West Bank will bear brunt of the Gaza deal

But it was not the overwhelming brute force of Israel that brought the bloodbath to an end. It was the changing political agenda of the recently elected president of the United States, Donald Trump, that forced an arrogant Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to eventually relent.

Israel had 470 days to carry out the declared objectives of its war on Gaza following the Hamas attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023. These objectives were the complete defeat of Hamas, the recovery of all Israeli captives, and the permanent Israeli control of Gaza. But in reality, these were not Netanyahu’s objectives. Israel was not fighting Hamas but the hapless residents of Gaza.

Netanyahu wanted to obliterate the narrow strip of land, a thorn in Israel’s side for many decades. To do this, Israel employed its superior war machine: dropping 2000-pound bombs on civilian areas, blowing up hospitals, schools, and universities, instigating mass starvation, destroying water wells, and erasing most of the eight refugee camps there.

It did all that and, in the process, killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, the majority of whom were children and women. Tens of thousands are unaccounted for, and their remains lie somewhere under the rubble.

Facing unprecedented charges

This was the most horrific extermination process for Palestinians since the Nakba. And yet none of Israel’s public and illicit objectives were achieved. Biden administration had become complicit in the unfolding genocide. Israel was now facing unprecedented charges of war crimes and genocide at both the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC).

While the Palestinians have paid a hefty price, Israel has become a pariah state with links to genocide and crimes against humanity.

President Trump pressured Netanyahu into accepting a ceasefire deal because Israel was digging itself deeper into a bottomless pit. He did not want the carnage to continue the day he was sworn in. And that is what happened.

Netanyahu, now weakened, had to make compromises to save his far-right coalition. He promised to resume the war at any moment. But the Israeli public had become anxious and desperate. They want to see all captives come back and regain their lives. The economy is shattered, and the country needs healing.

But peace in Gaza will come at a price. To keep his coalition alive, Netanyahu promised one key ally, Finance Minister and head of an ultranationalist party, Bezalel Smotrich, to give him a free hand in the more lucrative piece of Palestinian real estate: the West Bank.

Terrorising Palestinians

Almost immediately after the Gaza ceasefire deal went into effect, Israel launched one of the most extensive attacks against the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. This security operation was accompanied by rampaging Jewish settlers who torched Palestinian cars and property. This happened as President Trump revoked the previous administration’s sanctions against members of settlers accused of terrorising the Palestinians.

But Smotrich wanted more, and he is likely to get it. He wants to annex Area C of the West Bank, about 60 per cent of the occupied territory. Netanyahu had previously promised to annex the strategic Jordan Valley. His government is adamantly against the two-state solution and has been working to undermine the already vulnerable Palestinian Authority (PA).

While all eyes are on the grave humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza and the future of the ceasefire deal, Israel will accelerate its plans to dominate the West Bank. For now, the West Bank will bear the brunt of Israel’s acquiescence in Gaza; the price for Palestinians there will be immense.

Osama Al Sharif is a journalist and political commentator based in Amman