Israel’s assault on refugee camps within the occupied West Financial institution has dominated headlines.
Israel has killed at the very least 20 individuals because it launched its assaults on the cities and refugee camps at Jenin, Nablus, Tubas and Tulkarem in a single day on Wednesday.
Right here’s what you might want to find out about this assault and the refugee camps in occupied territory it impacts.
What’s the occupied West Financial institution? Who’re the refugees there?
The occupied West Financial institution is a part of historic Palestine on the west financial institution of the Jordan River, it measures 5,650sq km (2,180sq miles) of landlocked territory surrounded by Israel, Jordan, and the Lifeless Sea.
Roughly three million Palestinians dwell there, alongside an growing variety of Israelis who constructed unlawful settlements and outposts on land taken by power from Palestinian households.
The West Financial institution has some 871,000 registered refugees, 1 / 4 of whom dwell in 19 refugee camps, descendants of the Palestinians ethnically cleansed from their properties and lands to make approach for the creation of Israel within the Nakba of 1948.
What does it need to do with Gaza?
The occupied West Financial institution and Gaza are each components of Palestine however are separated from one another by the state of Israel.
Each Gaza and the West Financial institution have been occupied by Israel in 1967 and remained so for many years, till Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005.
Israel continues to be attacking Gaza, and has killed greater than 40,000 individuals and injured practically 100,000.
The techniques Israel is utilizing in Gaza have been referenced by some Israeli ministers who’ve demanded that the identical be carried out within the occupied West Financial institution assaults, together with forcing individuals out of their properties to clear sure areas.
What does it imply that the West Financial institution is ‘occupied’?
Within the 1967 conflict, Israel took the land earmarked by the UN as a part of a future Palestinian state from caretaker Jordan.
Even with the institution of the Palestinian Authority after the Olso Accords, the Israeli military operates unchecked and successfully controls the territory and nonetheless controls a number of important administrative and governmental capabilities.
On the finish of the day, Palestinians don’t even management their very own land.
In concept, the boundaries of Israel’s occupation of the West Financial institution ought to be regulated by worldwide legislation.
Beneath the 1949 Geneva Conference, the switch of all or a part of an occupying inhabitants onto territory it has seized – like Israelis constructing settlements on Palestinian land – is against the law.
In 2004 and 2016 respectively, the Worldwide Court docket of Justice (ICJ) and the UN Safety Council stated the development of Israeli settlements within the West Financial institution is against the law.
In July of this 12 months, the ICJ once more dominated that the Israeli presence within the West Financial institution was illegal and will come to an finish “as quickly as attainable”.
So, is building of recent settlements over?
Not within the least.
Whereas settlement building was pretty gradual till the Nineteen Eighties, it has surged since, with a whole lot of recent settlements and outposts established.
Earlier than October 7, greater than 700,000 Israelis lived within the West Financial institution throughout greater than 150 unlawful settlements and quite a few outposts.
Numbers have elevated dramatically after October 7.
In line with Israel, the settlements are crucial for safety, serving as a buffer in opposition to hostile Arab states, along with Iran.
Israel additionally says the Oslo Accords don’t explicitly ban settlement in all areas and that some are allowed underneath the phrases of the settlement.
Israeli settlers additionally declare the biblical Jewish territories of Samaria and Judea, each within the modern-day West Financial institution, utilizing spiritual justifications to take Palestinian land.
How have West Financial institution Palestinians responded to the occupation?
Briefly, with resistance and anger.
Tens of hundreds of Palestinians have been killed throughout Israel’s occupation of the West Financial institution.
Displacement, dispossession, lack of rights, financial hardships and navy management over day by day life have fanned Palestinian anger.
Nonetheless, the continued systematic confiscation of land for the development of Israeli settlements has prompted probably the most outrage.
Have the Palestinians revolted?
There have been two Intifadas (uprisings) in opposition to the Israeli occupation.
The primary Intifada, 1987-1993, started with protests and demonstrations, together with stone-throwing and civil disobedience, earlier than escalating into widespread revolt.
Israel’s navy response – curfews, mass arrests, and using dwell ammunition and tear fuel -, exacerbated the scenario and drew worldwide criticism.
Israel killed some 1,000 Palestinians, roughly 250 of whom have been youngsters. There have been 160 Israelis killed within the combating.
The second Intifada, 2000 to 2005, was triggered by then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s provocative go to to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Demonstrations and stone-throwing swiftly descended into violence as Israel responded with overwhelming power.
About 3,000 Palestinians and greater than 1,000 Israelis, in addition to 64 overseas nationals, have been killed.
Israel’s response – intensive navy operations, focused assassinations, and large-scale incursions – was closely criticised by worldwide our bodies and rights teams.
What’s life like within the West Financial institution as we speak?
In a phrase, “onerous”. Typically, it feels not possible.
Checkpoints and different restrictions on motion are among the many day by day challenges that have an effect on each Palestinian within the West Financial institution.
In refugee camps, overcrowding and poor infrastructure exacerbate the difficulties confronted by households whose properties exist usually exterior of residing reminiscence.
Israel’s separation barrier, which has fenced in a lot of the West Financial institution since building started in 2002, limits Palestinians’ entry to assets and work.
The barrier wall was deemed unlawful by the ICJ in 2019 and has been cited as proof of Israeli apartheid insurance policies by rights teams throughout the globe.
