Prolonging genocide as a smokescreen: On Israel’s other war in the West Bank

Promises of "absolute victory" in Gaza are nothing but "gibberish", according to Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. Gallant's comments were not meant to be public, but somehow were leaked and published by Israeli media on August 12.

The explanation of why Netanyahu is pursuing a losing war in Gaza has been largely confined to the prime minister's personal interests: Avoiding the outcome of his corruption trials, preserving his extremist government coalition and avoiding early elections.

Still, none of these rationales explain the absurdity of continuing with a war, which, in the words of former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak is “the worst failure in Israel's history”.

What else could explain Netanyahu's motive behind the war? And why are his most crucial government allies, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich determined to prolong it?

The answer may not lie in Gaza, but in the West Bank.

While Israel is extending its failed military campaign in the Strip with no clear strategic objectives, its war on the West Bank is driven by clear strategic motives: The annexation of the West Bank and the ethnic cleansing of large sectors of the Palestinian population.

This is not only obvious through Israel’s daily actions in the West Bank but also because of the clear statements made by Israel’s extremist government officials.

This includes a commitment by Netanyahu’s own Likud Party to  “advance and develop settlement in all parts of the land of Israel, in the Galilee, Negev, Golan Heights, and Judea and Samaria”.

An audio recording, obtained by the Israeli group, Peace Now, conveyed the following remarks by Smotrich at a June 9 conference: "My goal is to settle the land, to build it and to prevent, for God’s sake, its division … and the establishment of a Palestinian state."

To do so, the far-right politician has assigned himself the job of "change[ing] the DNA of the system". This ‘system’ was put in place decades ago.

Following its military occupation of the West Bank, Israel began a slow but determined process of the illegal annexation of Palestinian territories. This process included the establishment, in 1981, of the so-called Civil Administration.

The latter was essentially a branch of the Israeli military but was designated as “civil” as part of a greater government effort to convert a temporary military occupation into the permanent colonization of Palestine. This entailed the practical annexation and continued expansion of the illegal Israeli Jewish settlements built on Palestinian land after the war.

The Oslo Accords in 1993-94 gave Palestinians nominal administrative control over small areas in the West Bank, designated as areas A and B. This necessitated the transfer of some of the Civil Administration's responsibility to the newly formed Palestinian Authority, based on the understanding the PA will continue essentially to prioritise Israel's security.

The new arrangement allowed Israel to expand, unhindered, its illegal settlements in most of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, tripling both the size and population of the settlements between 1993 and 2023.

As Israel's colonial plan in the West Bank reached its zenith, Netanyahu sought, in 2020, to reinforce Israeli gains with the annexation of more than 30 per cent of the West Bank.

Due to international pressure and growing Palestinian resistance, Netanyahu postponed his plan, though with the understanding that “annexation remains on the table”.

Without much fanfare, however, Israel swapped its hope for a sweeping de jure annexation of the West Bank with de facto control, through rapid seizure of Palestinian land and the expanding of settlements.

Though the Israeli military is faltering in Gaza, the war is being used as the perfect smokescreen to finalise old colonial plans in the West Bank.

This scheme was dubbed by Smotrich in 2017 as a "victory by settlement". Now in a position of power and with access to a massive budget, he is making his life’s goal a reality.

For Smotrich’s dream to be realised, he needed to revitalize the once central role of the Civil Administration. In May, he invented a new position called 'deputy head' of the administration, granting the position to his close associate Hillel Roth.

Now, both have unparalleled sweeping rights to expand the settlements. Since the start of its term in power, Netanyahu's government has approved 12,000 new housing units for illegal settlements, while ordering the demolition of thousands of Palestinian homes and other civilian infrastructure.

In the first three months of 2024, Israel declared nearly 6,000 as “state-owned land”, therefore eligible for settlement construction. The decision was described by the Israeli watchdog Peace Now as the “largest West Bank land grab in 30 years”.

The ethnic cleansing of Palestinians is already under way. According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, in the first half of 2024 alone, at least 1,000 Palestinians have been forcefully displaced while nearly 160,000 have been affected by home demolitions.

The Israeli war on the West Bank has come at a high price of blood. As of August 12, at least 632 Palestinians were killed and 5,400 were wounded in the West Bank, according to the ministry of health.

When the war on Gaza is over, the war on the West Bank shall grow more intense and bloodier, but with clear strategic goals of annexing the whole of the area.

On July 19, the International Court of Justice resolved that  Israel’s “annexation and... assertion of permanent control” in the West Bank, is illegal.

To avoid a greater war and genocide, the international community must use all available means to enforce international law and to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is “Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out”. His other books include “My Father was a Freedom Fighter” and “The Last Earth”. Baroud is a non-resident senior research fellow at the Centre for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net