Israel's West Bank occupation is increasingly toxic and untenable

Jewish settlers pray in the Eviatar outpost in the occupied West Bank on Sunday. Many settlers have been emboldened by the presence in the Israeli government of several radical ministers. AP

Israeli Maj Gen Yehuda Fuchs addressed a major concern when he said on Monday that “in recent months, nationalist crime” in the occupied West Bank had “led to revenge and sowed calamity and fear in Palestinian residents who do not pose any threat”. If the departing chief commander of Israeli troops in the territory had said “decades” instead of “months”, he would have been even more precise.

In one sense, the major general’s remarks are an unusually candid reflection on Israeli policy in the West Bank. Since the Hamas attacks of October 7, there has indeed been a surge in violent attacks against Palestinians by Israeli settlers, many of whom have been emboldened by the presence in government of several radical ministers who have built their political careers on intransigence and extremism. Undoubtedly, it is the policy of illegal settlement itself that has caused so much misery and injustice.

This was painfully articulated this week by Mohanned Qafesha, an anti-settlement activist in Hebron. “Some people say living in Hebron is like living in jail,” he told The National this week. “I disagree. In jail you’re not free, but you feel safe. As Palestinians we’re not safe and we’re not free.” Indeed, the Palestinian communities of the West Bank have been labouring for years under an oppressive regime of Israeli checkpoints, movement restrictions and military courts on their own land.

One would have assumed that the Israeli authorities – under extreme pressure to restore the country’s security after the killing of more than 1,200 people by Hamas militants on October 7 – would have deprioritised their activities in the West Bank, a territory internationally recognised as belonging to another people. And yet, the opposite is happening. According to the Peace Now NGO, almost 13 square kilometres of land in the Jordan Valley were seized last month – the largest land grab since the 1993 Oslo Accords. This comes after the seizure of 8 sq km of land in the West Bank in March and 2.6 sq km in February.

As Israel ensnares itself further in the occupation of the West Bank, it will have to divert more troops and financial resources to protect the increasing number of settlers and further subjugate already-disenfranchised Palestinians. That considerable numbers of troops are required to safeguard the most zealous among the Israeli settler vanguard is undoubtedly frustrating to the more pragmatic members of the military, such as Maj Gen Fuchs, who must contend with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

It is plain to see that the situation in the West Bank is increasingly toxic and untenable. Given the open support expressed by some Israeli ministers to re-settle Gaza, the danger of reproducing this unjust and enervating policy in another part of Palestine is greater than it has been for many years. It is high time that more experienced Israeli commanders see, and importantly say, that the slow-motion catastrophe of settlement activity and continued occupation makes their country less secure, not more so.