The Security and Political Situation in the West Bank After the October 7 Operation

"Military Incursions and Settlement Expansion"

Introduction:

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has intensified its military and security operations in the cities, towns, and refugee camps of the West Bank, concentrating on Jenin, Nablus, and Tulkarm, and the Israeli assault on the West Bank can be described as a comprehensive assault involving military aggression and wide-scale incursions. This security escalation has been accompanied by a deterioration of the economic situation in the West Bank, as Palestinian workers are banned from working in Israel, and the siege on Palestinian communities has been tightened through increasing military checkpoints on roads, encircling Palestinian cities, and increasing attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian villages and towns, particularly after they were issued assault rifles and linked to active military units. This has been accompanied by settlement expansion, the establishment of more settlement outposts, and public statements hostile to the Palestinian Authority, which has led to an escalation of tension and violence against Palestinians, and a weakening of the Palestinian Authority's control there.

This paper examines the security and political situation in the West Bank after October 7, amid the escalation of Israeli assaults and violations against Palestinian cities and camps, by monitoring the incursions of the Israeli occupation army into the heart of Palestinian cities and camps in the West Bank, settlement expansion and settler attacks, and the deliberate economic siege. This paper will also address monitoring the political situation through the policy of annexation and the "decisive plan," attempts to weaken the Palestinian Authority and administratively and politically separate it from the Gaza Strip, and the siege of the new Palestinian government that was formed to link the West Bank and Gaza as part of a political reform process in preparation for returning to the two-state solution track under American-Arab sponsorship. Finally, the outcomes of the situation in the West Bank.

Prepared by: Dr. Raed Najm