The West Bank must not become a new front

At this time of dangerous conflict and instability in the Middle East , responsible leaders would be working to reduce escalation and find solutions. Sadly, it seems that among the extremists, especially those in Israel’s leadership, a desire to fan the flames of conflict has taken hold instead. Already this week, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was forced to again insist that there would be no change to the status of Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem. This followed incendiary comments by ultranationalist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir about raising the Israeli flag and building a synagogue at the religious site. Before that furore was given a chance to pass, a second Cabinet minister made an unwelcome intervention, calling for Palestinians to be evicted from the occupied West Bank and for Israel to apply the same tactics it has used to such devastating effect in Gaza. Unlike Mr Ben-Gvir, however, Foreign Minister Israel Katz holds one of the highest offices of the land, represents his country to the world and is a member of Mr Netanyahu’s mainstream Likud party. His remarks came as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate halt to a continuing Israeli military operation in the West Bank that has left at least 17 people dead since Wednesday, adding to the hundreds killed there by Israeli forces and settlers since October 7 . Delusions of expelling Palestinians from their homeland reflect not just an absence of political vision but a determination to double down on the mistakes of the past. The reality is that the West Bank’s current predicament – a troubled territory where Palestinians’ limited self-rule has been reduced to cantons broken up by illegal Israeli settlements – offers no security for Israel. In fact, Israel’s occupation is sustainable only with overwhelming military force and blatant discrimination against Palestinians. Yet it seems that for some in Israeli leadership positions, the chaos of Gaza offers an opportunity to open a second front and pursue destructive policies. While more than two million Palestinians have been corralled and confined in Gaza and have put pressure on the border with Egypt, attempts to push Palestinians from the West Bank would have serious repercussions for Israel’s relationship with Jordan, a country with which it shares a border and a peace treaty. The obvious dangers to Israel of such a policy seem to have gone unheeded by other influential figures, including a third Cabinet member – Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich – who in 2017 wrote that “ending the conflict means creating and cementing the awareness – practically and politically – that there is room for only one expression of national self-determination west of the Jordan River: that of the Jewish nation. Subsequently, an Arab state actualising Arab national aspirations cannot emerge within the same territory. Victory involves shelving this dream”. That such attitudes are being openly articulated by leading Israeli ministers is the product of impunity. Israel’s response to the murder and kidnapping of its citizens by Hamas on October 7 has been one of collective punishment for the Palestinian people, while Israeli hostages continue to suffer due to both Hamas’s and Israel’s problematic policies. With US support, the Israeli government has been able to weather the resulting storm of international criticism and UN-backed demands of an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Mr Netanyahu’s invitation to address the US Congress earlier this year is an example of this. Therefore, it is perhaps no surprise that a leading Israeli minister can call for a repeat of the devastation in Gaza in the West Bank. What should be surprising however, is how any political leader could look at the aimless and costly military campaign there and decide that a new front is what Israelis need to feel safe.