by Steven Sahiounie, published on Mideast Discourse, June 27, 2024
The plan to steal the West Bank is fully supported by Netanyahu, and forms a basis for the current right-wing Jewish extremist coalition keeping Netanyahu in power, and out of jail.
While the world watches the genocide in Gaza, there is another war on the Palestinian people in the Occupied West Bank. On June 9, the New York Times (NYT) reported that Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich outlined, in a speech to Jewish extremists, a plan by the Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to annex the Occupied Territories of the West Bank. His speech was recorded secretly and leaked to the NYT.
Smotrich is part of the more than 600,000 Jewish settlers illegally occupying Palestinian lands. He advocates Israel taking all the Palestinian territories, and preventing the Palestinians from ever having an independent state. The UN, the U.S. and the international community all agree that Gaza and the West Bank should be eventually an independent Palestinian state, which would be the end of a brutal Israeli military occupation and apartheid.
This is not the first secret leaked speech of Smotrich. In October 2022, Smotrich was caught calling Netanyahu “the liar of all liars”, as reported by The Jerusalem Post.
According to Smotrich, the plan to steal the West Bank is fully supported by Netanyahu, and forms a basis for the current right-wing Jewish extremist coalition keeping Netanyahu in power, and out of jail.
The plan involves supporting the Jewish settler’s expansion in the West Bank, which is illegal under international law, and has been under occupation since 1967. Officially, the Israeli government maintains that the West Bank’s status will be negotiated in the future. The Smotrich-Netanyahu plan would forever deny the almost 3 million Palestinians of the Occupied West Bank their freedom.
For Palestinians, the plan would mark the end of any hope to live in freedom and democracy, but for the Jewish Zionists, the plan would be a culmination of their goal to have one land ‘from the river to the sea’ which is occupied only by Jews.
Not every Jew is a Zionist, and not every Zionist is a Jew. For example, after October 7, U.S. President Joe Biden said he was a Zionist, while being a Christian.
Zionism is a political movement, hiding behind a religion. Similarly, Al Qaeda and ISIS are political movements, hiding behind a religion.
Using the word Zionist as a label of identification is not antisemitic, because Zionism is not limited only to Jews.
The modern movement of Zionism began in the late 1800s, and refers to Zion as an acronym for Jerusalem. Jewish settlers in the West Bank see their illegal occupation there as a demonstration of Zionism.
Those who oppose Zionism are not being anti-Semitic. They simply oppose a political position of the Israeli government, just as they may oppose a political position of the Japanese government on an issue.
The official name of Israel is “The Jewish State of Israel”. Some have offered that there is the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and also similarly of Iran. So why do people complain about the religious nature of Israel? Israel denies the human rights and civil rights of non-Jewish people in Israel and Palestine, and has been classified as an Apartheid state by the UN and human rights groups.
Tallie Ben Daniel, the managing director of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), which sees Zionism as a movement whose aim “is to deny the rights of Palestinians and the humanity of Palestinians.”
“For us, we want to be clear: the form of Zionism that has survived and has power now is an expansionist, right-wing, genocidal form,” Ben Daniel said. “The people in power in Israel right now … want to annihilate the Palestinians and get all the land for Jews, and there is no thought there could be coexistence,” said Ben Daniel.
Israeli occupation authorities increased restrictions on the freedom of movement across the West Bank following October 7, and increased the apartheid system against Palestinians in both Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. They used laws, segregation, deprivation, and forced displacement to oppress the Palestinians.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operations in the West Bank have killed 137 Palestinian children since October 7, 9,000 Palestinians have been arrested without charge or trial, and the almost daily IDF raids in the West Bank have taken 553 Palestinian lives.
“Finance minister Bezalel Smotrich became governor of the occupied West Bank in February, and security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir formed a volunteer “national guard” in April. Their Jewish supremacist notions became mainstream after Hamas’s 7 October attack,” according to Amnesty.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) received submissions regarding the legality of Israel’s occupation of the Occupied West Bank Territories.
On Sunday, Israeli forces raided homes and businesses in Nablus, Ramallah, the Al-Far’a refugee camp near Tubas, and towns in Hebron and Tulkarm leading to clashes and armed confrontations with Palestinians who attempted to defend their homes and families.
The IDF destroyed infrastructure, private property, and vehicles before withdrawing from the camp, while in Nablus, a Palestinian was shot in the leg with a live bullet, and another was arrested.
In the town of Silwad, the IDF detained around 40 people and caused extensive damage to several homes and businesses during searches, in which residents were mistreated and assaulted during the process.
Mujahed Abadi, who had been shot twice, testified that IDF beat him severely before letting him go, and refusing to explain their crimes committed against him.
Video footage of the incident in Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank on Saturday has sparked international outrage and calls for accountability.
Abadi, 24, said he had stepped outside in Jenin while Israeli troops were conducting a raid and the IDF shot him in the arm and the leg.
He said after nearly two hours of hiding while bleeding profusely, the IDF found him and began beating him severely, including targeting his bullet wounds.
“Two soldiers lifted me up from my hands and feet and swung me back and forth to throw me at the military vehicle,” Abadi said.
“They did it the first time, I fell on the ground. On top of my injuries, they dropped me. The second time one of them picked me up and threw me at the vehicle.”
He was driven around on the hood of the military jeep like a trophy.
The IDF confirmed the incident on Saturday, but offered no excuses.
Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister Petra De Sutter said, “How many of these inhumanities do we need to witness before sanctioning Israel?”
United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese said, “It is flabbergasting how a state born 76 years ago has managed to turn international law literally on its head.”
Abadi’s injuries include a broken arm from the impact of the bullet, a wounded leg and burns on his back from the intense heat of the IDF jeep’s hood.
Steven Sahiounie is a two-time award-winning journalist.
This article is originally published at Strategic Culture foundation