QALQILYA, (PIC)
The West Bank witnessed on Sunday morning a new field development represented by a heroic shooting attack near the illegal Kokhav Ya’ir settlement north of Qalqilya city, which resulted in the killing of a settler and the injury of five others, and it quickly became clear that its perpetrator was from the Palestinians of 1948, confirming the expansion of the circle of fire and anger against Israeli criminality.
Local sources reported that Palestinian resistance fighters opened fire at a group of settlers inside a gas station in the settlement, before the operation extended to more than one location in the area, including the road connecting the settlements of Tzur Yitzhak and Tzur Natan, causing a state of security confusion among the ranks of the Israeli occupation forces, which pushed large reinforcements to the scene and commenced extensive search operations.
According to Hebrew media, the attack was carried out simultaneously or sequentially in three locations, which the Israeli security apparatuses considered an extraordinary development in terms of the execution method.
The occupation authorities later announced the killing of one of the perpetrators of the operation, a Palestinian from Al-Tira inside the occupied 1948 territories, and the arrest of another perpetrator.
This operation came a few hours after a ramming operation occurred near the junction of Efrat settlement south of Bethlehem, which led to the injury of a settler, indicating the continuous expansion of the confrontation area in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Israeli failure
In this context, the writer and political analyst Iyad al-Qarra said that the attack carries important connotations, most notably that it was executed by a Palestinian from 1948 occupied Palestine, reflecting Israel’s failure to isolate the Palestinian people from each other despite all the security measures, checkpoints, and dismantling policies.
Al-Qarra added in a statement to the PIC reporter that the attack reveals the fragility of the Israeli security system, stressing that the continuation of crimes in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem does not achieve security, but rather increases the state of anger and expands the circle of confrontation.
He pointed out that what is happening proves the continuation of the unity of the Palestinian arenas despite the Israeli attempts to dismantle it.
General context
For his part, the expert in Hebrew affairs Adel Yassin said that the attack cannot be separated from the general context of the escalating events in the Palestinian territories, which include repeated assaults in the West Bank, the continuation of the bombardment in the Gaza Strip, and violations in Al-Aqsa Mosque, in addition to the escalation of settler attacks against Palestinians.
Yassin explained in a statement to our reporter that these developments, including the killing of a child in al-Khalil and settler attacks in Huwara and elsewhere, along with Israeli statements calling for displacement or imposing sovereignty over Al-Aqsa Mosque, constitute accumulated factors of pressure pushing towards more escalation.
He stressed that the Israeli government bears full responsibility for the continuation of this situation, being an occupying power obligated under international law to protect the civilian population, but reality indicates the opposite, as attacks continue amid accusations of army participation or protection for settlers in some cases.
Yassin emphasized that relying on military force alone has proven its failure to achieve security and stability, and that continuing to ignore political solutions will only lead to further security deterioration.
Important connotations
Al-Qarra believes that the double operation in the West Bank carries important connotations, most notably that its perpetrator is from the occupied interior, confirming Israel’s failure to isolate the Palestinian people from each other.
The attack also reveals, according to al-Qarra, the fragility of Israel’s security system, and confirms that its continuous crimes in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem do not manufacture security, but rather lead towards more anger and confrontation, and proves that the unity of the Palestinian arenas is still present despite all the dismantling attempts.
Observers conclude that the recent attack reflects the state of continuous escalation in the West Bank, and confirms that the Palestinian and Israeli scene has become more interconnected and interactive among various arenas, in light of the absence of a clear political horizon, and the continuation of the cycle of confrontation on more than one front.