Rights Experts Warn A Besieged West Bank Could Face The Same Fate As Gaza
Huff PostLOADING ERROR LOADING Human rights experts warn that Israeli forces are increasingly using their war-like tactics from the ongoing offensive in Gaza to kill, injure and displace Palestinians in the West Bank ― a military campaign that has quickly become the deadliest operation in the settler-occupied territory in more than two decades. Last week, Israel launched the largest raids in the occupied West Bank since the second Palestinian uprising, or intifada, of the early 2000s, targeting Palestinian cities including Jenin, Nablus, Tulkarem and Tubas. “There is mounting evidence that no Palestinian is safe under Israel’s unfettered control.” The current Israeli government feels more emboldened to conduct daily raids, arrests and demolitions in the West Bank because multiple far-right members of the Knesset ― such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich ― are themselves settlers in the occupied territory, Zaid Amali, a Ramallah-based human rights expert with the nonprofit, nonpartisan MIFTAH, told HuffPost. They need to change the rhetoric into real and concrete action.” - Zaid Amali, Palestinian human rights expert with MIFTAH Buttu and Amali both noted that Palestinians in the West Bank have been anxiously watching the destruction in Gaza unfold for the past 11 months and are now terrified that they may experience the same fate with no international accountability.