[News] The real reason Israel is launching yet another military operation in the northern West Bank

[Anti-Imperialist News]

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The real reason Israel is launching yet another military operation in the
northern West Bank
Faris Giacaman
November 26, 2025
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[image: 150525_Tammun_MN_009-scaled.jpg]
Israeli military vehicles and bulldozers surround a Palestinian house in
the town of Tammun during an Israeli army raid in Tubas, West Bank, May 15,
2025. (Photo: Mohammed Nasser/APA Images)

The Israeli army announced that it was launching a military operation in
the northern West Bank, concentrating on a handful of villages and towns
outside of the city of Tubas. Israeli forces moved into the Tubas
governorate on Wednesday, deploying units from the Menashe, Shomron, and
Commando Brigades.

The Israeli army said on X <https://x.com/IDF/status/1993549029956108692>
that it aims to “reinforce control over the area” as part of broader
operations in the northern West Bank, claiming that the Tubas operation is
intended to prevent the reformation of armed resistance groups
<https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/israeli-forces-kill-3-palestinians-including-tubas-brigade-commander-in-northern-west-bank/>
in the governorate.

But local sources tell *Mondoweiss* this is just a pretext. The real reason
for the wide-ranging mobilization of military forces is to lay the
groundwork for confiscating large swathes of land for an upcoming
settlement project.

Here’s what you need to know.
Towns and villages under siege

The operation, which began shortly after midnight, placed Tubas and the
surrounding towns of Tammun, Aqaba, Tayasir, and Wadi al-Fara under siege.
Hours earlier, Israeli forces stormed wide areas of the governorate,
including the nearby villages of al-Badhan and Talluza, isolating Tubas
with roadblocks, earth mounds, and checkpoints.

Soldiers entered with additional troops, bulldozers, and Apache
helicopters, which opened fire toward residential areas, according to Tubas
mayor Mahmoud Daraghmeh, who told *Mondoweiss* that this is the first time
since the Second Intifada that helicopters have been used in Tubas.

Daraghmeh said the operation, set to continue for several days, began with
coordinated incursions and house-to-house raids across the city and
surrounding towns.

In Tammun, soldiers damaged infrastructure and cut electricity and water to
several streets. According to local reports, Israeli forces converted
multiple homes into military bases, expelled the families that resided
within them, and ordered them not to return for several days. The army also
detained more than 22 young men and conducted field interrogations with
them. By about 8 p.m. local time, the Israeli army had detained over 73
people.

Ahmad Assad, governor of Tubas and the Northern Jordan Valley, told
*Mondoweiss* that Israeli forces have imposed a full curfew, restricted the
movement of ambulances and medical crews, and blocked access to patients
needing urgent care.

This was corroborated by a statement from the Palestinian Red Crescent
Society (PRCS) later in the day, reporting 10 injuries from “severe
beatings.” Four of them were hospitalized, while the remaining six were
treated in the field.

The organization added that its crews have faced continuous obstruction
from Israel forces in Tubas and Tammun since dawn, and that its teams
transported 30 medical cases to the hospital, including 20 kidney dialysis
patients and one deceased person.
*Land confiscation at its core*

A local source who spoke with *Mondoweiss* on the condition of anonymity
said that the real objective of the operation isn’t to prevent the
re-formation of resistance groups in the governorate; the real reason is
land confiscation for the expansion of settlements.

“The army is using these claims to facilitate settlement expansion in Tubas
and the Jordan Valley,” the source told *Mondoweiss*, asserting that the
operation is designed to pressure residents to leave the area ahead of
construction of a new road and military checkpoint that was announced
earlier this week, ensuring minimal resistance once land seizures begin.

“They want to ensure that there will be no reaction from residents once the
actual construction of the road begins, which will entail the confiscation
of land on the ground,” the source said.

On November 22, the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission
<https://www.cwrc.ps/page-3932-ar.html> reported that Israeli authorities
had seized 1,042 dunams of Palestinian land in the northern Jordan Valley
through nine “land seizure” orders for “military purposes.”

The orders targeted the towns of Tammun, Tayasir, and Talluza, as well as
the city of Tubas, to carve out a horizontal road starting from Ein Shibli
in the south and reaching Aqaba in the north.

Muayyad Shaban, head of the commission, said that these orders represent a
“qualitative shift” in the occupation’s use of land seizure orders in Tubas
and the northern Jordan Valley. Although the orders appear separate, Shaban
told *Mondoweiss*, overlaying them on maps reveals that they form a single
cohesive project: the construction of a wide road extending 22 kilometers
from northern Tubas toward Tayasir and the Jordan Valley.

Shaban explained that this road crosses vast agricultural and residential
areas, encircles the hamlet of Yarza from all directions, and aims to
deprive residents of access to the grazing lands stretching east of the
road, which is estimated at tens of thousands of dunams.

Israel labels it a “security road,” Shaban says, which is typically used
for carving out military bypass roads that allow the army rapid control
over valleys and hilltops while connecting with its bases in the Jordan
Valley.

He pointed out that the road’s scale indicates it is a strategic corridor
rather than a temporary military road, as it outlines a new axis of
movement linking the Jordan Valley to Israel proper. It also means a
tightening of control over the agricultural lands between Tubas, Tammun,
and Tayasir, he said, adding that it effectively prevents any Palestinian
geographic continuity outside of Israeli control.

In other words, military land seizure orders are being used as a cover.
“Experience shows that 90% of ‘military roads’ are later transformed to
serve settlements or to function as separation corridors between
Palestinian communities,” Shaban told *Mondoweiss*.

Daraghmeh said Israel has imposed a new territorial reality in Tubas and
the Jordan Valley. Of Tubas’s 400 square kilometers, 70% is Area C — that
is, under total Israeli military control as per the Oslo Accords. That area
hosts seven settlements and nine military training sites. Only 30% of
Tubas’s remaining lands are classified as Area A, under the control of the
Palestinian Authority,  as well as Area B, which is under joint Israeli-PA
control.

Shepherding outposts have rapidly expanded, with settlers fencing land
under army protection. The new road project, Daraghmeh says, will
confiscate remaining Palestinian land to carve out a road between Ein
Shibli and Aqaba, severing the Jordan Valley’s continuity.

“There are now more than 27 shepherding outposts,” Daraghmeh said. “A
settler can place a fence around any area he wants and immediately seize
it, while being naturally protected by the Israeli army.”
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