The Israeli military operation has displaced approximately 40,000 Palestinians from their homes in several west coasts, in what historians and researchers say that the largest movement of civilians in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Israeli campaigns against armed Palestinian groups in three parts of the northern west coast forced thousands of inhabitants to prone with friends and relatives or camp in wedding dresses, schools, mosques, municipal buildings, and even agricultural sheds.
The Israeli army says that surgery is an attempt to suffocate the growing militancy in Jenin, Tulkarem and near Tubas, aiming at attackers they say they have performed or plan to attack Israeli civilians. The Palestinians are afraid that this is a concealed attempt to rejection of Palestinians from their homes and execute greater control over areas governed by the Palestinian administration, a semi -automatic body that has also struggled with militants in recent months.
Many of the displaced descendants of refugees who were expelled or escaped from their homes during the wars that surrounded the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, the period known in Arabic as Nakba. Renewed shift, even if temporarily, raises painful memories of Central trauma in Palestinian history.
While approximately 3,000 returned home, most remained homeless after more than three weeks – the higher the shift than during A similar Israeli campaign on the west coast 2002, according to two Palestinian and two Israeli experts in the history of the West Coast. In that year, the troops carried out raids in several cities at the height of Palestinian getting up, known as the second intifada, which began with protests before led to an increase in Palestinian attacks on civilians in Israel.
The current numbers also violated a shift during Intra-Palestinian conflicts earlier this year, when up to 1,000 population of Jenin left their homes, according to the Council for the leadership of the residents.
As in 2002, some of the displaced during this new campaign will not return home. The Israeli army overthrew many buildings in areas that attacked, breaking roads, water pipes and transmission lines to destroy what it says are pilots who have been set up by militants.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said water and toilets were destroyed in four thick urban districts, known as refugee campsites, because they were located in 1948 and their descendants. He added that some water infrastructure was polluted.
“We have reached the point where refugee camps are not fine,” said Hakeem Abu Safiye, who oversees emergency service at Tulkarem Camp. “They are uninhabited. Even if the army is drawn, we are not sure what will remain to repair.”
The complete scale of damage is not clear because the army is still acting on most of the area that attacked, but the United Nations have already recorded serious damage to more than 150 homes in Jenin. By the beginning of February the Israeli army recognized blowing at least 23 buildingsbut he refused to confirm the latest number of crashed structures.
“Soldiers take over one area after another, destroying houses, infrastructure and roads,” said Ramy Abu Siriye (53), a barber forced to escape from home in Tulkarem on January 27, the first day of Israeli surgery there.
“The Israelis have two goals – first, push refugees from the northern west coast towards the central areas, aiming to completely erase the refugee camps,” said Mr. Abu Siriye. “The second goal is to remove the resistance and weaken the ability of the Palestinian administration to manage,” Mr. Abu Siriye added.
The spokesman for Israeli defense forces, Lieutenant Nada Shoshani, said that the aim of the army was to exploit militant groups, including Hamas, launching terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians.
“The purpose of surgery is to prevent terror to make several kilometers from Jewish communities and prevent repeat from October 7th,” said Colonel Shoshani, calling for that Attack under the guidance of Hamas on Israel in October 2023 that killed up to 1,200 people and led to some 250 hostages.
Colonel Shoshani admitted that in some cases, in some cases, they were ordered to leave certain buildings near what he said they were militant hiding places. But in general, Colonel Shoshani denied any broader policy of “forced evacuation or displacement of Palestinians,” he said. “If people want to move, they are obviously allowed,” he added. About 3000 people managed to return to the al-Faraa camp, near Tubas.
But the displaced Palestinians said I was instructed by both Jenin and Tulkarem to leave the soldiers who used speakers to bring general evacuation orders.
“We had to leave the camp – the army threatened to shoot at us,” Aws Khader said, 29, owner of a supermarket who fled from Tulkarem on January 27. Khader added.
They asked the commentary on that and similar incidents, the army repeated in a statement that the evacuation orders were not issued, but that all those who wanted to leave were secured with a safe passage. The statement states that the troops acted in the neighborhood of Mr. Khader because they “discovered terrorist infrastructure and weapons hidden by terrorists in the bookstore.”
Palestinians reject the explanations of the army, citing the calls of key ministers in the extreme right of Israel to encourage the Palestinian flight from the west coast, destroy Palestinian administration and annex the territory.
In 1967, Israel captured the west coast from Jordan, expeling Palestine from several villages near Israel and stimming the flight of hundreds of thousands of others to Jordan. Since then, Israel has gradually rooted its control, built hundreds of settlements, often on a private Palestinian country, for hundreds of thousands of Israeli civilians and built a two -layer legal structure described by critics as described as Apartheid system. Israel strongly denies the allegation.
The efforts on the consolidation of Israeli control over the territory were accelerated after the current Israeli government entered the duty of 2022.
Bezalel matrixthe leader of the immigrants turned the Minister of Finance, was Given authorities During part of an influential military unit controlled by Palestinian buildings on most territories.
His strengthening the reinforcement of doubts of government intentions: Mr. Damotrich published a long time plan In 2017, she proposed constant Israeli control over the territory. According to the plan, the Palestinians would, at least initially, withdraw the voting rights, and those who did not accept Israeli control would be paid for emigration or killed if they resorted to violence.
The government was also growing Palestinian movement limitations on the west coast; prohibited UNRWA, United Nations Agency that takes care of Palestinian refugees and their offspring; and did little to subjugate the efforts of the extremely right -wing Israeli activists to the force of thousands of Palestinian cattlemen from remote but strategic territory.
“What does this moment does unprecedented is not only the scale of displacement, but also the accompanying discourse, which is increasingly normalizing the idea of permanent forced displacement,” said Maha Nassar, Palestinian American historian of the University of Arizona.
“This is a significant escalation in a long -standing conflict, the one that threatens to basically change the political and demographic landscape of the region,” she added.
Hiba Yazbek contributed to reporting from Jerusalem.
