War on ‌West Bank: What’s Netanyahu Plan for Abbas?

The pent-up anger at the killing of their countrymen in Gaza, the continuous and organized attacks of the settlers on the property of the residents of the West Bank, the Israelis' attempt to change the historical status of Al-Quds (Jerusalem), the growing influence of the resistance groups there, the silence of the Arab countries, and the inaction of the Palestinian officials in Fatah party have all worked hand in hand to push the discontentment in the West Bank to a point of no-return. 

In such a strained situation, the Israeli army on Wednesday launched a massive military operation in the West Bank, the largest since Operation Defensive Shield of 2002. 

The Israeli occupation military claims that it is working to counter armed groups that are operating in various neighborhoods of the West Bank. 

In the operation in Tulkarm, Jenin, and Tubas neighborhoods in northern West Bank, so far over 17 Palestinians were killed and injured. 

Israeli sources reported that this major operation, which is being carried out with the participation of fighter planes, helicopters and drones, will continue in the next few days and will be concentrated in Tubas, Jenin and Nur Shams camps. Tulkum is home town of the Palestinian man who recently launched an operation in Tel Aviv, killing an Israeli.

Israeli forces closed the entrances to the main city of Jenin, their snipers shot at Palestinian vehicles, and they also blocked most of the roads leading to Jenin. The Israeli army has ordered the residents of Nur Shams camp to evacuate their homes. Also, the military forces surrounded three Jenin hospitals and destroyed the streets leading to them with bulldozers and put the hospitals out of service by creating earthen barriers, reported Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jaridah. 

This military operation was launched after security warnings from Tel Aviv authorities about the possibility of a new Intifada (uprising), and the Israelis, according to their own claim, are trying to pre-empt and thwart the operations of Palestinian fighters before a nationwide uprising takes shape in this region.

In this regard, Israeli Channel 14 quoted military officials as saying that the "time has come to attack the north of the West Bank and eradicate terrorism." Israel labels as terrorists the Palestinian fighters seeking liberation of their lands from its occupation. 

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz in an X post wrote: "The army is trying with all its might in the refugee camps in Jenin and Tulkarm to destroy the infrastructure of the terrorists who are stationed there." 

Claiming that Hezbollah, Hamas, and Iran are backing these resistance fighters, Katz maintained that they have opened a" terrorist front" in east of the West Bank. He added that "advanced weapons are illegally brought from Jordan to areas in the West Bank." These come as a few weeks ago, fighters affiliated with Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades killed an Israeli and wounded several others during an unprecedented operation in the Jordan Valley.

Hamas and Palestinian Authority reaction 

The crimes of the Israeli army in the West Bank have outraged the Palestinian groups.

The Hamas movement warned in a statement that this operation is a practical attempt to implement the extremist government's plans to annex West Bank lands and expand the current war in Gaza.

The movement described the escalation of tension in the West Bank as a natural result of the suspicious international silence regarding the clear violation of all international laws by Israel and the deliberate targeting of defenseless civilians. 

The spokesman to the Palestinian Authority Nabil Abu Rudeineh said that the Israeli escalation in the West Bank will have dangerous consequences the costs of which will be paid by all. 

Abu Rudeineh held the Israeli occupation and its backer the US as responsible for this "dangerous escalation." 

On the other hand, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas cut short his trip to Saudi Arabia amid Israel's aggression.

Since the beginning of the Gaza war, extremist settlers and occupying forces have launched attacks on Palestinians living in the West Bank, and in the past eleven months, according to the UN, at least 637 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by military forces or settlers. Also, thousands of civilians have been arrested and imprisoned by the occupation forces.

Aims of West Bank operation

In the middle of the new wave of Israeli military campaign in the West Bank, concerns about the behind-the-scenes aims and dangerous intentions of the leaders of Tel Aviv are seen boldly by political observers.

One of the most dangerous goals of the Israeli cabinet that analysts warn about is the development plan of the occupation in the West Bank.

At the time of the formation of his hardline government in December 2022, Netanyahu promised to continue the policy of territorial usurping and settlement in the West Bank and as a result focused more on the West Bank than on the Gaza Strip. Now that the security conditions in the occupied territories have changed after the Gaza war and the security of the settlers has weakened, Netanyahu government is trying to conclude its plans. 

The preemptive operation against the resistance groups in the West Bank is an excuse to achieve the main objectives, which is the formation of an all-Jewish state— a program that has become the priority of this regime's policies with the rise of the far-right in Tel Aviv, and the repeated attacks of settlers on the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the plans of the National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to build Solomon's Temple on the ruins of the holy mosque are all part of this expansionist project. 

Munir al-Jaghoub, the Fatah spokesman and the head of the Palestinian National Center for Political Studies, told Sky News Arabia that elimination of the Palestinian Authority is part of Israel's campaign in the West Bank. He added that "this Israeli operation is not the first and it will not be the last, and Netanyahu seeks to weaken and eliminate the Palestinian Authority. Netanyahu does not want to end the conflict with the Palestinians... Evicting the Palestinians from the West Bank camps is one of the aims of this military operation, and this project has been ongoing since the establishment of Israel."

It is noteworthy that since Gaza war, Netanyahu turned against the Palestinian Authority and multiple times said that he will not allow Abbas to rule post-war Gaza. Netanyahu thinks that Abbas did not align with the occupation as Tel Aviv had expected. According to Netanyahu, Abbas should have condemned the operation of Hamas on October 7, but the passive positions of the president enraged Israeli leaders. Therefore, the Israeli radicals think the Palestinian Authority has expired and it cannot provide the interests of the Israeli regime as in the past and the Israeli military forces should take over the administration of the West Bank.

Furthermore, some other analysts cite the failure in Gaza as the reason and motivation for Netanyahu's decision to attack the West Bank. In this regard, Arab political expert Abdul Majid Suylem said in a conversation with Sama news agency that "Israel's most important aim is to completely occupy the West Bank and cover up its defeat in Gaza."

Suylam believes that Tel Aviv is deeply aware that it has failed in the criminal and bloody war in Gaza, in the deterrence battle against Lebanon's Hezbollah, and in the battle to neutralize Iran and the possibility of preventing Yemen's Ansarullah from controlling the Red Sea. The biggest crisis of Israel is that in the near future war, the army, forces and the entire Israeli society will be exhausted since the conflicts will be intense. On the other hand, the security, social and economic reality is placed like a big sword on the government's head, pressuring it at all levels. 

"So, today, the occupation government finds itself in this strategic dead end and has no resort but to start an easier war. It imagines that it can score a rapid win in the West Bank to cover up its big defeats," he said. 

The Israelis are worried that the beginning of the third intifada in the West Bank in the midst of the Gaza war will bring the occupied territories face to face with a wide crisis and since the army is not capable of fighting on several fronts, the security of the settlers will be in danger. 

On the other hand, launching this operation while the Gaza ceasefire talks are underway is meaningful, demonstrating that the hardline government of Netanyahu is uninterested to stop Gaza war and wants to derail the talks by waging war on the West Bank.

The aggression on the West Bank that leads to displacement of people and destruction of vital infrastructures and mass killings will exacerbate the situation, and with the start of armed uprising of the Palestinians, the Israeli regime will be targeted from three fronts.