[...] The root causes for this rebellion are the same as ever: the Israeli regime of occupation, apartheid and colonialism makes Palestinians’ lives unbearable. However, there are fundamental differences between now and then, and the actions of Israel’s new settler militia will determine when, not if, a full scale Intifada will explode.
The most visible difference between the reality on the ground in the first and second Intifadas is the prominent role of Israeli settlers in the attacks on Palestinians. The settler population has become a well-armed, well-organised and ideologically driven militia. They maraud in Palestinian villages and attack Palestinians in the streets and even in their homes. From last year’s horrific burning alive of young Muhammad Abu Khdeir in Jerusalem to the recent arson attack on the Dawabshah’s home in Dima, murdering the parents and a toddler, settlers have carried out a string of terror attacks on Palestinians. Israel maintains and supports this fanatic militia to carry out the dirtiest parts of Israeli aggression and repression in the West Bank.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s initial rhetoric about an “all-out war” including the re-occupation of the major Palestinian residential areas in the West Bank, defined by the Oslo Agreement as Area A, pleased this settler militia and their parties in the government. However, as the Israeli military and intelligence agencies were quick to point out, massive military deployment into Area A is neither in the interest of the settlers nor the rest of Israel’s political establishment. They all have a common aim: expelling as many Palestinians as possible from Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank to the walled-in Bantustans they have created. This is best served by concentrating pressure outside these Bantustans.
Of the additional four military brigades sent to the West Bank, none are in the major Palestinian cities. Contrary to the first Intifada, when the army used extreme violence and constantly patrolled Palestinian cities to maintain their control or the Israeli re-invasion of the West Bank during the second Intifada, which aimed at destroying Palestinian Authority infrastructure, this time Area A is not a target.
Following a similar logic to the massacres of the Palestinian people in Gaza, Israel attacks from the perimeters. The ghettos stay under Palestinian control while Israel makes life unbearable in the remaining 60 percent of the West Bank through the construction of the apartheid wall, home demolitions, immediate threat of destruction of 89 communities, denial of access to water, checkpoints, land confiscation and settler attacks. [...]
