Could Israel's large-scale West Bank operation backfire ? | DW News

now the Palestinian Health Ministry says that at least 26 people have been killed in the occupied West Bank since Israel launched a military operation there a week ago Israeli forces are targeting what they call terrorist cells with a foothold in the Janine and taram refugee camps Hamas which carried out the October the 7th Terror attacks says it was behind two reprisals in the West Bank that killed one Israeli soldier and wounded three others sifting through the debris left by a week-long Israeli raid raids in the West Bank have been common since the October 7th Terror attacks by Hamas but residents say they haven't seen destruction like this in over two decades with Israeli forces demolishing homes and businesses across the territory local authorities say 70% of the streets in the heavily populated Janine refugee camp were bulldozed many residents are now living without electricity or running water claiming Israel cut off access across the area some people lost everything they had I have this shop behind me I have had a barber shop since 1954 I opened it and I made a living from it they destroyed it today the goal is they want to destroy the country so that people get tired of the resistance but we will not get tired of the resistance the Israeli Army has no targets so they target us but we will remain no matter what they do Gaza has been under bombardment for a year and is still standing now so we will remain standing God willing no matter what they do thank God we are strong for most of their lives older Palestinians have witnessed regular raids in the West Bank which has been under Israeli occupation since 1967 these latest raids are seen as a major escalation hundreds of Israeli troops supported by drones and armored vehicles stormed several locations in the West Bank beginning on August 28th targeting what they said were militant strongholds we will not let terrorism in the West Bank raise its head that's the reason we are going from City to City Camp to Camp with excellent intelligence very good operational capabilities very strong aerial intelligence support unlike in Gaza the militant group Hamas has no official foothold in the West Bank but the Israeli military has carried out frequent operations in the territory it occupies targeting commanders of Hamas and other militant groups they link to Terror attacks in Israel according to United Nations figures Israeli forces have killed over 600 Palestinians in the West Bank since October 7th at the same time that that they're fighting a war in Gaza 100 kilm away myav Sunshine is a senior Analyst at the international crisis group and joins me now from Tel Aviv welcome to DW good to see you again now Israel is claiming that this operation is to combat and eliminate terrorism tell us is that believable I mean I certainly think it is to many Israelis and to the Israeli establishment that is implementing these actions uh what we see is not new and uh as long as Israel you know continues to militarily rule millions of Palestinians who have no rights and no representation my analysis of it is that resistance and armed attacks and Terror and however you want to call it will continue uh what's really unfortunate uh as somebody who sits in Israel is that what Israel is doing they may think that it's going to bring security but I think we know from Decades of the situation that it actually only brings further instability and violence to Israeli as well so unfortunately I don't think Israel's actions whether or not they think they are Justified are actually going to achieve the result that Israel wants and we see the same thing with Gaza Israel has destroyed Gaza and Hamas has only become more popular in many places I mean Israel would of course say that it's doing everything it can to not let an October the 7th terrorist attack happen again and I I've heard you say in other interviews as well that Israeli incursions into the West Bank in this case risk fueling Palestinian resistance rather than quelling it what would then an an effective alternative strategy be well unfortunately I don't see that being very practical right now because after October 7th Israelis don't see Palestinians at all or if they do they see them as the enemy But ultimately Israel cannot continue to occupy territory that it conquered in a war in 1967 uh it cannot continue to rule over people who have no rights it can't continue to have two separate systems of law in one place uh in the West Bank and now what we're seeing in Gaza looks like a reoccupation uh within Gaza not just from the outside this is ultimately not going to bring stability to anyone um so Israel you know ideally would stop building settlements would agree in a negotiated process to withdraw and to try to find the best way to reach a solution whether it's one state or two state it doesn't matter ultimately people need to be free and people need to have equal rights just unfortunately that's not just just coming back to the West Bank what we were talking about you know obviously Israel is saying the idef is saying we're going after militant strongholds here so so again I mean if they they say that they have the the evidence the intelligence what should they do well look we're talking about a military superpower in the Middle East against um many Palestinians who have never lived in anything other than a refugee camp under occupation with no political Horizon and all non-violent acts of resistance over the years especially in the early 2000s uh were never met with Israeli concessions or any kind of um willingness to enter a real negotiated process so Palestinians have been left with no other choice unfortunately other than armed resistance and what Israel does in the West Bank in with its military occupation is violent it is violent um in in ways even more than armed resistance is so in that sense you know Palestinians can also say that they have the right um to do what they do at the same time so I mean the only way for Israel to to to deal with Terror in a legitimate way is first and foremost to stop breaking international law agree to a negotiated resolution and then it would have much more legitimacy in specific targeted operations Myra Sunshine from the international crisis group we'll have to leave it there but we appreciate your time thank you so much thank you an