[News] Existential war: Gaza to West Bank & Iran's retaliation

[Anti-Imperialist News]

english.almayadeen.net
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/existential-war--gaza-to-west-bank---iran-s-retaliation>
Existential war: Gaza to West Bank & Iran's retaliation
Myriam Charabaty
April 15, 2024
------------------------------

The escalating confrontations in the West Bank are intricately linked to
the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the Axis of Resistance's support for
Palestine, and Iran's retaliatory operation, True Promise.
[image: 99cf8a48-0791-4119-a1dd-e287301179e1.png]

   - At the heart of the Axis of Resistance is the struggle for a free
   Palestine, and all unfolding events are interconnected to serve that larger
   goal. (Illustrated by Hady Dbouq for Al Mayadeen English)

In recent months, the West Bank has witnessed a disturbing trend: a surge
in attacks by settlers targeting Palestinian individuals and villages.
While this pattern of aggression is not novel within the context of
"Israel's" policy of ethnic cleansing, its intensified manifestation, often
concealed under the pretext of incidents such as the disappearance of a
settler near Ramallah, underscores the volatile aftermath of Operation
al-Aqsa Flood.
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/resistance-justified--unmasking-deceptive-neutrality>

Amidst this backdrop, the launch of Operation al-Aqsa Flood emerges as a
watershed moment that reaffirms the cause of Palestine as a central Arab
and Islamic one, especially amid the existing critical juncture on the
global scale.

Though carried out by the al-Qassam Brigades, this operation is like a
sprout from the deep roots of the ongoing battle for Palestine's freedom,
led by what has become known as the Axis of Resistance.

Spanning from the Mashreq to the Maghreb (Orient to the Occident), across
the breadth of the Arab and Islamic worlds, the events unfolding in the
Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and throughout occupied Palestine have ignited a
widespread response. These developments have set off a chain reaction,
leading to escalations not only within the West Bank
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/-israel--arrested-8-365-palestinians-in-the-west-bank-since>
but also beyond, fueled by "Israel's" "campaigns between wars."

This campaign precipitated Iran's remarkable retaliation following an
Israeli assault on its consulate in Damascus. Understanding these unfolding
events requires contextualizing them within the broader geopolitical
landscape, where regional power dynamics intersect with longstanding
conflicts and resistance movements.
Israeli settlers expelled under Resistance fire

Since October 7, the Israeli government has made public the displacement of
over 250,000 Israeli settlers from their settlements. These settlements,
largely constructed on land ethnically cleansed of its indigenous
Palestinian and Arab communities, have become targets of Resistance
operations spanning both northern and southern regions of occupied
Palestine.

In the south, particularly in the Gaza envelope, where Palestinians
besieged in the Gaza Strip once resided, a comprehensive evacuation has
taken place after the Palestinian Resistance breached the Israeli
separation walls and entered the settlements before showering its vicinity
with missiles that have even reached "Tel Aviv" on multiple occasions.

The evacuation has significantly reduced the presence of settlers along the
borders of the besieged Strip. Many settlers have relocated to central
"Israel", while others have scattered throughout the occupied territories.
Some have chosen to return to their countries of origin, primarily in
Europe or the Americas, based on their nationality prior to settling in
"Israel".

In the north, Resistance operations, spearheaded by Hezbollah and other
factions, compelled Israeli settlers to evacuate settlements bordering
Lebanon by a depth of 5 to 8 kilometers as reportedly revealed by Israeli
journalists and Resistance sources.

While unprecedented since the so-called inception of "Israel", these
evacuations were anticipated. Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan
Nasrallah
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/iran-response-to-consulate-attack-definetly-coming--sayyed-n>
previously underscored that in the next war with "Israel", settlers would
be forced to abandon their settlements, and while this is not even a
widescale war, his words proved to be true once again. This strategic shift
aims to bring the conflict to "Israel" rather than allow "Israel" to
instigate hostilities in Lebanon, as it did in 2006 and 2000.

