Accelerating Settlement in the West Bank

The pace of settlement in the West Bank is accelerating in conjunction with the Israeli army's plan, which has expanded incursions, land confiscation, and demolition orders amidst a wide-scale Judaization in occupied Jerusalem. This raises significant questions about the roles in the region, primarily that of the Palestinian Authority and the nature of the current political positioning.

Preventing Political Plurality and De Facto Annexation

The Israelis are deliberately preventing political plurality in the West Bank to block a Palestinian government and elections; this complicates matters further against the backdrop of a de facto annexation plan. The equation of Palestinian division is being fueled by regional parties that mistakenly believe they can lead and control the scene, reaching a disaster of waiting for annexation and threatening their national security.

Factors Influencing the Current Status of the West Bank

The current status of the West Bank is the result of multiple reasons, the most notable of which are:

• Arab Neglect of an Independent Palestinian State: A clear Arab neglect of the project of an independent Palestinian state, with some becoming preoccupied with normalization efforts and others promoting Palestinian sedition and internal Arab conflicts; this provided a positive signal for the Israelis to implement their agenda.
• Fighting Resistance Movements: Some Arab countries directly fighting Hamas and resistance movements, treating them as terrorism based on American criteria that prioritize Israeli security; this has empowered the Israelis to execute their plans.
• Establishment of the Palestinian Authority: The establishment of the Palestinian Authority grounded in a declaration of principles leading to statehood under American auspices, whose intentions were immediately revealed when matters reached the threshold of statehood. Thus, the Authority created an internal Palestinian rift and divided Arabs into supporters, opponents, and neutral parties without discussing the details of Palestinian rights. It was later transformed into a channel for normalization and coordination, disconnected from any state or sovereignty.
• Exploiting the Peace Process: The Israelis exploited the illusory peace process by expanding settlement aggressively in the field, ignoring Palestinian rights politically, and dulling the international community's response through propaganda that promotes the Israeli narrative, which undermines Palestinian rights in favor of a state of "Judea and Samaria" intended by settlers at the expense of the entire West Bank via an alternative homeland in Jordan, displacing people there.
• Role of the Palestinian Authority: The Authority has stripped itself of any political achievement, reducing its role to providing monthly salaries to employees and self-management. In reality, this reflects the core American intention for the Authority's existence and nothing more.
• Regional and International Changes: Regional and international changes have enticed the Israeli entity to place an expansion plan on the table, backed by American support for annexation, the "Deal of the Century," the war on Gaza, the contraction of the West Bank, changes in Syria, and the war in Lebanon. All these factors opened the door to seek existential victory and geographic expansion, enhancing deterrence, which the entity finds suitable at present and in the near future in the West Bank.

Israeli Tactics and Palestinian Response

The occupation attempts to impose a fait accompli by all means to achieve complete control over water, borders, the Jordan Valley, agricultural land, and the geography connecting cities through numerous settlement, military, and security measures. At the same time, it prevents Palestinian elections, enhances the administrative frailty of the Authority, promotes factional strife, and obstructs consensus. This serves to portray the Palestinian as weak before the world, allowing the Israelis to convince the international community of their theory that claims: “The West Bank is without leadership or consensus and is in a state of chaos; Israel’s need for security necessitates its annexation.”

Regional Security Implications and Jordan's Role

 This scene will send a dangerous message to Jordan, which borders the West Bank, and later to Arab national security, if there is not a rapid primary rescue operation for the West Bank through a genuine Arab decision without classifying Palestinians based on security whims, and this can be achieved by:

• Support for Palestinian Reconciliation: Lifting the “veto” on Palestinian reconciliation, but rather supporting and stabilizing it and dealing with Palestinians as a unified elected body that includes everyone.
• Stopping Security Dealings: Stopping security dealings with the Palestinian issue to protect the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Gaza, which are the territories of the State of Palestine according to international law. This requires enhancing the presence of the Palestinian state without an Arab “veto” against a governing or participatory “Hamas,” whether it wins elections or opposes.
• Strengthening the Arab Position: Strengthening the Arab position by declaring that international law must be applied for Palestinians to obtain their rights, and activating pressure tools that Arab countries possess before “Israel” exploits this fragmentation.
• Jordan's Crucial Role: After the seventh of October and the significant military-political-security victory, followed by a genocide in Gaza and the failure of the occupation to achieve victory; attention has shifted to the West Bank, and this will come at the expense of Jordan. Therefore, the anticipated Jordanian role has become crucial in changing equations and protecting its security and the rights of Palestinians; which necessitates solidarity and a message to the international community that “Israel's” aggression against Lebanon and Syria is a violation, and if not contained, it will expand to Jordan, which is dangerous for international security and peace. The key to calmness is protecting Jordan by activating the rights of Palestinians.

Urgency of Arab Action

We are facing decisive days and weeks that the Israeli seeks to gauge the mood in the West Bank towards the Americans and Arab countries. If there is no substantial Arab message that influences the American mood and deters the Israelis, this will lead to a wide displacement project led by settlers and protected by the army. In the equation of the prolonged conflict since the intention to establish the entity was crystallized by “Haganah,” “Palmach,” and extremist Jewish groups that committed massacres and left destruction, the equation has always been based on intimidation and displacement to enable replacement. These days, the same policy persists, albeit in changing forms.

The West Bank is the theater where it has been stripped of all sovereignty, identity, and geographic continuity, and has been torn apart under the guise of peace. Even this torn West Bank is no longer wanted by the occupying forces to exist, even in form; due to the evolution of Zionist thought toward expansion, annexation, and the destruction of Arab connectivity and the crushing of Palestinian identity. There, in Gaza, the people and their resistance have steadfastly thwarted the plan; will the West Bank rush to organize its ranks, unite, and strengthen its rights with Arab support, specifically from Jordan, which will suffer if the West Bank falls?!

The answer can no longer tolerate statements of condemnation or warnings, but rather anticipates actions that match the accelerating plans being implemented by the occupation.