What’s Next for the West Bank?
During the Nakba (‘catastrophe’) in 1948, the Zionist entity ethnically cleansed 11 Palestinian cities and over 500 villages, displacing approximately 750,000 indigenous Palestinians from their homes and lands. The majority of these refugees were displaced to either Gaza or the West Bank, the two territories which “Israel” failed to occupy until 1967.
The Jenin refugee camp is one such hub of resistance, and it played an especially integral role during the First Intifada. For this reason, the PA has specifically targeted Jenin throughout the Gaza genocide, utilizing tactics which closely resemble those of the occupation forces, such as inflicting a siege, cutting off access to water and electricity, and stationing snipers around the camp. The Zionist entity has also been known to assault the Jenin refugee camp, firing missiles at the refugees, executing demolition orders such as that of the Iron Wall Operation earlier this year, and killing journalists and members of the press such as Shireen Abu Akleh in 2022.
However, the violence is not just limited to the Jenin refugee camp and its fighters. The Zionist entity enforces systemic violence and apartheid upon all Palestinians of the West Bank. It regularly restricts Palestinians’ freedom of movement through hundreds of military checkpoints, where Palestinians are routinely stopped, searched, and harassed by occupation forces.
Zionist soldiers and settlers are also known to regularly shoot and murder children in the West Bank, and for their violence against farmers during the olive tree harvest. Zionist violence is not just targeted at the Palestinian people — but even the land and the trees are burned and bulldozed.
The Zionist entity also regularly conducts raids and forcible evictions of Palestinians and their property, continuously establishing settlements in the West Bank which are deemed illegal under international law. One notable example is the Sheikh Jarrah evictions of 2021, which escalated into the Zionist entity carpet-bombing the Gaza Strip.
The E1 settlement plans, which “Israel” approved in August, are the next step in the entity’s continuous illegal annexation of rightful Palestinian lands. The E1 settlements would effectively annex East Jerusalem from the remainder of the Occupied West Bank, and connect thousands of illegal settlements in this area to the growing Ma’ale Adumim settlement bloc.
When we look at the West Bank, it is clear that the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians are not just restricted to the boundaries of Gaza. It did not start on October 7th, nor did it end with the declaration of a ceasefire. Aside from the fact that the Zionist entity has absolutely not held up its end of the ceasefire agreement, having murdered over 200 Gazans since the “ceasefire” took effect, the “ceasefire” declaration was by no means a guaranteed end of the systemic killing, dehumanization, and erasure of the Palestinian people. The Palestinians of the West Bank, prior to October 7th and through this latest phase of genocide against Gaza, also continue to be ethnically cleansed by the Zionist entity.
We should feel this continuous oppression of Palestinians and the Palestinian land not just as an attack on Palestinians themselves, but an attack against our own selves as Muslims:
Al-Nu’man ibn Bashir reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “The parable of the believers in their affection, mercy, and compassion for each other is that of a body. When any limb aches, the whole body reacts with sleeplessness and fever.” (Source: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6011, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2586)
This is the land upon which Allah (sw) has specifically bestowed His blessings: “Glory be to the One Who took His servant ˹Muḥammad˺ by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque whose surroundings We have blessed, so that We may show him some of Our signs. Indeed, He alone is the All-Hearing, All-Seeing.” (Quran 17:1)
What does it mean that Al-Aqsa, and her surroundings, are blessed?
Many of us, as Muslims, perceive this blessed nature in an abstract manner, without diving deeper into the full implications of this verse. The blessing does not just lie in the fact that Al-Aqsa was the first qibla and the third holiest site in our religion, though that is certainly an important factor. Al-Aqsa and her surroundings are blessed in the sense that this is the site where, historically, bloodshed, violence, and oppression have come to an end. Many an oppressive regime, many an empire, many a tyrant have fallen and collapsed in the land of Al-Aqsa. It is a purifying force for the world.
It is through Al-Aqsa that Arabs, Muslims, and many other peoples around the world have opened their eyes to the systemic injustices and oppressive structures which have sunk their claws into every corner of the world, not just in Palestine. It is through Al-Aqsa that we wake up to our own power and potential, whether in the Arab world, in the West, or in the East.
Whoever wields the keys to the land of Al-Aqsa wields the keys to the world. This is why Western imperial forces seek to subjugate this land and her people. And we will not retrieve these keys unless we step back into our power as Arabs, as Muslims, as peoples of conscience, and earn them back:
“Indeed, Allah would never change a people’s state ˹of favour˺ until they change their own state ˹of faith˺.” (Quran 13:11)
Sources:
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