Israel's West Bank Raids Are Just An Extension Of Its Bloody Logic

Another chapter in the long, tragic story of Tel Aviv’s leaders choosing to live forever by the sword.

By Paul R. Pillar, Responsible Statecraft

News about offensive Israeli military operations has shifted, for the moment, from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank.

A series of Israeli raids and attacks against Jenin and other West Bank cities began last week and is continuing. Although the carnage in Gaza during the past 11 months is larger and still deserves the most attention, the new operations in the West Bank are a further escalation of what already was, during this same period, accelerated violence against Palestinian residents of the West Bank.

a palestinian flag with a burning building in the background

Since last October, at least 622 of those residents, including at least 142 children, have been killed, most by the Israeli military and the others by Jewish settlers. Fifteen Israelis died there during the same period.

The West Bank operations are a direct extension of what Israel has done so far in Gaza. Israeli foreign minister Yisrael Katz says that Israel “must deal with the threat just as we deal with the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, including the temporary evacuation of Palestinian residents and whatever steps are required. This is a war for everything and we must win it.”