PALESTINE, ISRAEL: Displacement of Palestinians and demolition of Palestinian houses

Image: Palestinians in front of a destroyed house after Israeli forces demolished the homes of two Palestinians behind attacks in Jabal Mukaber in East Jerusalem, on Oct.6, 2015 (AFP/Thomas Coex, File)

Israeli authorities displace 6 Palestinians in Jerusalem demolition

Posted by Ma'an News Agency on December 16, 2015 in Middle East, News & Analysis, Activisim & BDS, Palestine/Israel | | 3 Responses

JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Israeli authorities on Wednesday demolished a house in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem, displacing six Palestinians, locals said.

Local sources told Ma’an that the residence belonged to Palestinian Ibrahim Diab and his daughter Dina.

The home was 85 square meters and home to six family members, Dina told Ma’an. She said that Israeli forces demolished the home on the grounds that it was constructed without permission from the municipality.

A spokesperson for Jerusalem’s municipality did not have immediate information regarding the demolition.

Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem have been under threat of displacement since the Israeli government enacted a policy of “Judaization” in the area since its occupation in 1967, according to Israeli rights group B’Tselem.

Over 6,000 homes were demolished immediately after the occupation began and four neighborhoods were razed entirely, according to documentation by the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. The group has documented nearly 50,000 demolitions in the occupied Palestinian territory since.

Among those facing imminent displacement is the Sub Luban family, who Israeli forces have attempted to remove from their home twice this year.

The family has lived in the home since 1956 — nearby the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem’s Old City — however a group of Jewish settlers is aiming to take over the property.

Efforts to displace the family have been led by Israeli right-wing group Ateret Cohanim, whose stated goal is to create a Jewish majority in the overwhelmingly Palestinian Old City.

Palestinian leadership has repeatedly condemned state-funded expansion of Jewish-only settlements onto Palestinian property, arguing that such a policy has been a main factor in preventing progress towards a two-state solution.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a visit to the US last month rejected that settlements were an obstacle to PEACE.

 Israel

 

PALESTINE/ISRAEL: Future Prospects for Aqsa - Intifada

Future Prospects for Aqsa - Intifada

POSTED BY DR. ELIAS AKLEH ON DECEMBER 14, 2015 IN MIDDLE EAST, NEWS & ANALYSIS, SOCIETY & RELIGION, ACTIVISIM & BDS, PALESTINE/ISRAEL | | 1 RESPONSE

Since the beginning of the Intifada early October Palestinian protesters had suffered many casualties on the hands of the Israeli soldiers, who had murdered so far 120 Palestinians, including 25 children and 6 women, many were murdered in cold blood in short range and by Israeli snipers.

By Dr. Elias Akleh

The Israeli barbaric terrorism against Palestinians had violently broken all the red lines. The imperialist Israeli government had occupied the land, destroyed villages, ethnically cleansed Palestinians, besieged, starved and bombed Gaza Strip, controlled all Palestinian civilian, political and economic life aspects, kept on expanding and building new illegal colonies/settlements, suppressed all Palestinian peaceful demonstration within Palestinian towns with extreme military violence, loosened all punitive laws against extremist colonizers/settlers, who daily terrorize Palestinian civilians, and finally encouraged extremist religious Talmudists to routinely violate Palestinian religious sites.

A Palestinian olive grove at Burin village in Nablus, set on fire by settlers from the Yitzhar settlement

Under the protection of the Israeli soldiers, armed extremist Jewish Israeli religious fundamentalist colonizers/settlers have been terrorizing Palestinian civilians. They routinely attack Palestinian farmers, cut down their thousands-years-old olive trees, fruit trees and agricultural products. They shoot Palestinian farm animals, poison their water wells, burn their harvests, and conduct nightly raids against Palestinian homes with fire bombs and live ammunitions. Even within main Palestinian cities Israeli young gangs terrorize residents, vandalizing and burning their properties.

Jewish settlers destroy Church

They have attacked and burnt many churches as well as mosques. They ram with their cars Palestinian young students while on their way to school. They have kidnapped Palestinian children, tortured them, and burned them alive. They firebombed Palestinian homes and burned them while asleep. And lately they are violating the Islamic Al-Aqsa Mosque; the third holiest Islamic site, and consecrating its sanctity with their disconcerting ritual dances and calling for the destruction of the Al-Aqsa and the rebuilding of their alleged temple.