As Israeli deterrence erodes, it becomes increasingly apparent to settlers
that they face an irreversible choice: either leave occupied Palestine or
occupy another Palestinian home elsewhere in occupied Palestine.
Making up for what was lost on October 7

Israeli settlers faced a new reality following October 7, even vis-a-vis
their daily life. Displaced settlers are now facing declining living
standards after having initially migrated to "Israel" in pursuit of the
material gains they had been promised once they settled in

Instead, settlers are now struggling not even to preserve their privileges
against indigenous Palestinians, but to merely meet their daily needs as
they lose their homes and the rest of the material gains they were promised
at a time when the IOF has clearly failed to achieve any of its goals in
the Strip or across the Northern Front - another issue which eliminates
hope for Israeli settlers that things could get better in the foreseeable
future.

Moreover, with the erosion of Israeli deterrence, settlers, once assured of
their superiority over other regional powers such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and
Iran, to name a few, now seethe with fury at their expulsion from
territories they occupied during the 1948 Nakba and the 1967 Six-Day War
<https://youtu.be/zh2sgBRVyME>. This resentment has boiled over, leading to
a surge in attacks on Palestinian residents of the West Bank, surpassing
previous levels of violence and reoccurring at a more frequent rate.

Simultaneously, Israeli occupation influencers-turned-government officials
like Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have spearheaded efforts to arm
all settlers, going beyond the usual military program enforced upon Israeli
settlers. The arming, which came under the guise of "fighting terrorism",
aims to revive historic terrorist Zionist organizations such as the
Haganah, which conducted the initial Nakba in 1948, killing hundreds and
thousands of Palestinians on purely racist grounds to occupy their homes
and lands.

It's crucial to recognize that "Israel's" ethnic cleansing policies, which
intensified notably after the events of Seif al-Quds in 2021 and further
escalated following October 7, have emboldened settlers to perpetrate the
same crimes of genocide as the Israeli occupation Forces are conducting the
Gaza Strip [Over 33,000 martyrs] and the same crimes as the Haganah did in
1948.
Next stop on the path towards liberation: West Bank, East Bank

Looking for alternatives as the Israeli cities become overcrowded and the
economy crumbles, settlers go stealing Palestinian homes and ethnically
cleansing entire villages to accommodate their needs. This is not new, for
we all remember the Israeli proverb put forward by the settler Yacob: "If I
don't steal it, someone else is gonna steal it."

The killing of Palestinians and the destruction of their homes by settlers,
under the protection of Israeli occupation forces, is fueling anger among
the Palestinian people. This anger is exacerbated by the Israeli occupation
government's continuous announcement of new land seizures, extending over
dozens of dunums in the West Bank, and even in al-Quds' Sheikh Jarrah.

Coupled with widespread detention campaigns, assassinations, military
raids, and other oppressive practices, this situation is pushing people
toward embracing armed Resistance as the only means to achieve a free
Palestine and live with dignity.

It is also important to note that in the West Bank, the Resistance has
already begun establishing liberated zones, particularly across the
triangle of hell: Jenin, Nablus, and Tulkarm. However, recent settler
attacks have targeted areas in the Ramallah and Nablus governorates,
farther from the refugee camps where the Resistance has garnered strong
popular support and found a conducive environment to thrive.

This escalation is likely to ignite a widespread intifada across the West
Bank, to expand the operation that was launched on October 7, bringing the
war to the heart of occupied Palestine. This is especially likely given
that the settler attacks are being conducted under the supervision of the
IOF who have besieged multiple cities. These aggressions remain ongoing
today, 4 days on, without stopping except when the Iranian missiles shook
"Israel".

