Israeli surgery against militants on the west coast escalated to a level that was not seen from the second intifada from the early 2000s. Tens of thousands were forced to escape from their homes, and Israeli’s Defense Minister said they would not be allowed to return. And for the first time in two decades, Israeli forces sent tanks to the city of Jenin and founded military mail in the second, Tulkarm.
Israel seems to lay the foundations for a long -term military presence in the area, and Palestinian officials warn of a “dangerous escalation”, which risks and a new generation of displacement and returning parts of the West Coast back under military control.
Here’s what to know about what’s going on on the west coast.
The biggest shift on the west coast since the 1967 war.
Just two days after the Israeli interruption with Hamas entered into force in Gaza on January 19, the Israeli forces transferred their focus to militants on the north west coast, namely Jenin, Tulkarm and TUBAS, especially in the refugee campsites there.
Palestinians are afraid that these growing operations will mask a plan for a wide dispute and re -establishment of Israeli control over areas managed by the Palestinian administration, the semi -automatic body that led parts of the western coast from the 1993 contract.
Experts estimate that from 21 January, when the latest Israeli surgery began, 40,000 people were displaced. Now she inclins everywhere from wedding halls and schools to mosques and municipal buildings.
Although approximately 3,000 people returned home to Tubas, where the army surgery ended, the displacement of so many people caused painful memories of Nakbu, the Arabic word used for the mass flight and expulsion of the Palestinians during 1948. The war created by Israel. Most Palestinians forced to escape are now from refugee camps made to accommodate those displaced in 1948.
Israel is committed to the Operation “How Much”
Israel says the campaign is a response to a growing threat from militation from the west coast. The Israeli army denies any forced evacuation, but announced that he ordered people to leave the buildings close to what was said to be a militant hiding place.
On Sunday, Israel sent three tanks to the west coast after exploding bombs last Thursday on three empty buses in Tel Aviv, and the fourth explosive was found and dismantled. The victims were not reported, but police said the devices resembled explosives made on the west coast, and the news shocked the Israelites, who were afraid of returning to the deadly bombing of the mid-1990s and early 2000s.
Earlier this month, two Israeli soldiers were killed as the army expanded its campaign on the west coast, shortly after the Palestinian administration began its deadly surgery against militants in the territory.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, said on Sunday that Israeli forces would remain on the west coast “as long as it is necessary.” Israel Katz, Minister of Defense, said that the army said “that he did not allow the residents to return to terrorism to return.”
The comments came after both leaders visited the neighborhood at the Tulkarm refugee camp, a performance considered provocative Palestinians because the region is under the control of the Palestinian administration.
Palestinians are afraid to expand Israeli military control.
Palestinian municipal officials in Jenin say that there are indications that Israeli forces seek to impose long -term control over parts of the northern west coast.
Mohammad Jarrar, Mayor Jenin, said that the Israeli authorities sought to persuade local officials to reope the city despite the current Israeli military operations. They suggested plans for the construction of new roads and, which is still worrying to Palestinians, to turn Jenin’s refugee camp into a district of town. This could effectively force Unrwa, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, and shake the social tissue of Jenin. But Mr. Jarrar said Israeli officials were determined to move forward with a plan without their consent.
The efforts of Israel seem to run into Palestinian authorities, local officials said.
“They want people to coexist and accept their presence in the area-it suggests a long-term plan,” said Mr. Jarrar. “What happens in Jenin can only be described as a re -occupation of the city.”
Israeli operations of the West Coast caused broad destruction.
Last year, Israeli defense forces set some of their harmful Campaigns on the west coast in decades. The campaigns this year released a new wave of destruction, according to local officials.
The head of the Tulkarm refugee camp services, Faisal Salameh, said that, due to wide raids in recent weeks, two refugee camps in the city of Tulkarm under locking, and in some environments they were harassed for hours and detained for hours.
About 120 homes were demolished in Jenin, according to local authorities, while local officials say that more than 50 buildings were demolished in Tulkarm.
Bulldozers torn off the road parts and cut off the sewer lines. Electricity, water and communication services are cut off in many areas.
Mr. Jarrar said that despite current campaigns, Israeli forces asked officials in his city to start working that returned roads, a request he called “absurd”, because the roads that repeatedly repeatedly expressed expressed Israeli vehicles, creating a job who has pushed local authorities towards bankruptcy.
In the second move that attracted local doubts, Israel offered to pay for a refund, something Mr. Jarrar said that the locals could never accept.
“We refuse to cooperate with occupation in any form,” the mayor said.
