Is an explosion of the West Bank closer than we think?
I have just returned from a work visit to Ramallah. I am very concerned and disturbed by what I heard from friends and colleagues there. The calm appearance of the city hides the sizzling bubbling under the surface. The West Bank is on the verge of explosion
As an illustration of what I’ve heard from people I spoke with, on the way home I listened to some Palestinian popular radio stations. All of the songs were full of praise for Hamas and al-Qassam Brigades — “let’s hit Tel Aviv with our rockets” and much worse. It was horrible to hear the drums of war and battle calls on the radio.
I was told that scenes that haven’t appeared for years since the intifada are now all over Ramallah, Bethlehem and throughout the West Bank — street gangs of masked men with weapons calling for young people to join the Aqsa Brigades and other battalions — “revenge for the death of our brothers and sisters in Gaza, we are all Gaza, we are all Qassam Brigades.”
There is no more talk of peace and two states. The discussions on the street and in cafes are all about the end of the ceasefire and the renewal of war in Gaza. They say the Jews’ war is not against Hamas — it is against all Palestinians and the Qassam Brigades are the only ones fighting the Zionists, who want to kill all the Palestinians.
Mahmoud Abbas is described almost as a public enemy. Every day, Mohammed Dahlan transmits calls against Abbas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) from the Gulf. Dahlan and other important Fatah leaders in the West Bank are calling on Palestinian security forces to stop the security coordination with Israel and use their weapons against Israel instead. There are calls to attack settlements and to kidnap Israeli soldiers and civilians.
Everyone is watching Al Jazeera and Al Manar, Hezbollah’s television station, seeing the destruction and killing in Gaza. All day long, people hear the repeated calls by Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Liberman to kill Hamas leaders, to occupy and destroy Gaza. For them, these are calls to destroy the whole of Palestine.
There is a kind of complacency — an illusion that what is happening in Gaza does not affect the West Bank. It seems that Israeli security officials and decision makers are completely disconnected from the reality in our backyard.
The peace demonstration in Tel Aviv on August 16 was not aired on any Arab station and the Palestinian public does not hear about Israelis who still talk about peace.
The atmosphere is very pessimistic; people expect that the ceasefire will not be renewed and the fighting in Gaza will resume. After Gaza, the fighting will emerge in the West Bank. The atmosphere of the war is spreading and the public appears willing to enlist. They know there is much to lose, and yet they feel this is a war of necessity — a war to protect their home, a war for Palestine.
I know the West Bank well. In recent years, I have been there several times every week. What I heard and felt today is very worrying, in part because I also believe that Israel has no idea how explosive the situation is. There is a kind of complacency — an illusion that what is happening in Gaza does not affect the West Bank. It seems that Israeli security officials and decision makers are completely disconnected from the reality in our backyard.
What happens in the West Bank is also happening across the Jordan River. The explosion when it comes will be like wildfire and will spread across the West Bank into Jordan. It will threaten both the PA and the Kingdom of Jordan.
Only a 180-degree turn by the government, which would mean launching a genuine peace process, can change the direction of the horrors just around the corner. But first we must reach a settlement in Gaza and prevent the resumption of hostilities there.
I tend not to display such prophecies of doom, but the situation now is too serious not to be taken seriously.
*[This article was originally published by +972 Magazine.]
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy.
Your article is full with lies and disinformation. I am not going to argue with it here. I am only asking you to compare the daily life of a palestinian in the West Bank to the life
of a palestinian in Gaza. It is so drasticly different. Why ? Would’nt it be better for Gaza if Hamaz was not there ?
What can expect when you vote for fanatic religious merderous cynical people to govern Gaza ? Don’t blame Israel. Isreal is not the cause for the suffering
of the Gaza citizens. Blame the Hamas. Would you like your house to be bombarded by missiles for years ? Israel had no choice.
I am really sory for the suffering of the Gaza people. You shoud rebel against Hamas. They are the cuase of all this tragedy.
Your Jewish cousin. Avraham
Please do you math homework: 360 sq km = 360000000 sq m ! Hence it is 0.005 people per sq m or 5000 people per sq km! (which is still high)
1: So living under Israeli occupation and a corrupt PA constitutes a better way of life? Having your land stolen by illegal settlers makes it all better in the West Bank? Hamas is certainly no group of angels, but don’t bring your propaganda and claim that living in the Occupied West Bank or East Jerusalem is heaven.
2: Blame Israel for its breach of international law of numerous occasions. Settlements are illegal under international law and that is a fact. Israel cannot dispute this by claiming that a book from thousands of years ago gives them the right to claim land. Religion has no place in international law, be it Jewish, Christian or Islamic. We do not live in a theocratic world; it is by and large secular. There is no Israeli exceptionalism to law. What Israel’s policy is built on land grabs and theft. It should be held to account for crimes at the ICC.
Israelis should rebel against Netanyahu, the extremist Lieberman, et al.
Your Arab Christian cousin, Mona