Israel lost the war on the West Bank before it even began
What is happening in the occupied West Bank is a war on the very idea of a Palestinian state. It is a war of Judaisation and settlement expansion; a war on resistance, on the Palestinian Authority, on the land, and on the people.
But another goal might surpass them all in importance: it is a war on the outcome of the Gaza conflict.
Israel wants to create a different reality in the occupied West Bank - one that erases 7 October 2023 and the war that followed from the forefront of the Palestinian consciousness.
It is trying to forcibly displace the Palestinian population, an aim central to the Zionist doctrine of settler-colonial expansion. This goal has not yet been achieved in Gaza.
Israel is waging war on the same resistance that undermined the state’s security doctrine and awakened its existential fears, as a relatively small and modestly armed group of Hamas fighters were able to swiftly overwhelm Israel’s defences on 7 October.
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Israel failed in its war on Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, it now wants to dismantle the deep bond between the Palestinian people and their land. This bond is what makes Palestinians cling to the rubble of their homes, even after a 15-month massacre.
The images of hundreds of thousands of people making their way back to northern Gaza - traversing their own path of suffering - are no less consequential than those of 7 October. They might be even more threatening to the Zionist settler-colonial ideology.
Embedded in history
Israel’s war on the occupied West Bank is a desperate attempt to erase the Palestinian presence in universities, in the streets, on public platforms, and across various forms of media.
It is an effort to reframe the Palestinian cause as an internal Israeli issue, thus downplaying the broader ramifications of its own presence as an occupying force.
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But the war on Gaza will remain embedded in history, shaping the course of the future. It will persist as a memory of genocide, as a symbol of legendary resilience, as proof of the failure of forced displacement plans, and as the struggle of a people fighting for liberation from occupation.
The war has drawn a clear line between what came before and after 7 October. The outcome of the Gaza war has revived the dream and promise of Palestine, just as the Nakba in 1948 marked an irreversible turning point.
This is not to downplay the disastrous consequences of the war in human lives and massive territorial destruction - but steel is forged in fire. The Palestinian people have been hardened by this war of extermination.
Israel’s reading of 7 October was flawed. The shock of the attack by Hamas, which is proscribed as a terrorist group in the UK and other countries, prevented the state from grasping the magnitude of what had happened.
The Israeli response was fuelled by hatred, racism, an instinct for killing, and a predominant superiority complex. Through this lens, it waged war.
The same mindset led Israel to shift its war to the occupied West Bank, fleeing from the reality created by 7 October. But there is no escaping the truth: eventually, Israel will also have to abandon its war on the West Bank as it comes to terms with the limitations of its delusional dreams.
Israel is facing a people who might be weak, but are never defeated; a people who are gentle, yet fight tooth and nail when their dignity is at stake; a people who are forgiving, but will never pardon the killers of their children; a people who are culturally open, but determined to preserve their unique identity and heritage; and a people who are ready to coexist, but only on the basis of mutual respect, equality and rights.
The Israelis will eventually come to understand this. Until then, the war in the occupied West Bank will continue as a war on the outcome of the Gaza conflict. As Sun Tzu said in The Art of War: “Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.”
Israel lost the war on the West Bank before it even began.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
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