Daily terror on the West Bank
JVL Introduction
On this International Day of Solidarity with Palestine, this detailed, moving and shocking account by JVL member Jenny Kassman clearly outlines the difficulties for Palestinians in the West Bank. Travelling to the West Bank for such solidarity work is increasingly difficult leaving Palestinians even more isolated and vulnerable. While horrendous, barbarous acts are taking place against the beleaguered people of Gaza, terror is turned on Palestinians in the West Bank too. Over 700 have been killed since October 7th 2023, 165 of them children and a further 1400 people have been injured.
What Jenny Kassman’s article also makes very clear is that appalling treatment of Palestinians started long before October 7th and has been ratcheting up for some time. There are many shocking things described here but for sheer cruelty I note that after settlers had set fire to an olive grove “The occupation forces [Israeli soldiers] prevented farmers from reaching their lands to put out the fire, so the trees were completely devoured.”
LL
This article was originally published by Morning Star on Fri 29 Nov 2024. Read the original here.
The daily terror of life in West Bank villages
Jenny Kassman details how Israeli military raids, settler violence and harvest obstruction are devastating Palestinin communities during the 2024 olive harvest as the world turns a blind eye
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Why aren’t the PA defending their people ? Is it because the PA is a comprador regime ?
The PA, about which there is much to criticise, has no jurisdiction in Area C (which is where the settlements are built and a large percentage of Palestinian agricultural land is based; Area C (so designated under the Oslo Accords) comprises 62% of the West Bank. From a temporary arrangement for a theoretically 5 year period that should have ended nearly 25 years ago, Israel had control while the Palestinians were building their infrastructure for government. From early on, the right in Israel took that allocation as Israeli land, agreed under Oslo. Area A (where theoretically the PA has full control) is mainly where towns and cities are such as Jenin, Bethlehem, Nablus, Jericho and so on. For a PA police officer to travel from, say Yatta to Jericho, they must notify the Israeli military ad they will be met at the edge of the first town, then escorted across the parts of Area C that they have to cross and “deposited” at the edge of the next town. They must tell the Israelis at least how many cars, police officers and weapons they are carrying.