Israeli settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque

Tired of the Israeli terrorism, of the continuous theft of their land, of the humiliation they suffer at the hundreds of Israeli military checkpoints, of the increasing loss of their freedom, of the inability of the Palestinian Authority to protect them, of the frozen peace negotiations, and of the negligence of the international community of their plight and their rights, the Palestinian young generation took into the streets into a third Intifada. While the majority of them are demonstrating against the choking military checkpoints confronting well-armed Israeli soldiers and snipers, who use stun and smoke grenades, rubber-coated and live bullets, and poisoned and chemically treated waste water cannons, others, who had suffered and lost the most, decided to give the Israelis some of their own medicine. So we witness some knife stabbing and vehicular ramming of Israeli soldiers.

Since the beginning of the Intifada early October Palestinian protesters had suffered many casualties on the hands of the Israeli soldiers, who had murdered so far 120 Palestinians, including 25 children and 6 women, many were murdered in cold blood in short range and by Israeli snipers. Almost 15800 protesters were wounded and at least 2500, including 1200 children, had been detained during early morning raids.  In a collective punishment the Israeli soldiers had demolished with explosives tens of homes belonging to Palestinian families, whose children were involved or accused of attacking Israelis.

Israeli soldiers arrest and handcuff young Palestinian boy

Yet the Intifada continues and intensifies. The more violent the Israeli soldiers become, raiding hospitals and schools, closing media centers and breaking their equipment, attacking reporters and medical personnel on the scene and increasing their military checkpoints between Palestinian towns, the more Palestinians take to the streets. The present Palestinian young generations are no longer afraid of Israeli soldiers as expressed by some Israeli military officials.

With all this violence, the casualties, and the interruption of daily lives of both Palestinians and Israelis one wonders where this spontaneous Intifada would lead, what are its goals, how would it end, and who would blink first; the Israelis or the Palestinians.

There are three possibilities. In the first the Intifada would be totally ignored and deserted by the local Palestinian traditional leadership, by the Arab World, and by the international community. Faced with the Israeli intransigence and brutal military force the protests would wind down gradually until they are totally suppressed without achieving any gains.

In this scenario we see the Palestinian Authority (PA) paralyzed politically and unable to protect or even to lead the protesters. The PA is pressured by Israel, the US, the EU, and some Arab leaders to stop and to suppress the Intifada or lose all financial support and collapse completely. Although mildly objecting openly of the harsh Israeli measures the PA is not just being passive but is covertly colluding with the Israelis in arresting some activists and providing intelligent reports to the Israelis. Not doing so the PA could be dismantled, and its officials could be laid off, imprisoned, deported or assassinated.

The Arab World is busy with the Israel/American/EU-created ISIS terrorists. Most of the Arab leaders had given up on the Palestinian cause and had not been contributing anything to the Palestinians. Some are treating Palestinians as a foreign nation and don’t want to do anything with them. The attitude is “let them deal with their own problems, we have our own”. Even the Arab media outlets are ignoring the Palestinian Intifada and seldom report about it even though they have enough space to report about trivial facts about western actors’/actresses’ lives and sport games.

The Arab World is either ignoring or unaware of the fact that their “terror problem” is actually the rear battle line of the Zionist imperialist project while Palestine is their front line and that Palestinians are actually fighting and defending the whole Arab World.

The international community is totally ignoring the Palestinian Intifada as they had done during the previous decades. They are busy doing the Zionist bidding by destroying Syria under the justification of their “war against global terror”; ISIS. The Zionist owned/controlled major media outlets are hardly mentioning the Intifada, and if they do they would describe the Palestinian protesters as “knife wielding terrorists against unarmed Israeli civilians”, totally ignoring the fact that Israelis have been terrorizing Palestinians for the last 67 years and lately they had broken all the red lines by burning their children and desecrating their Christian as well as their Islamic holy sites.

The second scenario is the development of some type of underground armed struggle against Israeli targets similar to what happened during the second Intifada. Every day Palestinian social media post horrific videos and accounts of the brutality of Israeli soldiers, extremist colonizers/settlers and armed Israeli civilians gunning down Palestinians in the streets, invading Palestinian towns, demolishing Palestinian homes, and desecrating Al-Aqsa mosque calling for its destruction. New Palestinian generations could not and would not accept to keep living under such terror. If ignored and left alone without any political support from the Arab World nor from the international community that may lead to some tangible gains, like the dismantling of the hundreds of check points, the lifting of the siege against Gaza Strip, and the unification of the several Palestinian factions through election and political process, some Palestinian youths could become radicalized and resort to armed struggle.

