West Bank attacks lay bare what Netanyahu's endgame is for Palestinian territories

Tom Fowdy 

Source: Al Mayadeen English

Netanyahu’s primary policy goal is to deny and degrade the existence of a sovereign Palestinian state, settle this area, and therefore progressively squeeze out its population. 

Over the past few days, Israeli forces under the instruction of the Benjamin Netanyahu government have carried out violent raids in the occupied territories of the West Bank, internationally recognised as part of Palestine. During these raids, the occupation forces have claimed to be killing “terrorists” and “militants” as part of a “counter-terrorism operation”, but Palestine’s mission to the UN stated that the IOF have “invaded homes, deliberately targeted civilians, destroyed vital infrastructure and even besieged the four main hospitals in the area".

The sudden decision to wage war against the occupied West Bank comes simultaneously with the ongoing war on Gaza, as well as a total disregard of US backed “efforts” to try and secure a ceasefire. Of course, I accurately predicted in a previous article that such a ceasefire amounted to little more than US backed PR with no serious ability to leverage Tel Aviv, with Benjamin Netanyahu having no such interest in one. Rather, what these attacks demonstrate is the true “endgame” of his government, which is for all intents and purposes to destroy the Two-State Solution and sovereign Palestine.

First of all, the Benjamin Netanyahu government sees its legitimacy as resting in hardline policies, which include the deliberate and instigated escalation of conflicts on all fronts, and the threat of creating broader war in the bid to coerce Western countries into following his agenda. By deliberately cultivating a context of extreme insecurity and “threat”, Netanyahu subsequently acquires political capital for his government to be able to implement extreme nationalist policies which are committed to occupying, militarily dominating Palestinian territories, expanding the Israeli presence within them.

If he was to push for peace, which thus mandates co-existence, such an expansion would be impossible. Therefore, his policy is to literally reject peace by aggravating tensions wheresoever possible, which is typically done through a resort to high profile assassinations spearheaded by Mossad. This for example, includes the assassination of the Iranian guards corps commander in Syria, on diplomatic property, the killing of Hamas’ political chief in Iran, the killing of Hezbollah commanders, and the recent assassination of a Palestinian Resistance leader in the West Bank. These assassinations are designed to be provocative to force a military retaliation by the given party, which on getting such a reaction Netanyahu subsequently escalates further.

On escalating further, Tel Aviv then uses its own response to further “move the goalposts” with respect to Palestine, expanding settlements and military occupation of Palestinian territories, in both Gaza and the West Bank. Essentially, the game goes “You have done X against us, therefore we will salami slice your land further.” Netanyahu has repeatedly signalled that he will expand settlements in defiance to Western criticism of his government’s actions, and that he personally and completely rejects any adherence to the Two-State Solution.

Netanyahu recognises he is essentially allowed to do so because he has correctly calculated that no government in the West will stand up to him, either in terms of embargoing arms or imposing sanctions. Thus, irrespective of the fact that all the actions against Palestine violate international law, he has a free hand to get away with it and will continue to do so. Likewise, if he does detect that pressure may come his way, be it either from Washington or London, it is his political playbook to escalate further, create the conditions for a conflict with Iran, and therefore use this as diplomatic leverage to get what he wants in respect to offsetting criticism of the occupation policies. For example, if the West wants to prevent a wider regional conflict, they have to essentially give him what he wants. Rinse and repeat.

In this case, there should be no surprises whatsoever that the decision has been made to reignite conflict in the West Bank. Netanyahu’s primary policy goal is to deny and degrade the existence of a sovereign Palestinian state, settle this area, and therefore progressively squeeze out its population. His government is only able to survive through the resort to perpetual conflict, and will continually offset both domestic and international criticism using an escalation playbook. This is a commitment to the destruction of Palestinian statehood, both in the West Bank and now the Gaza Strip, and it requires a complete recalibration of Western foreign policy if it is going to be stopped.