We must work in the Palestinian city centres to thwart operations: Israel army leaders

Chief of the General Staff, also known as Commander-in-Chief of the Israel Defense Forces, Aviv Kochavi speaks at Israel’s parliament (The Knesset) in West Jerusalem [Israeli Parliament Knesset – Anadolu Agency]

Leaders in the Israeli occupation army criticised the government of Benjamin Netanyahu following the shooting of illegal settlers in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem which have led to the death of 14 Israelis this year.

The military leaders stressed, according to Yedioth Ahronoth, that it is not possible to thwart operations “only through defensive activities.”

The newspaper reported that senior officials in the Israeli occupation army are calling for the return of military operations in Palestinian city centres in the occupied West Bank, with the aim of thwarting Palestinian operations against occupation forces and settlers.

According to the report, these criticisms come against the backdrop of the Israeli political leadership’s decision to limit the army’s offensive military operations inside Palestinian cities since last Saturday, as a “goodwill gesture” after the five-party security meeting that was held on Sunday in the Jordanian city of Aqaba.

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Military officials said that “terrorism cannot be thwarted through defence alone. In order to prevent operations from being carried out, we must return to the offensive policy of night arrest campaigns, which will create a sense among terrorists that they are being pursued.”

On the other hand, there are those in the Israeli army leadership who believe that “it is possible to give another chance” to the occupation government’s policy in the West Bank, indicating that it may be effective in reducing the operations carried out by Palestinian youths.

The officials believe there is a need for the occupation army to return to work based on the past strategy, in light of fears of retaliatory operations for the settler riots in Huwara on Sunday night.

On Monday evening, the occupation army announced the deployment of an additional battalion to reinforce its forces in the occupied West Bank, bringing the number of battalions in the West Bank to four.

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