Israel’s assault on refugee camps within the occupied West Financial institution has dominated headlines.
Israel has killed no less than 20 individuals because it launched its assaults on the cities and refugee camps at Jenin, Nablus, Tubas and Tulkarem in a single day on Wednesday.
Right here’s what it is advisable to learn about this assault and the refugee camps in occupied territory it impacts.
What’s the occupied West Financial institution? Who’re the refugees there?
The occupied West Financial institution is a part of historic Palestine on the west financial institution of the Jordan River, it measures 5,650sq km (2,180sq miles) of landlocked territory surrounded by Israel, Jordan, and the Lifeless Sea.
Roughly three million Palestinians reside there, alongside an rising variety of Israelis who constructed unlawful settlements and outposts on land taken by drive from Palestinian households.
The West Financial institution has some 871,000 registered refugees, 1 / 4 of whom reside in 19 refugee camps, descendants of the Palestinians ethnically cleansed from their houses and lands to make means for the creation of Israel within the Nakba of 1948.
What does it should do with Gaza?
The occupied West Financial institution and Gaza are each elements of Palestine however are separated from one another by the state of Israel.
Each Gaza and the West Financial institution had been occupied by Israel in 1967 and remained so for many years, till Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005.
Israel remains to be attacking Gaza, and has killed greater than 40,000 individuals and injured almost 100,000.
The techniques Israel is utilizing in Gaza have been referenced by some Israeli ministers who’ve demanded that the identical be executed within the occupied West Financial institution assaults, together with forcing individuals out of their houses to clear sure areas.
What does it imply that the West Financial institution is ‘occupied’?
Within the 1967 struggle, Israel took the land earmarked by the UN as a part of a future Palestinian state from caretaker Jordan.
Even with the institution of the Palestinian Authority after the Olso Accords, the Israeli military operates unchecked and successfully controls the territory and nonetheless controls a number of important administrative and governmental features.
On the finish of the day, Palestinians don’t even management their very own land.
In idea, the bounds of Israel’s occupation of the West Financial institution ought to be regulated by worldwide legislation.
Underneath the 1949 Geneva Conference, the switch of all or a part of an occupying inhabitants onto territory it has seized – like Israelis constructing settlements on Palestinian land – is prohibited.
In 2004 and 2016 respectively, the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice (ICJ) and the UN Safety Council stated the development of Israeli settlements within the West Financial institution is prohibited.
In July of this 12 months, the ICJ once more dominated that the Israeli presence within the West Financial institution was illegal and may come to an finish “as quickly as potential”.
So, is building of recent settlements over?
Not within the least.
Whereas settlement building was pretty gradual till the Nineteen Eighties, it has surged since, with lots of of recent settlements and outposts established.
Earlier than October 7, greater than 700,000 Israelis lived within the West Financial institution throughout greater than 150 unlawful settlements and quite a few outposts.
Numbers have elevated dramatically after October 7.
Based on Israel, the settlements are obligatory for safety, serving as a buffer in opposition to hostile Arab states, along with Iran.
Israel additionally says the Oslo Accords don’t explicitly ban settlement in all areas and that some are allowed underneath the phrases of the settlement.
Israeli settlers additionally declare the biblical Jewish territories of Samaria and Judea, each within the modern-day West Financial institution, utilizing spiritual justifications to take Palestinian land.
How have West Financial institution Palestinians responded to the occupation?
In brief, with resistance and anger.
Tens of 1000’s of Palestinians have been killed throughout Israel’s occupation of the West Financial institution.
Displacement, dispossession, lack of rights, financial hardships and navy management over each day life have fanned Palestinian anger.
Nonetheless, the continued systematic confiscation of land for the development of Israeli settlements has brought about essentially the most outrage.
Have the Palestinians revolted?
There have been two Intifadas (uprisings) in opposition to the Israeli occupation.
The primary Intifada, 1987-1993, started with protests and demonstrations, together with stone-throwing and civil disobedience, earlier than escalating into widespread revolt.
Israel’s navy response – curfews, mass arrests, and using reside ammunition and tear fuel -, exacerbated the state of affairs and drew worldwide criticism.
Israel killed some 1,000 Palestinians, roughly 250 of whom had been kids. There have been 160 Israelis killed within the preventing.
The second Intifada, 2000 to 2005, was triggered by then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s provocative go to to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Demonstrations and stone-throwing swiftly descended into violence as Israel responded with overwhelming drive.
About 3,000 Palestinians and greater than 1,000 Israelis, in addition to 64 overseas nationals, had been killed.
Israel’s response – in depth navy operations, focused assassinations, and large-scale incursions – was closely criticised by worldwide our bodies and rights teams.
What’s life like within the West Financial institution as we speak?
In a phrase, “onerous”. Generally, it feels unattainable.
Checkpoints and different restrictions on motion are among the many each day challenges that have an effect on each Palestinian within the West Financial institution.
In refugee camps, overcrowding and poor infrastructure exacerbate the difficulties confronted by households whose houses exist usually outdoors of residing reminiscence.
Israel’s separation barrier, which has fenced in a lot of the West Financial institution since building started in 2002, limits Palestinians’ entry to assets and work.
The barrier wall was deemed unlawful by the ICJ in 2019 and has been cited as proof of Israeli apartheid insurance policies by rights teams throughout the globe.
