In the occupied West Bank, the war continues

It has been a week since the ceasefire was announced successful Gaza. When we heard the quality successful the occupied West Bank, we celebrated. We felt alleviation and anticipation that the genocide is yet over. But we besides realised that determination is nary ceasefire for us.

The regular unit we person been subjected to for decades is showing nary signs of abating. Since October 7, 2023, the brutality of our occupier has lone intensified. Today, beingness successful the West Bank has go astir impossible.

Violence, dispossession and paralysis

After the ceasefire woody was announced, a friend’s small girl cheered; she past asked to spell with her grandparents to prime olives. He told her that it would beryllium hard to do, to which she responded, “Why? Isn’t the warfare over?”

How bash you explicate to a kid that the warfare ending successful Gaza does not mean Palestinian families successful the West Bank inactive tin entree their onshore to harvest olives? People inactive cannot scope their groves due to the fact that of barriers acceptable up by the Israeli subject oregon they fearfulness attacks by Israeli soldiers and settlers, oregon both.

There are regular convulsive assaults connected Palestinian farmers and their land. Since October 7, 2023, determination person been 7,154 attacks by Israeli settlers connected Palestian radical and spot – immoderate of them deadly.

Almost 1,000 Palestinians person been killed by the Israeli service and settler mobs, including 212 children; much than 10,000 Palestinians person been displaced. Settlers and soldiers have destroyed 37,237 olive trees since October 7, 2023.

Even beingness successful municipality areas has go unbearable.

As a nonmigratory of Rawabi, a metropolis northbound of Ramallah, I, too, consciousness the suffocation of the concern each day.

If I request to question extracurricular my metropolis to tally errands, shop, get authoritative paperwork, oregon thing else, I could get stuck astatine a checkpoint for hours and ne'er marque it to my destination. There are 4 robust gates, a subject tower, and a obstruction betwixt Rawabi and Ramallah; they tin marque the 10-minute travel betwixt Rawabi and Ramallah past an eternity.

Throughout the West Bank, determination are 916 Israeli barriers, barriers and robust gates, 243 of which were constructed aft October 7, 2023. These unfastened and adjacent astatine the Israeli army’s whim, meaning a Palestinian tin get stuck astatine 1 obstruction for hours. This disrupts each facet of beingness – from household visits to urgent aesculapian attraction to schoolhouse attendance and proscription of goods.

We person besides been denied entree to Jerusalem and frankincense our state of worship astatine Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Few Palestinians are fixed the peculiar permits needed to participate the city. We past had entree to Jerusalem much than 20 years ago. This means an full procreation of young radical cognize thing astir the metropolis but from the pictures and stories told by their parents and grandparents.

Even astatine night, the Palestinians are not near unsocial by the occupation. Any Palestinian home whitethorn beryllium taxable to a raid by the Israeli army, with soldiers breaking the beforehand door, terrorising the household wrong and detaining without complaint immoderate of its members. Neighbours would, too, beryllium terrorised with Israeli soldiers firing teardrop state canisters for nary reason, conscionable to origin much suffering.

The close to a mean life—to worship, to walk prime clip with friends and family, to determination freely, to entree regular aesculapian attraction and acquisition —are each denied to the Palestinians successful the West Bank.

The spectre of annexation

Over the decades since the concern of 1967, Israel has managed to control almost half of the onshore of the West Bank. It has done truthful by constructing settlements and confiscating onshore from its Palestinian owners by declaring it either “state land” oregon “military zone”. The theft of Palestinian onshore accelerated aft October 7; astatine slightest 12,300 acres (4,9787 hectares) were seized successful 2 years.

In galore cases, confiscated onshore is utilized to found caller colony outposts oregon to grow existing settlements.

Settlement operation successful the West Bank is not random. Rather, onshore is selected successful a mode that encircles Palestinian villages and towns, creating a colony loop astir them that prevents immoderate signifier of geographical continuity betwixt Palestinian territories, frankincense thwarting the imagination of a aboriginal state.

To support these amerciable settlements, Israel has besides laid its hands connected the West Bank’s earthy resources. It has seized astir each h2o resources. This has ensured a monolithic h2o reservoir successful the West Bank to service the colony expansion.

For the Palestinians, this has been disastrous. They are present astir wholly babelike connected Israeli h2o institution “Mekorot”, which gives precise tiny quotas of h2o to densely populated Palestinian areas, portion settlers person respective times the Palestinian stock per capita.

Every summer, erstwhile drought settles in, Palestinians are forced to bargain other h2o astatine exorbitant prices from Mekorot. Meanwhile, Palestinian wells and rainfall h2o tanks are often attacked and destroyed.

Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli authorities has accelerated its efforts to transportation retired annexation. We consciousness that the seizure of Area C – an country established by the Oslo Accords wherever Israel has afloat civilian and information power – is imminent. This would mean razing Palestinian villages and communities and expelling radical towards Area A, which constitutes conscionable 18 percent of the West Bank. Area B volition follow. The process of forced expulsion has already started with Bedouin communities successful the 2 areas.

This is our world present successful the West Bank. While bid conferences and meetings were held and bid successful the Middle East is declared, we cognize thing of it. Every day, each hour, each minute, we are harassed, intimidated, dispossessed and killed.

For decades, Israel has rejected governmental solutions and pursued a argumentation of controlling land, people, and resources. It has continued to wage warfare connected america adjacent erstwhile its bombardment has stopped. The lone mode to execute existent bid is to admit the concern and extremity it.

The views expressed successful this nonfiction are the author’s ain and bash not needfully bespeak Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.