After the meeting between US President Joe Biden and Israel’s President Isaac Herzog on October 26th, President Joe Biden stressed the importance of reducing the tension over the security situation in the West Bank and also stated that the best path for pursuing peace is the two-state solution. During the meeting two presidents discussed “the importance of promoting co-existence and weakening extremists who promote hatred and violence,” a White House statement on the meeting said.

Increasing Tension in West Bank

The conflict between Israel and Palestinian armed groups in the West Bank has escalated since last year. Street violence happens almost daily and people  have soaked in great sorrow in Nablus. Hundreds joined the funeral procession of five Palestinian males killed by Israeli forces during an assault in the northern occupied West Bank.

To resist Israel’s forces in the West Bank, the Lion’s Den, a Palestinian armed group, emerged in August 2022. Among the five deaths, three people belong to the Lion’s Den. Because two organisations of small armed resistance groups are operating in the West Bank towns of Nablus and Jenin, Palestinian residents of these two towns have been the target of arrests, raids, and killings by Israeli forces near-daily over the past year.

The violence is part of a campaign Israel calls ‘Break the Wave’ that aims to crush the armed groups like Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s (PIJ) al-Quds Brigades, and Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades by mass arrests and killings.

Step-by-step annexation

The street demonstrations since April 2021 were triggered by an Israeli court ruling that some Palestinian families living in Sheikh Jarrah, a vicinity in East Jerusalem, were to be evicted and hand over their homes to Jewish families by May 2021. Although Israel’s Supreme Court eventually ruled that Palestinians can continue to stay in their houses in Sheikh Jarrah until Israel carried out a land arrangement, it led to rising tensions between Israeli police, protesters, and Israeli settlers during the month of Ramadan.

Furthermore, this October, Israel implemented a new 90-page ordinance for a two-year pilot to limit access and stay in the West Bank for Palestinians who are foreign nationals. Although due to widespread international criticism, the Israel withdrew some of the most restrictive rules. The regulations that limit the entry of foreigners to the West Bank still bring complications for thousands of Palestinian families with dual nationality and violate Israel’s international legal obligations, said HaMoked, a Jerusalem-based human rights organisation. The restrictive regulations involved a wide range of foreigners who wish to visit, volunteer, work, or study in the West Bank to long-time residency and long-term employment.

Before the 12th meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council which was held on the 3rd of October 2022 in Brussels, Palestine had urged the European nations to build their relations with Israel because of its adherence to international law, UN resolutions, and human rights principles.

On October 27, Ms. Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, reported to the UN General Assembly “For over 55 years, the Israeli military occupation has prevented the realisation of the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people, violating each component of that right and wilfully pursuing the ‘de-Palestinianisation’ of the occupied territory,”. The report indicated that Palestinian territorial sovereignty was violated by Israel via fragmenting, annexing, seizing, and transferring its citizens to the occupied territory. Ms. Francesca Albanese pointed out that ‘only when the illegal occupation is dismantled once and for all, meaningful discussions on a political solution for Palestine can begin’ and called for an immediate end to the occupation in the West Bank.

War Crimes During August?

On 25 October, Amnesty International called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate three attacks during August 2022 as war crimes. The organisation reconstructed the circumstance of three specific assaults by using satellite imagery analysis, dozens of interviews, and photos of weapons fragments. Two of the three attacks were executed by Israeli forces and one was carried out by Palestinian armed groups. Since 2012, Israeli authorities have refused Amnesty International entry into the Gaza Strip. Therefore, the interviews of 42 people who are witnesses to the violence in the assaults in the research briefing were collected by a fieldworker who collected evidence by visiting 17 attack sites.

The United Nations Office for the coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) monitoring indicated that until October 10, more than 400 Palestinian properties were damaged in more than 500 attacks this year (2022). Compared with the same period in the previous 16 years, 2022 is the highest year for Palestinian fatalities in the occupied West Bank.

New Israel government

Israelis voted on the 1st of November, this Tuesday for a new parliament after the collapse of a “change” coalition government. With 84% of votes from the general election counted, former Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc won 65 out of 120 seats which not only brings Benjamin Netanyahu back into office but also generates a much more unified right-wing coalition. The armed conflict in the Gaza Strip is likely to escalate, due to the far-right and pro-settler members of his coalition possibly pushing for a harsher crackdown on Palestinians in the West Bank.

Though the United States’ commitment to Israel’s security and advance peace and stability in the Middle East was highlighted in the meeting between US President Joe Biden and Israeli President Isaac Herzog on October 26th. The rising tension between Israel and Palestine in the Gaza Strip continues since 2021.The efforts U.S. President Joe Biden has made are still committed to the Abraham Accords. While the Abraham Accord normalised diplomatic relations between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Bahrain, any improvement for Palestinians in the Gaza strip have been almost invisible, so far. The two-state solution becoming less viable and thousands of Palestinians live on less land in the West Bank. The path for peace between Israel and Palestine needs more effort and dialogue if it is to build up.