation of large areas, including the Jordan Valley, which the Israeli Prime Minister himself indicated in 2020.
Dr. Mustafa explained – in an interview with the program “Gaza… What’s Next?” – that there are areas classified as “C” that constitute 60% of the West Bank, in which there are about 700,200 settlers, according to some estimates. He said that the Israeli right is trying in the first stage to displace the Palestinian population in these areas and strengthen settlement there, and he revealed that so far 9 Palestinian communities have been displaced in preparation for their annexation to Israel.
He pointed out that the Israeli occupation plans require the legal annexation of Area C to Israeli sovereignty and maintaining military and security control over Areas A and B, stressing that his priority now is Area C.
Regarding Netanyahu’s recent visit to the Jordan Valley, the academic and expert in Israeli affairs confirmed that the issue of control over the Jordan Valley is a matter of Israeli consensus, and that Netanyahu wants it to be part of Israeli sovereignty. For years, he has been talking about strengthening the borders between Jordan and Palestine, which is consistent with his position on the Philadelphi Corridor on the border with Egypt, as he wants to maintain Israeli control over the occupied Palestinian borders with Arab countries.
He considered that the occupation’s siege of the West Bank from within and without is an attempt to implement its plans to deepen settlement, pressure the Palestinians, and maintain a type of restricted Palestinian rule that provides services to the local population, stressing that Israel wants to occupy the West Bank and the Gaza Strip but in a new way, meaning that it will not bear, as an occupying state, civil responsibility for the local population.
Palestinian Authority Behavior
In the estimation of the Deputy Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Netanyahu, who has taken everything he wants from the current US administration, is waiting for the victory of the Republican Party candidate in the US elections, Donald Trump, and is betting on what is included in the “Deal of the Century”, recalling Trump’s recent statements that Israel is a small state and must be expanded, statements that are consistent with the vision adopted by Netanyahu’s government.
He ruled out that Israel would carry out a large-scale forced displacement of Palestinians, as happened in 1948, because that “would pose a threat to the occupation in its relations with Arab countries, given that regimes would fall, normalization would end, and the situation would return to what it was before 1967.”
Regarding the role and behavior of the Palestinian Authority in light of the current situation in the West Bank, the Deputy Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council pointed out that the occupation does not recognize this authority, as evidenced by their invasions of its sovereign areas. He said that everyone in Israel does not recognize the establishment of a Palestinian state, and therefore the Authority realizes that it continues as a limited self-governing authority on the West Bank within the framework of civil services provided to the Palestinians.
He called on all Palestinians to unite, away from the illusions of a two-state solution and settlements. The spokesman stressed that the Palestinians have no choice but to stand firm and resist the occupier.