Few instances of such armed struggle had been witnessed lately.  On Friday November 6th two shooting attacks left three Israeli soldiers injured after a 72 years old Palestinian woman was shot dead in Halhul north of Al-Khalil (Hebron). Several incidents of shooting against Israeli soldiers took place around Palestinian Qalandia Camp; in November 11th against the Israeli colony of Kokhaf Yacob, in November 16th against Israeli soldiers who tried to storm the camp to demolish a Palestinian home, and in December 12th against Israeli soldiers. Also on December 12th Shaul Nir, a former member of an Israeli terrorist organization; Jewish Underground, was shot near the West Bank city of Tulkarem. Although some Palestinian factions in Gaza Strip are calling for arming the Intifada to bomb Israeli targets, yet such possibility is still remote.

The third scenario is the intensification of the Intifada involving the majority of Palestinians; young and old, men and women, to take the shape of total community demonstrations that would fill up the streets of all the Palestinian cities and towns. Such large movement would grab the attention of the whole world and would cost Israel further international embarrassments and inflict on it severe economic and security prices that would eventually lead to Palestinian political gains. Such a scenario requires new leadership, new blood independent from the traditional competing factions, with revolutionary political vision.

Whatever the future may bring, the Intifada had already accomplished some political gains. It had torpedoed Israel’s plans to divide Al-Aqsa Mosque, asserting that the Mosque is the burning red line. It had also worked as a warning to the extremist colonizers/settlers that their terror attacks against Palestinians would not be as easy as before and they would have repercussions. It also had sent a message to the Israeli occupiers that they would not enjoy security with occupation. Many Israelis opted to stay indoors away from public places and not using public transportations for fear of attacks.

Israel is an occupier. Palestinians have the right to defend themselves and to struggle to achieve their independence and their freedom in whatever method they see fit.

PALESTINE/ISRAEL: What else does the evil and the rogue state of israel have up her sleeve???

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (center) inaugurate the Sderot train station, in Sderot, Israel, Dec. 2013. (photo by Israel Train Company)

Will Israel build island next to Gaza?

The binational state allegation is “a form of intimidation, to convince us to forfeit territory. No such reality can ever come into existence,” Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz told Al-Monitor. Katz, who is also minister of intelligence and atomic energy, uttered the statement above in response to US Secretary of State John Kerry’s speech at the Saban Forum (Dec. 5), in which he argued that without an agreement with the Palestinians, “Israel cannot be Jewish and democratic.”

In an attempt to deal with the terror wave that broke out about two months ago, Katz, a member of the diplomatic-security Cabinet, proposes that a total closure be imposed on the Palestinian territories where the terror attacks originate. Katz says that the day that portable concrete barriers were erected in East Jerusalem (Oct. 18), in an attempt to lessen the friction between Jews and Arabs in the area, was a “black day” for him. Regarding the diplomatic initiative, he continues to promote the concept of an artificial island in Gaza’s ocean.

The text of the interview follows:

Al-Monitor:  John Kerry sounds the alarm over a binational state. Are you concerned that the government, of which you are a member, will be responsible for the loss of the Jewish majority in Israel?

Katz:  People have to understand that a binational state does not mean living directly next to each other. A binational state can exist only if the Palestinians have the right to vote. In the [1993] Oslo Accord, a miracle fell into our laps when the Palestinians insisted that the East Jerusalem Arabs would vote for the Palestinian parliament, though through the mail. For us, this is a classic arrangement: They live within Israeli sovereignty with municipal rights and find their political expression in the Palestinian parliament.

Al-Monitor:  Nevertheless, this is a very weighty proposal that you have in mind, don't you think?

Katz:  Ironically, those people who are very sensitive to human rights, when they talk about evacuating the territories, they bring up the demographic rationale or the democratic rationale, according to which we don’t need the Arabs here. I wonder how the Palestinians view this reasoning, the essence of which is that the greatest fear of the Israeli left is that the Palestinians will be part of the state or will vote here for the Knesset. So they use this argument for everything. This argument is a form of intimidation, to convince us to forfeit territory. No such reality can ever come into existence. And besides, Israel can always tell itself that it hunkers down within its borders plus Area C [of the West Bank, under Israeli civil and security control] not including the Palestinians, and so, there’s no national state. Gaza is, in any case, already a totally different geographic area over which Israel has no formal or de facto control; therefore, I proposed the idea of the artificial lake in Gaza.

