Israeli Maj Gen Yehuda Fuchs addressed a major concern when he said on Monday that “in recent months, nationalist crime” in the occupied West Bank had “led to revenge and sowed calamity and fear in Palestinian residents who do not pose any threat”. If the departing chief commander of Israeli troops in the territory had said “decades” instead of “months”, he would have been even more precise.
In one sense, the major general’s remarks are an unusually candid reflection on Israeli policy in the West Bank. Since the Hamas attacks of October 7, there has indeed been a surge in violent attacks against Palestinians by Israeli settlers, many of whom have been emboldened by the presence in government of several radical ministers who have built their political careers on intransigence and extremism. Undoubtedly, it is the policy of illegal settlement itself that has caused so much misery and injustice.
This was painfully articulated this week by Mohanned Qafesha, an anti-settlement activist in Hebron. “Some people say living in Hebron is like living in jail,” he told The National this week. “I disagree. In jail you’re not free, but you feel safe. As Palestinians we’re not safe and we’re not free.” Indeed, the Palestinian communities of the West Bank have been labouring for years under an oppressive regime of Israeli checkpoints, movement restrictions and military courts on their own land.
One would have assumed that the Israeli authorities – under extreme pressure to restore the country’s security after the killing of more than 1,200 people by Hamas militants on October 7 – would have deprioritised their activities in the West Bank, a territory internationally recognised as belonging to another people. And yet, the opposite is happening. According to the Peace Now NGO, almost 13 square kilometres of land in the Jordan Valley were seized last month – the largest land grab since the 1993 Oslo Accords. This comes after the seizure of 8 sq km of land in the West Bank in March and 2.6 sq km in February.
It is time that Israeli commanders see how settlement activity and continued occupation make their country less secure, not more so
As Israel ensnares itself further in the occupation of the West Bank, it will have to divert more troops and financial resources to protect the increasing number of settlers and further subjugate already-disenfranchised Palestinians. That considerable numbers of troops are required to safeguard the most zealous among the Israeli settler vanguard is undoubtedly frustrating to the more pragmatic members of the military, such as Maj Gen Fuchs, who must contend with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
It is plain to see that the situation in the West Bank is increasingly toxic and untenable. Given the open support expressed by some Israeli ministers to re-settle Gaza, the danger of reproducing this unjust and enervating policy in another part of Palestine is greater than it has been for many years. It is high time that more experienced Israeli commanders see, and importantly say, that the slow-motion catastrophe of settlement activity and continued occupation makes their country less secure, not more so.
The five pillars of Islam
THE BIO
Favourite car: Koenigsegg Agera RS or Renault Trezor concept car.
Favourite book: I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes or Red Notice by Bill Browder.
Biggest inspiration: My husband Nik. He really got me through a lot with his positivity.
Favourite holiday destination: Being at home in Australia, as I travel all over the world for work. It’s great to just hang out with my husband and family.
match info
Chelsea 2
Willian (13'), Ross Barkley (64')
Liverpool 0
RESULTS
6.30pm: Handicap (rated 95-108) US$125,000 2000m (Dirt).
Winner: Don’t Give Up, Gerald Mosse (jockey), Saeed bin Suroor (trainer).
7.05pm: Handicap (95 ) $160,000 2810m (Turf).
Winner: Los Barbados, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass.
7.40pm: Handicap (80-89) $60,000 1600m (D).
Winner: Claim The Roses, Mickael Barzalona, Salem bin Ghadayer.
8.15pm: UAE 2000 Guineas Trial (Div-1) Conditions $100,000 1,400m (D)
Winner: Gold Town, William Buick, Charlie Appleby.
8.50pm: Cape Verdi Group 2 $200,000 1600m (T).
Winner: Promising Run, Patrick Cosgrave, Saeed bin Suroor.
9.25pm: UAE 2000 Guineas Conditions $100,000 1,400m (D).
Winner: El Chapo, Luke Morris, Fawzi Nass.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Company Profile
Company name: Fine Diner
Started: March, 2020
Co-founders: Sami Elayan, Saed Elayan and Zaid Azzouka
Based: Dubai
Industry: Technology and food delivery
Initial investment: Dh75,000
Investor: Dtec Startupbootcamp
Future plan: Looking to raise $400,000
Total sales: Over 1,000 deliveries in three months
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
