The siege of Aqabat Jabr is a sign of Israel’s bankrupt politics and security 

The suffocating siege imposed by the Israeli occupation authorities on Aqabat Jabr camp in Jericho governorate for the tenth consecutive day is taking place in the context of its security and military failure against the momentum of legitimate resistance now unleashed in the occupied West Bank. It is also due to its inability to stop the resistance and to restore the “status quo” it has built over the past few decades through security coordination with the Oslo-created Palestinian Authority. As a result of this disadvantage, it has resorted to besieging and starving the Palestinians to suppress them, and blackmailing them into submitting to the status quo of its settlement plans to seize and annex land across the West Bank.

The siege is not really related to the claim that Israel is searching for those who carried out a shooting at an illegal settlers’ restaurant near the Dead Sea about a week ago; rather, it is related to other ambitions. Jericho is known to be one of the most important strategic areas in Palestine, as it is a link between occupied Jerusalem and the eastern Jordan Valley, which is also Israeli-occupied. These areas are among the best and most fertile agricultural lands, and the food basket of Palestine; they overlook the Dead Sea to the east, and are connected to Oslo’s “Area C” which represents 62 per cent of the West Bank that the occupation authorities have basically annexed. This may make it easier for it to bypass the eastern areas by extending its full influence over the Dead Sea if it succeeds in annexing this eastern triangle.

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The extreme far-right occupation government is trying to erase the shame of the crimes it is committing against Palestinian civilians by achieving something tangible on the ground, even if this leads to the killing of more civilians in order to escape its internal Zionist political impasse which has prompted daily demonstrations against its racism and radicalism. Hence the siege, not only on Jericho, but also on Nablus and Jenin, added to the blockade of two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. This means that Israel is currently besieging more than half of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territories. Why? Because it doesn’t want Palestinian resistance that might develop into an armed intifada that will be deadlier and more deliberate than the previous uprising, especially since all indications suggest that such a scenario is likely at any moment. The Israeli occupation authorities do not want this; they want to suppress all resistance and keep the occupied territories peaceful and calm. In the meantime, the siege of Aqabat Jabr is a sign of Israel’s bankrupt politics and security policies.

It is clear, though, that the Palestinian people will not back down from legitimate resistance to the military occupation; that is their right under international law. Nor do they believe in “interim solutions”, divisions and segmentation. They have taken the initiative to try to liberate their occupied land, and feel that the calm that Israel is looking for will not be acceptable until the occupation state stops its persecution, killing, abuse, displacement, Judaisation and settlement expansion. The people also believe that assaulting Palestinian prisoners is a red line that Israel has already crossed.

The scenario in Gaza is being repeated in the West Bank, with the occupation besieging cities and camps to commit more massacres. The result will be the same: pressure on the Palestinians generates an explosion. It seems that Israel has not learnt from its siege on Gaza, which has afflicted fear and terror on Israeli citizens and settlers, and sent missiles deep into the state. Gaza has demonstrated that the siege imposed on it for more than 16 years is unfeasible, and has made the people and the enclave stronger and more persevering. The will of the people is unbreakable. Israel should think twice before attacking them again.

This article first appeared in Arabic in Felesteen on 6 February 2023

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.