Al-Monitor:  And how is your idea progressing?

Katz:  I have been promoting this scheme for years, ever since the disengagement [from Gaza in 2005]. I said, "If it’s going to happen anyway, then we may as well relieve ourselves of responsibility toward Gaza." Today, we have no jurisdiction there, but we do have responsibility because we don’t give the Gazans access to the world, due to security considerations; simultaneously, the Egyptians also cut them off. So humanitarian and diplomatic responsibility fall on us. That’s why the attitude toward our security activities, even if is defensive in nature, is like the stance toward an entity responsible for a certain population.

I looked into the subject of artificial islands, and then I said that an island should be created 4½ kilometers [2.8 miles] from the Gaza coast, with a 4-kilometer [2½-mile] bridge. The island will be 4 kilometers by 2 kilometers. An 8-kilometer expanse is more than the territory belonging to the Israeli city of Bnei Brak. There will be a seaport and airport there, under international control. Israel will oversee overall security, the inspection of boats that enter and the passageways. Security rights must be recognized from the get-go. The Palestinians will receive seaport and aviation services. This gives them an opening to the world, and our security needs are answered too. The world will be happy to underwrite this island, the Muslim countries too, also China. Hotels can be built there; with a little luck, a casino too.

Should the State of Israel decide to promote this concept, our security situation will even improve. You can’t dig tunnels into the ocean, and a bridge can always be disconnected. This is an original idea, and also viewed as a diplomatic initiative. I can’t go into too many details, but I can say that there is a certain amount of readiness for such a scheme.

Al Monitor:  Are we nearing the end of the terror wave?

Katz:  What is disturbing is that there is not even one security official who can point to a certified date and say that he evaluates that the current terror attacks will cease by that date. This is the most significant issue. Therefore, our coping techniques are limited in scope since there is no expiration date for this terror campaign. It is the political echelons, not the security echelons, that must decide when we reach the point where we refuse to tolerate the scope of terror and decide to change our mode of action. In other words, to deviate from our current policy that dictates, "Let’s separate the population involved [in terror] from the population that is not involved; let’s allow everyone to travel on the roads and not impose closures."

There is one spot on the Jalama checkpoint from [the Palestinian city] of Jenin to Israel that, after attacks took place there all week, Israel closed free passage at that checkpoint. Within two days, the local Palestinian leadership took action to prevent attacks. And even though we’re talking about Islamic State-style terror, I don’t believe in a total cutoff between the isolated [terrorist] and his surroundings. Ultimately, it’s been proven in the Jenin checkpoint that when it comes to protecting its interests, the Palestinian system is able to get its act together. It sends Palestinian policemen and no more stabbings occur.

Al Monitor:  But the Shin Bet head and the heads of Israel’s other security systems argue that if the general Palestinian population will suffer, then the terror will worsen. What do you think about their position?

Katz:  That’s a very logical position, which I backed. But at a certain point, one has to change one’s modus operandi. That’s the difference between the security and political echelons. The security echelon has to do maximum activity with minimum casualties, and the political echelon has to decide if that is something it is willing to contain.

The most problematic point I see is that a situation may arise in which if we don’t ratchet things up a notch and try to vanquish [the terror attacks] completely, even though it means taking risks, this could be viewed as weakness [by the Palestinians] and lead to wider circles of terror. For example, the Palestinian apparatuses such as the Tanzim [Fatah militia] and others which at the moment have not yet entered the fray, [could get involved, too].

The day they tried to erect a barrier inside Jerusalem [in October, between Jewish and Arab areas] was a black day for me. This was because it symbolized that terror attacks were able to force Israel to do things that it had never been willing to do before [a de facto division of Jerusalem], not in its wildest dreams, not during the Oslo Accord, not in [any public] statements. Therefore, we must avoid at all costs doing anything that would give the image that we are rewarding terror. Image is of great importance. And, of course, the results. We must take action so that no Jew will be stabbed.

Al Monitor:  Are you saying that we have reached the point at which Israel needs to escalate its responses?

