Existential War: Gaza to West Bank & Iran's Retaliation

By Myriam Charabaty

Al Mayadeen English

15 Apr 2024 23:46

The escalating confrontations in the West Bank are intricately linked to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the Axis of Resistance's support for Palestine, and Iran's retaliatory operation, True Promise.

In recent months, the West Bank has witnessed a disturbing trend: a surge in attacks by settlers targeting Palestinian individuals and villages. While this pattern of aggression is not novel within the context of "Israel's" policy of ethnic cleansing, its intensified manifestation, often concealed under the pretext of incidents such as the disappearance of a settler near Ramallah, underscores the volatile aftermath of Operation al-Aqsa Flood.

Amidst this backdrop, the launch of Operation al-Aqsa Flood emerges as a watershed moment that reaffirms the cause of Palestine as a central Arab and Islamic one, especially amid the existing critical juncture on the global scale.

Though carried out by the al-Qassam Brigades, this operation is like a sprout from the deep roots of the ongoing battle for Palestine's freedom, led by what has become known as the Axis of Resistance.

Spanning from the Mashreq to the Maghreb (Orient to the Occident), across the breadth of the Arab and Islamic worlds, the events unfolding in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and throughout occupied Palestine have ignited a widespread response. These developments have set off a chain reaction, leading to escalations not only within the West Bank but also beyond, fueled by "Israel's" "campaigns between wars."

This campaign precipitated Iran's remarkable retaliation following an Israeli assault on its consulate in Damascus. Understanding these unfolding events requires contextualizing them within the broader geopolitical landscape, where regional power dynamics intersect with longstanding conflicts and resistance movements.

Israeli settlers expelled under Resistance fire

Since October 7, the Israeli government has made public the displacement of over 250,000 Israeli settlers from their settlements. These settlements, largely constructed on land ethnically cleansed of its indigenous Palestinian and Arab communities, have become targets of Resistance operations spanning both northern and southern regions of occupied Palestine.

In the south, particularly in the Gaza envelope, where Palestinians besieged in the Gaza Strip once resided, a comprehensive evacuation has taken place after the Palestinian Resistance breached the Israeli separation walls and entered the settlements before showering its vicinity with missiles that have even reached "Tel Aviv" on multiple occasions.

The evacuation has significantly reduced the presence of settlers along the borders of the besieged Strip. Many settlers have relocated to central "Israel", while others have scattered throughout the occupied territories. Some have chosen to return to their countries of origin, primarily in Europe or the Americas, based on their nationality prior to settling in "Israel".

In the north, Resistance operations, spearheaded by Hezbollah and other factions, compelled Israeli settlers to evacuate settlements bordering Lebanon by a depth of 5 to 8 kilometers as reportedly revealed by Israeli journalists and Resistance sources.

While unprecedented since the so-called inception of "Israel", these evacuations were anticipated. Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah previously underscored that in the next war with "Israel", settlers would be forced to abandon their settlements, and while this is not even a widescale war, his words proved to be true once again. This strategic shift aims to bring the conflict to "Israel" rather than allow "Israel" to instigate hostilities in Lebanon, as it did in 2006 and 2000.

As Israeli deterrence erodes, it becomes increasingly apparent to settlers that they face an irreversible choice: either leave occupied Palestine or occupy another Palestinian home elsewhere in occupied Palestine.

Making up for what was lost on October 7

Israeli settlers faced a new reality following October 7, even vis-a-vis their daily life. Displaced settlers are now facing declining living standards after having initially migrated to "Israel" in pursuit of the material gains they had been promised once they settled in. 

Instead, settlers are now struggling not even to preserve their privileges against indigenous Palestinians, but to merely meet their daily needs as they lose their homes and the rest of the material gains they were promised at a time when the IOF has clearly failed to achieve any of its goals in the Strip or across the Northern Front - another issue which eliminates hope for Israeli settlers that things could get better in the foreseeable future.

Moreover, with the erosion of Israeli deterrence, settlers, once assured of their superiority over other regional powers such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and Iran, to name a few, now seethe with fury at their expulsion from territories they occupied during the 1948 Nakba and the 1967 Six-Day War. This resentment has boiled over, leading to a surge in attacks on Palestinian residents of the West Bank, surpassing previous levels of violence and reoccurring at a more frequent rate.

Simultaneously, Israeli occupation influencers-turned-government officials like Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have spearheaded efforts to arm all settlers, going beyond the usual military program enforced upon Israeli settlers. The arming, which came under the guise of "fighting terrorism", aims to revive historic terrorist Zionist organizations such as the Haganah, which conducted the initial Nakba in 1948, killing hundreds and thousands of Palestinians on purely racist grounds to occupy their homes and lands.

It's crucial to recognize that "Israel's" ethnic cleansing policies, which intensified notably after the events of Seif al-Quds in 2021 and further escalated following October 7, have emboldened settlers to perpetrate the same crimes of genocide as the Israeli occupation Forces are conducting the Gaza Strip [Over 33,000 martyrs] and the same crimes as the Haganah did in 1948.