The Aggression on the West Bank: A Practical Implementation of the “Decisive Plan”

– No Evacuation or Temporary Displacement, Only Permanent Expulsion
– A Practical Prelude to the Alternative Homeland in Jordan

Preliminary Assessment: Progress Center for Policies

The geography of the aggression exactly matches the map of the settlement plan in the northern West Bank and the northern Jordan Valley, areas with low settlement density but high Palestinian population density. These areas are planned to become uninhabitable for Palestinians and completely habitable only for settlers. Israel views that settlement in these areas will not be achieved unless all forms of resistance are eradicated and significant demographic changes are made.

The Israeli aggression rivals the 2002 invasion and exceeds it in its objectives, aiming to alter the Palestinian demographic reality in the West Bank, as stated by Foreign Minister Katz. He spoke of a war, not just a limited operation, and about applying the genocide pattern used in Gaza to the West Bank.

The discourse on displacement and evacuation becomes official for the first time in the West Bank, in the context of repeated forced displacement in Gaza since the start of the genocide. Notably, in the Israeli view, displacement has never been temporary for Palestinians. The next step would be to prevent their return, a Zionist-Israeli doctrine in practice since the Nakba of 1948.

The right-wing Channel 14 has labeled the aggression as “summer camps,” a euphemism that does not refer to children’s camps but to an existential targeting of refugee camps in the northern West Bank (in this phase), considering them the backbone of resistance in the West Bank.

As in the war on Gaza, where camps were first targeted and uprooted, with the infrastructure of the UNRWA refugee agency destroyed and a war of attrition waged against its capabilities and facilities, this is happening in the current aggression and those preceding it.

The extensive, comprehensive, and indefinite aggression, including wide use of air force, comes after an intense and broad attrition campaign against Palestinians in the West Bank, involving the arrest of more than ten thousand young people, the assassination of hundreds, and thousands of injuries, not to mention the destruction of infrastructure and livelihoods. Added to this is the ban on Palestinian workers entering Israeli facilities, all within the context of a systematic, accelerated effort aimed at undermining the Palestinian Authority and ultimately preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state.

At the start of the war on Gaza, Israel sought to displace the population of the Gaza Strip to northern Sinai, from where they would be transported by American and Western ships to permanent exile and diaspora. Were it not for Egypt’s firm refusal and the Palestinian position, the project would have been implemented. Currently, there are publicly declared intentions to expel Palestinians from their towns and confine them to enclaves, with displacement from the West Bank towards Jordan.

For several weeks, far-right circles and their media have been inciting against Jordan, focusing exclusively on the Jordanian-Palestinian border, which Israel currently and in the future considers as its security border, as is the case with the Jordan Valley. These reports highlight human trafficking from Asian and African countries, “arms smuggling,” and drugs, in an effort to accuse Iran of being involved.

Israel, through its aggression, aims to fragment the Palestinian national identity and cause. It continues the genocide in Gaza, intensifying it, while transferring the model to the West Bank, all the while negotiating a settlement as if these were separate issues, while the Israeli plan is unified and integrative.

As the prevailing Israeli mindset suggests, the aggression that began in Gaza and then the West Bank will extend to the Palestinians of 1948. Additionally, the concerted efforts to fundamentally alter the “status quo” at Al-Aqsa and other holy sites are integral to state policy, not just the interests of a particular minister or for Netanyahu’s personal gains. Rather, it enjoys broader support beyond the ruling coalition.

The “Decisive Plan” from Smotrich and the Religious Zionism movement (2017) has transitioned to becoming a state plan with all its systems, being implemented on the ground in the West Bank, which is a priority for the dominant Religious Zionism stream and enjoys Zionist consensus.

Conclusion:

The aggression on the West Bank is an integrative occupation project with the genocide in Gaza, aimed at changing the demographic reality and enforcing forced displacement. It lays the groundwork for the “alternative homeland” project in Jordan. This requires a Palestinian, Jordanian, Arab, and international response.

The demand for international protection for the Palestinian people and their cause is a primary task, also based on the UN resolution recognizing Palestine as a state under occupation.

There is a need for the immediate activation of the UN investigation committee, May 2021, into the practices of the occupation.

While Palestinian popular protection cannot stop the aggression, its contribution to steadfastness and survival is crucial.