Katz:  No. What I’m saying is that we must discuss this all the time. It is part of the discourse. It should not be axiomatic that we must act in accordance with methods that were appropriate in the first and second intifadas, when we faced [terror] organizations. Now we see a phenomenon connected to the [social] networks and incitement, and a global phenomenon of radical Islam involving copycat attacks. You need to develop all kinds of sophisticated methods to deal with this, and we do that all the time. But at the end of the day, you reach a point where you say to [Palestinian President Mahmoud] Abbas that when all’s said and done, you [Abbas] don’t want the [Palestinian] Authority to collapse and neither do we.

Someone has to tell the Palestinian population in areas that disseminate terror, "You will all pay a price. You won’t go to work in Israel, and you won’t drive on the roads on which there are vehicular attacks and stabbings." If it’s our safety versus unrestricted movement at the Etzion bloc junction, then the junction will be closed to Palestinian movement for a limited period. If terror attacks continue to originate from Hebron at this scale, their rights will be revoked and they will have to decide themselves what is more important to them: to applaud the attackers or grab the children and call them to task. This is the dilemma faced by the government.

Al Monitor:  After months of terror, can you say what the reason is for the eruption of this current terror wave?

Katz:  Do the French understand why French citizens stormed and slaughtered them [Nov. 13]? Does one understand why girls from England go to marry Islamic State fighters? There are several factors: One is connected to the national conflict, but the other element is connected to Hamas-style religious fanaticism; it is a holy war. There is the Islamic State phenomenon of joining the warped brand of Islam that is marketed by the [social] networks, an Islam that involves cutting off people’s heads, that blows away the youths. This is something we never coped with in the past. What motivates two spouses in the United States to slaughter people [Dec. 2] in an organization that assists the disabled? But while the rest of the world does not understand, we understand a bit more.

The bottom line is, how long will we continue to say, "President Abbas incites but is not responsible?" How long can we continue to grant exemptions from responsibility? In fact, we can ask the bigger question: If Abbas is not responsible, then how can goodwill measures to him cause cessation of the violence? The American attempt to mediate now stems from the assumption that Abbas can calm the flames, so is he responsible for setting the fires in the first place?

Al Monitor:  Politically, is there still a chance for a unity government with the Zionist Camp?

Katz:  That is connected to coalition arithmetic. I don’t think that Netanyahu now thinks that he needs [head of the Zionist Camp Isaac] Buji Herzog for worldwide legitimacy. When there are terror attacks [around the globe], the world understands us better. Recently, I attended a meeting with Greece’s Prime Minister [Alexis Tsipras], who is viewed as a socialist bordering on communist, after he was re-elected a second time. He spoke about refugees and fences and sounded like a true [right-wing] Likud member. He said to us, "I understand that you worried about changes in Greek policy due to my rise to power, so I would like to inform you that there will, indeed, be a change, because relations [between the two countries] will be much better." We hear similar statements from more countries. Therefore, the American administration has minimal desire to confront us, because, ultimately, we are the most stable ally in the region, and cooperation with us is more vital than ever. In addition, the [Americans] don’t see that President Abbas is capable of rising, or wants to rise, above the current radical wave [of terror].

Yes, they're all Gazan, Mr. Katz

PALESTINE/ISRAEL: Can they?!

Can Israel halt the stabbings? Hard right and military disagree on how.

Palestinians in the southern West Bank are facing severe travel restrictions, but hard-line members of Israel's government are seeking tougher measures. The military disagrees.

By Joshua Mitnick, Correspondent DECE

SA'ER, WEST BANK — The entrances to Palestinian villages like this one are either blocked by a swinging gate or bottlenecked by Israeli soldiers checking IDs and conducting occasional body searches.

But the clampdown around Hebron, which some are calling the most severe in years, represents only a compromise between Israeli politicians and security chiefs, who are increasingly – and publicly – at odds over how to rein in a wave of stabbing attacks that refuses to die down after more than two months.

While shifting from East Jerusalem to the West Bank, the attacks remain mainly the work of young Palestinians who act independently without links to militant groups – leaving Israel without a clear formula for a response.

The heightened security in the southern West Bank recalls Israel’s response to the last Palestinian uprising of more than a decade ago. But for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right coalition partners, the measures are not enough. They want a broader crackdown and even a reoccupation of Palestinian cities as was implemented in 2002 following a year of suicide bombings.

The military’s top brass and some former security chiefs meanwhile have been openly pushing in the opposite direction: They’re trying to avoid an all-out crackdown like 13 years ago and have even advocated steps to strengthen the Palestinian government. At stake for them is whether Israeli moves help douse the flames of the current unrest or add fuel to the fire.