The consequences of such an intifada, given its existential nature, may
also provoke unrest
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/palestinian-martyr-in-west-bank-as-armed-settlers-attack-vil>
across the East Bank of the Jordan River, where approximately 80% of the
population is Palestinian.
Iran's retaliation in context

In turn, Iran's retaliation can be seen in the context of the West Bank and
the historic struggle for the liberation of Palestine and the ending of
Western hegemony in the region. This retaliation on Israeli-occupied
Palestine consolidated the Axis of Resistance as a series of interconnected
rings that had both the military capability and the strategic patience to
coordinate operations to achieve a unified goal of an Israeli demise and
ultimately US containment in the region.

As such, Iran's successful cornering of the US and "Israel" in a
well-calculated, below-threshold, but fully effective response, has
underscored a new era in the struggle for the liberation of Palestine.

This meant that much like the Axis of Resistance did not leave the Gaza
Strip
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/gaza-resistance-deals-heavy-blow-to-israeli-forces-in-al-nus>
and its Resistance alone, the West Bank Resistance would also have the
support of the Axis.

This new era grants the Palestinian Resistance a larger margin of operation
and limits if not ends "Israel's" renowned "Campaign Between Wars" which
was started in 2013 to "address Iran's growing threat" following the start
of the war on Syria. This means that Israeli deterrence has fallen even
deeper than it has on October 7 with Hamas and on October 8 with Hezbollah
and later in the face of Yemen and others.

To better understand the depth of that, one must look at Iran's
unprecedented retaliation against "Israel" following an attack on the
Iranian consulate in Damascus. The retaliation, in fact, underscored the
strategic maneuvering at play within the Axis of Resistance.

It stressed that beyond its primary objective of Palestinian liberation,
this coalition seeks to dismantle the enduring legacies of colonialism and
imperialism, epitomized by pivotal agreements like the Balfour Declaration,
which allowed for the establishment of the Israeli occupation as a barrier
"state" on occupied Palestinian soil with the aim of expansion and the
Sykes-Picot Accords which partitioned the region into multi-purpose
entities that serve colonialism.

Amidst escalating tensions and deepening geopolitical fault lines, it is
impossible to understand unfolding events without delving into the complex
and multifaceted dynamics of the existential war taking place at the heart
of the Arab world; the war of the unmaking of the Sykes-Picot Accords.

In a more simplified way, one can explain the broader situation by saying
that the Axis is determined to give the US and "Israel" a run for their
money in the region. The Resistance movements in the region, backed by Iran
and Syria
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/al-nakhalah--resistance-prepared-for-extended-war--axis-aid>,
have one big mission: free Palestine and take down those pesky imperialist
structures that have been causing trouble in the Arab and Islamic worlds.
Keep the big picture ahead, save your rage for the right time

Despite the ongoing genocide in which "Israel" has been targeting unarmed
civilians, the Resistance continues to stand strong. It continues to
conduct ambushes unimaginable by the Israeli occupation forces claiming
their lives a dozen at a time.

As the leaders of the Palestinian Resistance have reportedly underscored,
be it al-Qassam Brigades or al-Quds Brigades or others, Iran and the Axis
of Resistance
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/how-does-the--unity-of-the-fronts--protect-lebanon>,
especially Syria and Hezbollah, have played a key role in strengthening and
transferring expertise to the Strip.

Much like in the Strip, the Axis of Resistance has no intention of allowing
the West Bank and its Resistance to be wiped out and has a few tricks up
its sleeve to turn the table on "Israel" and the West's head.

In this context, it must be remembered that the struggle to liberate
Palestine extends beyond the entity of Palestine as drawn by the
Sykes-Picot Accords but involves the re-emergence of the historic Arab
world with Palestine as the compass that has the ability to achieve that
through the demise of the barrier state otherwise known as "Israel".

In such situations, events unfold relatively quickly; however, there is no
benefit in rushing liberation. Rather it is required to mature slowly in
the sense that it becomes inevitable.

*Read more: A century of colonialism crushed at the feet of Resistance
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/a-century-of-colonialism-crushed-at-the-feet-of-resistance>*
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