[News] Will the West Bank Emulate Gaza Resistance Rockets' Model?

[Anti-Imperialist News]

palestinechronicle.com
<https://www.palestinechronicle.com/will-the-west-bank-emulate-gaza-resistance-rockets-model-analysis/>
Will the West Bank Emulate Gaza Resistance Rockets' Model?July 11, 2023
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This is the third time that the Ayyash Brigades announces that it has fired
rockets toward an illegal Israeli settlement.  (Image: PC)

*By Palestine Chronicle Staff
<https://www.palestinechronicle.com/writers/palestine-chronicle-staff>*

The biggest challenge in the West Bank is not whether it will be able to
emulate the Resistance technology in Gaza, but whether it will be able to
consistently develop its technology using homemade or smuggled equipment.

The West Bank-based Ayyash Brigade announced the firing of two ‘Qassam-1’
rockets on Monday from the city of Jenin towards the illegal Israeli
settlement of Shaked.

The announcement comes only days after Israel invaded the town and refugee
camp of Jenin, killing 12 Palestinians and wounding 120 more.

“Our mujahideen in the Ayyash battalion, with God’s help and success, were
able to target the Shaked (illegal settlement) west of Jenin with two
Qassam-1 rockets,” the battalion said in a statement.

The statement was joined by a brief video demonstrating the launch.

“Despite the complex and sensitive security conditions and impossible work,
and despite the lack of capabilities and tools, we continue to develop and
prepare .. the strength of Qassam rockets in the land of the Ayyash Bank,”
the statement added.

The Ayyash Brigades are believed to be associated with the Hamas movement,
particularly its powerful armed wing, Al-Qassam Brigades.

The name ‘Ayyash’ is a reference to the Qassam’s military commander in the
West Bank, Yahya Ayyash, who was assassinated by Israel in 1996.
*Why is this important*

This is the third time that the Ayyash Brigades announces that it has fired
rockets toward an illegal Israeli settlement.

Firing rockets has always been confined to Gaza.

When the Gaza Resistance resorted to the manufacture and firing of rockets
toward Israel in response to Israeli occupation and violence, as early as
2001, the technology was quite rudimentary.

The rocket, with an estimated range of 3 to 4.5 kilometers (1.9 to 2.8
miles) was also called Qassam-1.

These rockets evolved greatly over the years. Although they are still
rudimentary, mostly homemade, and imprecise, the explosive heads, range and
number of these rockets have exponentially increased.

If West Bank groups emulate the Gaza experience at a larger scale, they
will compound Israel’s so-called ‘security’ problems, as in its ability to
control and suppress, with relative ease, West Bank Resistance.
*Why? *

The West Bank is much larger in size and far more complex in topography
than Gaza.  Gaza’s total size is 365 square kilometers (approximately 141
square miles), while the size of the West Bank is 5,860 square kilometers
(approximately 2,263).

With that in mind, the mountainous nature of the West Bank would also make
it easier for rocket launchers to be hidden and operated.

Israel often hits densely populated areas in Gaza, killing thousands of
civilians over the years while claiming that the Resistance in Gaza uses
Gazans as human shields.

Although such claims were never substantiated, overpopulated Gaza has
forced the Resistance to hide their rocket launchers underground.

The use of tunnels to hide military equipment, smuggle weapons and
ammunition, and fight advancing Israeli occupation troops eventually gave
Palestinian Resistance in Gaza an edge.

Tunnels in the West Bank might not always be a sustainable option due to
the rocky nature of the soil. But West Bankers have much greater space –
land mass, complex topography, and relatively smaller people-to-land ratio
– to operate.

But why would West Bankers resort to this option in the first place?

In its invasion of Jenin, on July 3, Israel was hoping to emulate its
relatively successful crackdown on Palestinian Resistance during the Second
intifada (2000-2005).

Its 2002 invasion of major Palestinian cities and population centers left
hundreds of Palestinians dead and thousands wounded. From Jenin to Nablus
to elsewhere, Israel killed, wounded, or arrested most of the Resistance
fighters.

This gave Israel the opportunity to restore the old status quo, further
expanding its illegal settlements and entrenching its military occupation
in the following years.

With the help of the US, Israel also instituted a new political paradigm
that turned the Palestinian Authority (PA) into a complete henchman for
Israel, directly involved in suppressing the Resistance.

Two decades later, the armed resistance in the West Bank is resurfacing.
The new Resistance is decentralized and is operating in complete
independence from the PA.

Moreover, new resistance tactics are now being used, and the lessons of
2002 are being studied and applied, to ensure that even following massive
invasions as that of Jenin, resistance dynamics in the West Bank remain
unchanged.

Now, some, like the Ayyash Brigades in the West Bank, hope that rockets can
be a unique addition to the ongoing fight.

Israel is also wary of this, and the Israeli occupation military has
carried out numerous raids in recent months searching for rocket launchers.

On May 24, Kan Hebrew TV reported that in the village of Nazlat Issa, near
Jenin, the occupation army had found a launcher used to fire an improvised
rocket toward the Shaked settlement.

But the Ayyash Brigades seem to be in a stage of experimentation as far as
the use of rockets are concerned.

Any progress in this field could entice others to emulate the brigades’
experience.

The Israeli response to any further investment in this tactic is likely to
be harsh and deadly, but unlikely different from the current iron fist
policy in which Tel Aviv uses against Palestinian fighters.

The biggest challenge in the West Bank is not whether it will be able to
emulate the Resistance technology in Gaza, but whether it will be able to
consistently develop its technology using homemade or smuggled equipment.

Time will tell.

(The Palestine Chronicle)
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