“We are concerned that the political echelon will prefer to use the old toolbox. The context of the second intifada is totally different than the context of the terrorism we face now…. It would be a strategic mistake to use the same tools,” says Kobi Michael, a former Strategic Affairs Ministry official.

'The answer is societal'

Mr. Michael argues that Israel should find ways to strengthen the Palestinian Authority (PA) by helping it improve conditions for everyday Palestinians.

“We need to distinguish between the mass population and the perpetrators of the terrorism. Pressuring the whole population might be something that is counter-productive. It won’t prevent Palestinians teenagers from attacks.... The answer is societal,” he continued.

In a briefing to Israeli military affairs reporters that received wide coverage, the head of Israel’s Central Command suggested a similar approach. Maj. Gen. Roni Numa told reporters that the army had recommended measures to Mr. Netanyahu’s government that would strengthen the Palestinian economy and the PA.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett of the pro-settler Jewish Home party, by contrast, wants IDF troops to reoccupy Hebron – a bastion of both Israeli and Palestinian extremists – as well as the surrounding villages. “We need to go into Hebron with very large forces,” he said in a radio interview. “There is no alternative.”

Different agendas for politicians, officers

To be sure, there have been several recent precedents for clashes between Israeli security chiefs and cabinet ministers: Hardline cabinet members and the military’s top brass clashed over the goals of the 2014 war in the Gaza Strip, and Netanyahu and top security chiefs debated how to confront Iran over its nuclear program.

The arguments reflect the differing agendas of career military commanders and politicians. However, they also point to diverging approaches to Israel’s relations with the Palestinian Authority.

Mr. Bennett, former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, and many in Netanyahu’s Likud party are hostile toward the PA and see it as a main force inciting violence. Israeli security chiefs see the PA – especially its security forces – as a critical stabilizing factor in the West Bank that is fighting militants.

“The military is more supportive of the PA because it helps provide security for Israel,” says Udi Eiran, a political science professor at Haifa University.

“The military is more supportive of the PA because it helps provide security for Israel,” says Udi Eiran, a political science professor at Haifa University.

“The Naftali Bennetts are very critical of the PA: He thinks Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is weak, his statements are negative, and support the violence.” Prime Minister Netanyahu, says Mr. Eiran, seems to be siding with the military for now.

Army checkpoint 'makes problems'

On the outskirts of Sa’er one day last week, lines of cars, taxis, and trucks were backed up in both directions at the improvised checkpoint. Pointing assault rifles in the direction of motorists, soldiers briefly interrogate passengers before checking for weapons. In a recent report, the Israeli non-profit group Machsom (Checkpoint) Watch said movement restrictions in the Hebron region were the worst in 11 years.  

“Every day I wait two hours at the checkpoint. In the morning it’s three hours,” says Amer Halaikeh, 33, a delivery driver, after passing through an inspection point with an 18-year-old passenger who was body searched. The passenger “didn’t do anything,” Mr. Halaikeh says. “All of the people are afraid. It makes problems.”

Yet the blockades in and around Hebron – from which a large percentage of the Palestinian attacks originate – appear to be an attempt by the Israeli military to adopt a middle ground, boosting security measures while limiting the impact on the larger population.

For example, the army has resisted calls from some politicians to revoke work permits for Palestinians employed in Israel, and there’s less of a clampdown in the Bethlehem region because fewer attackers have come from those villages.

But to deter attackers at a frequently targeted traffic intersection where an American gap year student was killed two weeks ago, small groups of soldiers are posted at bus stops and turn away Palestinian motorists from the parking lot of a shopping center.

“We realized we had to create a mechanism that would help us find a person who plans to carry out an attack: We decided that we are putting blockades in the area of Hebron,” says a senior Israeli army officer in the West Bank, who spoke about the blockades on the condition of anonymity. “Some of the measures create traffic and delays. Though it’s not foolproof, we don’t have another way.”

For the Israeli residents of the West Bank who are a core constituency of the Netanyahu government, the measures are superficial. Many settler leaders are calling on the government to boost Israeli building in the West Bank and go deeper into Palestinian towns. At road junctions patrolled by soldiers, Hebrew posters shout “sovereignty” – a call for annexation of the settlements.

“Right wing politicians are attacking [the government] for not doing something more visible to fight the terrorism,” says Gerald Steinberg, a political science professor at Bar Ilan University. “That’s an emotional response, not a strategic response.” 

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Long Live Palestine