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Will Israel achieve in the West Bank what it failed to do in Gaza?

From the river to the sea, Palestinians refuse to be subjugated. We will stay on our land until this war ends
Israeli soldiers transport Palestinian men arrested during a military raid on Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, on 22 January 2025 (Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP)
Israeli soldiers transport Palestinian men arrested during a military raid on Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, on 22 January 2025 (Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP)

As Palestinians, we breathed a sigh of relief when the Gaza ceasefire and hostage exchange deal between Hamas and Israel was announced last week.

In both Gaza and the occupied West Bank, Palestinians were overjoyed at the completion of this long-awaited agreement to stop the genocide. It represented the failure of the occupying army to defeat and subjugate our people. We were delighted at the ensuing release of Palestinian prisoners.

But this joy has been tarnished by fears that Israel will replicate the scenario of genocide and displacement here in the occupied West Bank.

The first signs were the violent threats that began to intensify from the very moment the war on Gaza stopped. 

Israel imposed strict measures against celebrations, aiming to quash public expressions of joy in the occupied West Bank, while also impeding our freedom of movement. 

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But these threats did not stop us from waiting in Ramallah for hours to greet the liberated prisoners, despite the extreme cold. We met them with expressions of great joy. 

Israel took extreme measures to interfere with this process. Soldiers attacked the crowds waiting to reunite with their loved ones, firing tear gas and stun grenades, and they also imposed road closures around Ramallah. 

Some released prisoners were consequently forced to spend their first night outside prison stuck at checkpoints with their families, enduring the extreme cold - a sadistic measure aimed at killing our joy, which is apparently reserved only for Israelis.

Tightening the noose

Since then, Israeli forces have tightened their siege of the occupied West Bank, paralysing the movement of Palestinians through nearly 900 military checkpoints and gates.

The Israeli army also launched a massive operation in Jenin, which remains ongoing, while the government has announced plans to intensify settlement activity - part of its broader goal of annexing large swathes of the West Bank. This may unfold with the blessing of the Trump administration in the US.  


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Settlers are also escalating their attacks in the occupied West Bank, burning homes, vehicles and Palestinian farms under the protection of the Israeli army, as we saw recently in the town of Funduq. This behaviour has been encouraged by US President Donald Trump, who - in one of his first actions since taking office - has cancelled sanctions targeting extremist settlers.

In addition, just before the Gaza ceasefire took effect, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced plans to free settlers held under administrative detention.

Israel’s declared goal in what it terms an “extensive and significant” operation in Jenin is to “defeat terrorism”. But the real goal, not explicitly declared, is clear to us: pushing Palestinians to leave the West Bank.

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Israel’s ferocious attacks aim, first and foremost, to kill the joy and hope that arose in the hearts of Palestinians - the proof of our resilience - after the Gaza truce took effect. Israel’s occupying authorities have resorted to fomenting a new war in the West Bank, attempting to erase any image of a Palestinian victory.

Through this offensive, Israel wants to deter Palestinians from even considering opposing the expansion of the Zionist project on their lands. It seeks to pressure them through indiscriminate killing and displacement, just as we saw in Gaza, and by imposing new security measures that tighten the noose and push Palestinians to leave.

As I was travelling recently from Ramallah to my hometown of Qira, I saw large billboards erected by settler groups: “There is no future in Palestine,” one noted, accompanied by a picture of displaced Palestinians in Gaza. The message, endorsed by Israel’s far-right government, is that West Bank Palestinians will suffer a similar fate if we don’t leave voluntarily.

At the same time, Israel is tightening our apartheid reality, confining us to small urban areas while allowing settlers to control the land and the roads. Such policies aim to weaken the Palestinian Authority and eventually eliminate its political role.

Clinging to his government coalition, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is rewarding his extremist finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who protested the Gaza ceasefire, by allowing him to initiate his own war in the occupied West Bank. But even if Israel repeats here the crimes and destruction it wrought across Gaza, it will inevitably fail - as it failed there - to bring the Palestinian people to their knees. As in Gaza, we will remain in our homeland to witness with pride the day after the war.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

Fareed Taamallah is a Palestinian journalist who lives in Ramallah. He is a farmer and political and environmental activist.
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