Insight
Europe should look to the West Bank by Luigi Scazzieri, 6 February 2024 The misery of the Gaza war threatens to spill over into a broader conflict. If they want to avoid escalation and advance peace, Europeans need a serious plan for the West Bank. Europeans have struggled to form a coherent response to the Israel-Hamas conflict that erupted after Hamas’ brutal attacks on October 7th. As the death toll has risen, European countries have tried, with limited success, to facilitate humanitarian assistance in Gaza. However, they have been unable to do much beyond that, torn by internal divisions over issues such as whether to call for a permanent end to the fighting or how to push Israel to minimise civilian casualties. Europeans have also been unable to do much about the situation in the West Bank, where attacks by Israeli settlers have resulted in several deaths, while injuring and displacing hundreds. An end to the fighting seems distant. Israel is winding down its operations in the north of Gaza and has de-mobilised many of the reservists it had called up. But fighting is set to continue in the south, as Israeli leaders have made clear that they will not stop until Hamas has been defeated and the remaining hostages, numbering around 130, have been freed. Israel and Hamas may agree to more pauses in the fighting, but a permanent ceasefire is unlikely unless Israel feels it has broken Hamas’ fighting forces and political hold over Gaza. It is unlikely that the interim ruling by the International Court of Justice on January 26th that Israel needs to prevent incitement to genocide and allow unhindered aid to Gaza will change that calculation, as the Court did not explicitly order Israel to halt its attack. The ongoing fighting, combined with lack of food supplies and medication in Gaza, mean that the death toll, currently at over 27,000, will rise further. Meanwhile, the risk of broader escalation is growing. Israeli military operations and settler attacks in the West Bank are weakening the Palestinian Authority (PA), which is already deeply unpopular, due to its corruption and authoritarianism. The Israeli-Lebanese border has seen exchanges of fire between Israel and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah. Hezbollah has hit Israeli military positions in the north of the country and forced Israel to evacuate around 80,000 civilians living near the border to other areas. Israel for its part has hit targets in Lebanon, including killing a Hamas leader in Beirut. Pro-Iranian militias based in Iraq and Syria have carried out dozens of attacks on US forces in the two countries and in Jordan, killing US CER INSIGHT: EUROPE SHOULD LOOK TO THE WEST BANK 6 February 2024
INFO@CER.EU | WWW.CER.EU
1