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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://mondoweiss.net/2025/11/the-real-reason-israel-is-launching-yet-another-military-operation-in-the-northern-west-bank/?ml_recipient=172219501078644242&ml_link=172219472047769473&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2025-11-27&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines+RSS+Automation+-+6am">mondoweiss.net</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">The real reason Israel is launching yet another military operation in the northern West Bank</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Faris Giacaman</div>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time">November 26, 2025</div>
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<img src="cid:ii_mihko4ox0" alt="150525_Tammun_MN_009-scaled.jpg" width="428" height="291"><br>
<font size="1">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)
</font><br><p>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.</p>
<p>The Israeli army <a href="https://x.com/IDF/status/1993549029956108692">said on X</a>
that it aims to \u201creinforce control over the area\u201d as part of broader
operations in the northern West Bank, claiming that the Tubas operation
is intended to prevent the reformation of <a href="https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/israeli-forces-kill-3-palestinians-including-tubas-brigade-commander-in-northern-west-bank/">armed resistance groups</a> in the governorate. </p>
<p>But local sources tell <em>Mondoweiss</em> 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. </p>
<p>Here\u2019s what you need to know.</p>
<h2>Towns and villages under siege</h2>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Soldiers entered with additional troops, bulldozers, and Apache
helicopters, which opened fire toward residential areas, according to
Tubas mayor Mahmoud Daraghmeh, who told <em>Mondoweiss</em> that this is the first time since the Second Intifada that helicopters have been used in Tubas.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Ahmad Assad, governor of Tubas and the Northern Jordan Valley, told <em>Mondoweiss</em>
that Israeli forces have imposed a full curfew, restricted the movement
of ambulances and medical crews, and blocked access to patients needing
urgent care. </p>
<p>This was corroborated by a statement from the Palestinian Red
Crescent Society (PRCS) later in the day, reporting 10 injuries from
\u201csevere beatings.\u201d Four of them were hospitalized, while the remaining
six were treated in the field. </p>
<p>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.</p>
<h2><strong>Land confiscation at its core</strong></h2>
<p>A local source who spoke with <em>Mondoweiss</em> on the condition of
anonymity said that the real objective of the operation isn\u2019t to
prevent the re-formation of resistance groups in the governorate; the
real reason is land confiscation for the expansion of settlements. </p>
<p>\u201cThe army is using these claims to facilitate settlement expansion in Tubas and the Jordan Valley,\u201d the source told <em>Mondoweiss</em>,
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.</p>
<p>\u201cThey 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,\u201d the source said.</p>
<p>On November 22, the <a href="https://www.cwrc.ps/page-3932-ar.html">Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission</a>
reported that Israeli authorities had seized 1,042 dunams of
Palestinian land in the northern Jordan Valley through nine \u201cland
seizure\u201d orders for \u201cmilitary purposes.\u201d</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Muayyad Shaban, head of the commission, said that these orders
represent a \u201cqualitative shift\u201d in the occupation\u2019s use of land seizure
orders in Tubas and the northern Jordan Valley. Although the orders
appear separate, Shaban told <em>Mondoweiss</em>, 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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Israel labels it a \u201csecurity road,\u201d 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. </p>
<p>He pointed out that the road\u2019s 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.</p>
<p>In other words, military land seizure orders are being used as a
cover. \u201cExperience shows that 90% of \u2018military roads\u2019 are later
transformed to serve settlements or to function as separation corridors
between Palestinian communities,\u201d Shaban told <em>Mondoweiss</em>.</p>
<p>Daraghmeh said Israel has imposed a new territorial reality in Tubas
and the Jordan Valley. Of Tubas\u2019s 400 square kilometers, 70% is Area C \u2014
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\u2019s 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.</p>
<p>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\u2019s continuity.</p>
<p>\u201cThere are now more than 27 shepherding outposts,\u201d Daraghmeh said. \u201cA
settler can place a fence around any area he wants and immediately
seize it, while being naturally protected by the Israeli army.\u201d</p>
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