Violence Escalates in West Bank as Israel Focuses on Gaza War

The IDF continues to crack down on terror groups in the West Bank, claiming they are aided by Iran. Meanwhile, Jewish settler violence against Palestinians there is also on the rise.

For over 10 months, Israel has been fighting a war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip while attempting to fend off enemies on other fronts. Meanwhile, simmering tensions in the West Bank could be a far more pressing threat to the Jewish state.

The war in Gaza, the possible escalation with the Lebanese-based Hezbollah terrorist group, and the threats of a direct attack from Iran have shifted Israel’s focus, although its military regularly operates in those territories.

Violence in the West Bank has flared up since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war in October of last year. Attacks have increased in both directions; there have been more Palestinian attacks against Israelis and, at the same time, settler violence against Palestinians has also grown.

In the past week, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew up prematurely in Tel Aviv, resulting in his death and the moderate injury of one Israeli bystander. Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) took responsibility for the attack. Additionally, an Israeli security guard was hit over the head with a hammer and killed by a Palestinian assailant in an industrial park in the West Bank.

Furthermore, a Palestinian was killed during Jewish settler riots in the village of Jit, as homes and vehicles were set ablaze in an incident that drew both international and Israeli condemnation. This incident was just one of scores of violent skirmishes instigated by Jewish settlers in the West Bank in recent weeks.

According to the Tel Aviv-based Institute of National Security Studies (INSS), there have been more than 4,000 attacks in the West Bank carried out by Palestinians since the war began, resulting in the killing of 33 Israelis and injury of more than 250. As a result of the violence, 635 Palestinians have been killed, the majority of them from clashes with Israeli forces and during raids conducted by the military.

The INSS also reports more than 1,400 violent incidents were carried out between Israeli settlers and Palestinian West Bank residents during this period. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the number of Palestinian children killed and injured by Israeli fire and settler violence has grown significantly since October.

With all eyes on Gaza, the Israeli army continues to crack down on groups like Hamas and the PIJ in the West Bank, claiming they are also aided and motivated by the Iranian government. While the scope of the violence stemming from the West Bank does not resemble the scope in Gaza, the potential is great and could be devastating for both sides.

There is no physical, geographical separation between Israel and the West Bank

“There is no physical, geographical separation between Israel and the West Bank,” Noa Shusterman-Dvir, director of Palestinians and the Region Program at MIND Israel, told The Media Line. “It will be much harder for Israel to defend these territories and the Israelis living in them at a time when most of its efforts are directed elsewhere. While the weapons and means available to the Palestinians in the West Bank may be less sophisticated, their ability to wreak havoc is greater because their access is easier,” she said.

Palestinians view the West Bank, which Israel captured during the 1967 Six-Day War, as the bulk of its future state. This position is shared by the majority of the international community, which says Israel’s settlements in the territories are a violation of international law. Key Israeli cabinet ministers believe Israel’s hold on the West Bank must be strengthened, due to a biblical belief of Jewish rights to the territories and because of the security threat posed from the presence of Palestinians in the area.

There are more than 500,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank. Another 200,000 Israelis live in east Jerusalem, which Israel considers part of its capital, and the majority of the international community considers part of the West Bank.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) was established in 1994 following the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. Controlled by the Fatah party and led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, it has full control of part of the West Bank, known as Area A. The PA has partial civil control over Area B, while Israel maintains full control over Area C.

The majority of Palestinians are not interested in such an escalation, but it can easily get out of control

“As a result of the war in Gaza, a very bad economic situation, and settler violence, the situation in the West Bank is very volatile,” Moein Odeh, a lawyer and human rights expert from east Jerusalem, told The Media Line. “The majority of Palestinians are not interested in such an escalation, but it can easily get out of control. It will not be similar … to the Second Intifada, it will be something different and very difficult to predict.”

Between the years 2000 and 2005, the Second Intifada, the popular Palestinian uprising, was a period of extensive bloodshed among Israelis and Palestinians. More than 1,000 Israelis were killed, many by suicide bombers. More than 3,000 Palestinians were killed throughout the uprising, many of them civilians but also a sizeable number of combatants, as the Israeli military frequently operated in the West Bank in an attempt to quell the waves of suicide bombers.

Twenty years later, there is a young generation of Palestinians who have no recollection of the presence of the Israeli army in their homes and streets.

The premature explosion of a bomb in Tel Aviv on Sunday was a failed attempt that could have heralded the beginning of such a period again; it could also be a premonition of things to come.

“There have been such attempts in the past,” said Shusterman-Dvir. “The last event is a dramatic one, which shows that Hamas and the PIJ have the willingness to carry out such attacks. It also shows that they forgot the Second Intifada, forgetting the meaning of the implications it had on the Palestinians.”

The joint responsibility taken by Hamas and the PIJ for the unsuccessful bombing was a rare occurrence.

“Hamas and the PIJ are interested in increasing the violence, hoping for a wider escalation in the West Bank to reduce the pressure on Gaza,” added Odeh.

In 2005, Israel evacuated its settlements and military presence from the Gaza Strip, handing it over to the PA, led by President Abbas. Two years later, Hamas violently overthrew the PA, taking control of the territory, plunging it into two decades of isolation and dire poverty but also cementing a rift between the West Bank and Gaza, between Hamas and the PA. The rift is largely political.

“There is solidarity, both sides seeing themselves as one people. Although most of them have never visited each other, they all see themselves as Palestinians,” said Odeh. “The political split did not affect the solidarity.”

The scenes of destruction and mass casualties in the Gaza Strip have generated more than just an outpouring of sympathy in the West Bank.

“There is a lot of anger in the West Bank about what Israel is inflicting on Gazans,” said Shusterman-Dvir. “But there is also fear of what Israel will do if things get worse in the West Bank.”

Increasingly a cause of concern for Palestinians is the uptick in settler violence towards them, especially in rural areas. This violence has also been met with a lackluster response from Israeli law enforcement, with few arrests and indictments and what is perceived as a minimal effort to tackle the growing problem. The friction between the populations, which is often violent, is also a breeding ground for more Palestinian frustration.

“The Palestinians fear the settlers,” Shusterman-Dvir said. “Added to that is the feeling that settler violence has government backing, and there is no real attempt to stop it.”

The international community, led by the US, has been increasingly critical of such violence and the perceived backing it has received from the Israeli government. The US, the EU, and other countries have imposed sanctions against violent settlers and settler organizations, so far to little effect.

The settlers are motivated by radical ideology, and this makes them more dangerous

“The settlers are motivated by radical ideology, and this makes them more dangerous,” said Odeh, adding that many Palestinians feel more fearful of them than the Israeli army.

The sharp rise in such incidents began in late 2022, when Israel’s coalition, the most far-right in the country’s history to ever govern, was sworn in. Critical cabinet positions are now manned by ultra-nationalist politicians who want to annex the West Bank. Meanwhile, settlement construction has grown significantly, creating facts on the ground for what Palestinians refer to as a land grab, which poses a major stumbling block to their Palestinian state.

The continuation of the war in Gaza and Israel’s gradual inching into more territories in the West Bank, combined with settler violence, are fertile ground for increasing tensions that could easily escalate.