Reprinted from the UK socialist website Left Horizons
West Bank pogroms in plain sight of western politicians
By John Pickard
Whilst most attention is being paid to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, we should not forget the continuous ethnic cleansing that is going on in the occupied West Bank, as western politicians look on. Since the Hamas raid on October 7 2023, armed settlers, supported by the Israeli ‘Defence’ Force have driven thousands of Palestinians from their land, their orchards and their villages. More often than not, the settlers steal livestock as well. Palestinians who have tried to resist have been assaulted, arrested or shot.
These pogroms are invariably supported by the IDF, and although the British and other western governments have ‘sanctioned’ some of the leaders of the settlers’ movement, these measures represent only a gentle slap on the wrist. The imposition of sanctions on so-called ‘extremist’ settlers is a token gesture, intended to show ‘concern’ about what is happening in the West Bank. It is not a couple of settlers who should be sanctioned, but the Israeli government – which is actively promoting the ethnic cleaning of Arab villages and farms.
The Israeli-Palestinian magazine, 972+, describes what is going on as “the largest wave of expulsions since 1967”. Over a thousand Palestinians have been killed in the last eighteen months; tens of thousands have been made homeless. In the past two years, 972+ writes, “dozens of shepherding communities have been wiped off the map.”
Settlers steal livestock, raid homes and attack residents
The theft by settlers of Palestinian land and livestock did not begin on October 7, 2023, but since then, and with the genocidal onslaught on Gaza, armed settlers are now roving at will across the West Bank, often in uniform, or accompanied by IDF units. As 972+ reports, they “descend daily on these [Arab] communities, stealing livestock, raiding homes, and attacking residents.”
A week ago, Haaretzreported, armed settlers descended on the Palestinian village of Deir Alla in the southern West Bank, setting fire to buildings (feature picture above from Haaretz) and forcing seventeen families to flee. Earlier in July, “hundreds of residents of the Bedouin village of Mu’arrajat near Jericho were forcibly displaced after years of settler harassment, violent incidents, and theft. Residents said that settlers established an outpost inside the village and vandalized homes, stealing around 60 animals”. In neither case, did the IDF take any steps to protect Arab villagers or their property.
In the same week, Haaretz reported, Jewish settlers seized the Ein Samiya spring in the West Bank and vandalized the pumping stations that supplied water to thirty Arab villages in the Ramallah area, diverting the water to a nearby pool. Sometimes it is not settlers, but the IDF, using their large arsenal of ethnic cleansing machinery – bulldozers, etc – who pour concrete into springs and water sources used by Palestinian farmers and herders for years. The destruction of Palestinian farming and herding has been hugely facilitated by denial of access to water by the Israeli authorities (see graphic above).
Official and unofficial ethnic cleansing
The ‘unofficial’ ethnic cleansing conducted by settlers, who are, in effect, ‘IDF irregulars’, is being done in parallel with the ‘official’ process that openly uses the Israeli army to drive out Arabs. The 972+ website reports that the “largest military operation in the territory for two decades has displaced tens of thousands of residents from refugee camps, while Israel continues to accelerate de facto annexation of Area C through legal, administrative, and military means.”
In east Jerusalem too, the ethnic cleansing is gathering pace. Gideon Levy, again in Haaretz (August 2), reports on the proposed demolition of a five-story block of dwellings by the Israeli authorities. As the Israelis have done in thousands of other cases, they use the dubious pretext of there being some ‘irregularity’ in the ownership to the property, issuing a callous demand to evacuate (see inset above) before demolishing the property.
It goes without saying that the 140 people living in the apartments of the block are offered no alternative accommodation and are simply dumped on the street, adding to the thousands of other displaced and desperate Palestinians in the West Bank.
While the political leaders of the west, including in the UK, cling to the fiction of a “two-state solution”, they are perfectly aware that for decades Israel has been created ‘facts on the ground’ that undermine that possibility. Their support for such a ‘solution’ is no more than a fig-leaf to cover their complicity, through their support for Israel during this whole time.
The home page of the Labour Friends of Israel, which is enormously influential among Labour’s right wing, peddles the same myth. “Working towards to two state solution,” it claims. A cynic might add “Wink, wink”.
The labour movement must apply a BDS policy
If the Labour leadership and western politicians were serious about supporting the rights of Palestinians, they would do more than offer token gestures like (possibly, maybe) recognising a non-existent state, or a state that shows no sign of coming into existence.
Effective measures to support Palestinian rights would mean a complete ban on arms sales and a ban on all trade and communication links, by sea or air, with the state of Israel. This week dozens of Israeli academics signed a letter to the Guardian, demanding “crippling sanctions” be imposed on their own country, for what it is doing in Gaza. The ethnic cleansing going on in the West Bank should be included in that same consideration.
A full and comprehensive campaign of boycott, disinvestment and sanctions needs to be imposed on the state of Israel. If western politicians are not prepared to go down that road, then it is up to the labour movement – the trade unions of workers in transportation, communication and commerce – to do the job.
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