Alwaght- While the world attention is on the World Cup, the clashes between the Israelis and Palestinians have increased considerably and a number of people on both sides are killed or injured everyday. Just a decade ago, the heavily armed Israeli military spared no crimes against the Palestinians, but it is today itself encircled from all sides by the resistance groups, to an extent that the Israeli leaders resort to international actors to get rid of this security abyss, while there is no clear outlook for a quick end to the clashes.
For details on the security situation in occupied Palestinian territories, Alwaght talked to Sayed Hadi Afghahi, an Iranian expert of West Asian affairs.
Alwaght: The security situation in the West Bank is highly tense and critical and estimations talk about possibility of outbreak of a new Palestinian intifada. How likely is a new intifada?
Afghahi: Intifada has a general sense and means a popular revolt, but what is happening in the West Bank cannot be labeled an intifada. There is an armed struggle and Islamic resistance that is expanding day by day, and the reactions to the Israeli crimes and initiatives and methods of fighting the Israeli forces and the opportunities they make have seriously concerned the enemy. The Israelis themselves say that in the official 22-day war, or officially Operation Sword of Al-Quds, we knew the scale of the power of our enemy and what capabilities we had, and what the enemy’s methods were. The Israelis have admitted this many times. On the other side, the Islamic Jihad and Hamas resistance groups, even the Fatah movement, knew how powerful the enemy was and how many missiles and weapons it had. But now the guerilla war that is going on in the West Bank is not only about the use of arms, it is about smashing the Israelis with cars and individual operations. The Palestinians also hit the settlers with stones.
The Israeli army spokesman has expressed his worries that with the new methods the Palestinians are applying in the West Bank, it is difficult to counter them. The spokesman added that Tel Aviv can no longer guarantee the security of the settlers and this shows the scale of confrontation. The current situation does not look like an intifada but it is likely that along with the armed operations by the youths in Jenin and Nablus against the Israelis, the Palestinians revolt under a new intifada as the direct confrontation continues to unfold across various Palestinian cities as well as 1948 areas. Now, there is a full-scale war underway between the armed Palestinians and the Israeli forces. Though the Palestinians may sustain casualties, they inflict heavy casualties on the Israelis.
Alwaght: The Israeli regime claims that by stepping up its operations in the West Bank, it had managed to forcefully quell the Palestinians, particularly the newly-founded Lions’ Den resistance group. Do you think the Israelis have reached this claimed goal?
Afghahi: After killing the commander of the Lions’ Den, the Israelis think that the group would collapse. But we need to know that the commanders are not permanent and they can be hit any moment. But the group has a tactical command and works with free-to-fire method. The group stated that the Israeli enemy should not think that with the death of its commander, it would collapse. On the contrary, the confrontation would be stronger and more severe from now on. This issue is extremely important in terms of psychological warfare and military work. Indeed, with the death of one or more commanders, the cluster structure that constitutes command of the group would not disappear and more serious confrontation is to come.
In fact, we are seeking contradictory remarks by the Israelis. The Israeli leaders are making empty promises to the settlers to win the popular favor and vote and prevent reverse migration. After intensification of the tensions in the occupied territories, the settlers began reverse migration as they felt the encirclement is tightened and they would be affected by war. Military experts and former security officials and even some prominent Israeli writers and figures admit that Israel is having its toughest and most critical days. These people have no political or military posts but are watching the situation and confrontation closely. They are watching the Palestinian talent and courage. They are emboldening the settlers because they want to uplift their morale, but I do not think they would make it because the anti-Israeli operations are occurring on a daily basis.
In the past, there were no news of clashes for months but now the Palestinian operations are taking place every day, with the Palestinian youths inflicting huge casualties on the Israelis. This is a novel phenomenon. This is the same thing that the [Iranian] Leader emphasized on. He said that the West Bank should be armed. Today, we see armed operations are carried out openly and the clashes continue seriously.
A couple of days ago, the resistance forces launched a number of rockets into the occupied territories and warned that the West Bank is not alone and they do not allow the Israeli regime to encircle and disarm it and kill the Palestinian forces. Therefore, Gaza front is warming and the West Bank is on its boiling point and the Palestinians of 1948 organized demonstrations in Al-Quds and some operations took place there. So, the domain of operations is broadening and this is intimidating the Israeli security officials.
Alwaght: It seems that after the World Cup in which the Muslim public expressed their anger with normalization with the Israeli regime, some compromising Arab leaders are acting cautiously. What is the reaction of the Arab world to the West Bank developments these days?
Afghahi: All of the Arab leaders, except for a few, are treasonous to the Palestinian cause and their best job is to avoid betraying the Palestinians. Polls and the behavior of people on the ground in Qatar showed how loyal the Arab public are to the Palestinian cause. This was exclusive to people not the rulers. The Supreme Leader [of Iran] had said that the normalization is just a show between the Arab rulers and the Israeli regime. After humiliation of the Israelis in the World Cup, the Israeli army spokesman insulted the Arab rulers and said that the Israelis thought that after normalization, the Arab people would welcome them on their soil but the actions by the Arab football fans showed that the Arab rulers were lying to Tel Aviv.
Israeli journalists thought that if they go to Qatar and say that they are Israelis, they would be respected and warmly welcomed, but they admitted that they were treated very badly and humiliated. Some of them identified themselves as German journalists to avoid being rejected by the fans.
This behavior of the Arab public showed the strategic depth of the Palestinian cause among the Arab nations and told the world that it is the comprising leaders from Anwar Saddat of Egypt to King Hussein of Jordan and then Emirati and Bahraini rulers who are normalizing and people are opposed to them. Every day in Bahrain, we see protests against the normalization of this country with the Israeli regime, and during the visit of the Israeli President Isaac Herzog to Manama last week, people held large-scale protests against this visit and forced the government to cancel some of Herzog’s work programs to avoid security problems. Actually, the World Cup showed that the Arab public would not accept the Israeli regime and pro-normalization efforts are going nowhere.
Alwaght: As the tensions unfolded, a non-binding resolution was passed at the UN against Israel. How do you see the international atmosphere in relation to the Palestinian dispute?
Afghahi: The UN motion was not a resolution but a statement and a referendum on the Israeli nuclear disarmament. It was a great move in its type and drew Israeli concerns. The world community demands Israeli nuclear disarmament and this political victory and Muslim public’s support to the Palestinians were two big victories for the Palestinians in the past weeks. We saw a Moroccan football player after the match flew the Palestinian flag while Morocco has normal relations with the Israeli regime. All these showed that normalization have failed to change the people’s views because the Muslim nations’ antipathy to the Israeli regime is cultural, historical, ideological, and religious, and it is impossible for people to forsake their religion and culture. Therefore, despite normalization, the Israeli regime is nearing its collapse and this is just a matter of time.
