The West Bank has not been exempt from brutal Israeli military attacks
But to think that the problem for Palestinians ends there is another matter. The belief that Israel is merely ‘fighting the terrorists’ and acting in self-defence has long expired as an argument to justify events in Gaza.
Further proof of that fact can be found when you look at the West Bank and take the story of one 25-year-old Palestinian man – an ordinary person, no different from you and me.
The West Bank native has asked for anonymity for his own safety. When you look at the volume of unjust operations constantly being carried out in his hometown of Jenin – it’s hardly a surprise.
But he watches and waits as his city is slowly devoured by Israel. He watches and waits as the rest of the world has done, while 48,000 Palestinians – and counting – have been killed.
Every day is a fight for survival in Jenin, and it shouldn’t be. Hamas doesn’t exist in the West Bank. That excuse isn’t there for the Israelis.
“Honestly, after everything that’s happened [in Gaza], I’m not surprised,” he begins. “I’m disappointed but not surprised.
“Last year, Spain, Norway, and Ireland recognised the Palestinian state. Like what happened in Ireland, they ‘recognised’ Palestine, but nothing practical has happened.
“Anyone who lives here, we’ve lost hope in the world.
“We don’t see real practical changes. From the people yes, but governments – no. I can’t say I’m surprised, even if they’re technically ‘on our side’.
“You have Jordan and Egypt, which are supposedly on our side, yet they have normalised relationships with the occupation and still have direct flights from their capitals to Tel Aviv. I would not say I’m surprised, when even our relatives are doing the same.
“Why would we expect other governments not to do the same?
“I don’t have any hope any more in governments, any government in the world. They’re not following their people’s interests, only their own interests.
“After more than a year of genocide nearly 50,000 people killed, more than 2 million displaced – how can I say I believe in the world? This isn’t enough for the world to [make a] move?”
The lack of action and support is one thing, but the double standard is another.
A double standard which exists primarily in Western media outlets, supposedly free and fair organisations that report the truth in an objective manner.
For the Palestinians, that reporting has been anything but objective.
“I’ve reached the point of disappointment; I’m not shocked anymore. With the Western media, I’m not sure how it’s happening. I feel they are afraid of something, or they are controlled by something.
“Reliable sources are influenced or guided by Israeli interests. You can feel that by the just the wording.
“It can change things; it changes how people interpret the truth,” he argues. “You change the incident by changing the words. By changing the words you’re changing the facts.
“When you say 48,000 people died, it’s very different to 48,000 people were killed. It’s one event, one thing that happened. But the words change how your mind interprets it.
“The Western media has much larger influence in the world, than any Eastern media. You can see the control and influence in some of those Western media outlets, and they’re larger than the media organisations that are honest.
“You see in Ukraine, 40 people [killed], and I’m not saying 40 is a little number, but still. I’m comparing 40 to 40,000. 40 lives matter, but 40,000 don’t,” he pleads. “It’s not about humans, it’s about how Ukrainian lives matter, and Palestinian lives don’t.
“They are in the same situation defending their land. It’s the same as what happened in Ireland when the British took over. It’s people defending their land for more than 60 years, and why now are they criminals and terrorists, but someone else resisting occupation is not a terrorist?
“It’s the right to defend somewhere else, but not here. We’ve lost that hope in governments. We just have hope in people. People who believe in human rights.”
That contradiction has always existed throughout history. In the famous words of George Galloway, “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.”
What Hamas did on October 7 was abhorrent. But the same language can be used to describe some of the actions of the IRA.
In both cases, wrongdoing can obviously be found. But to understand the cause of violence is not to justify or accept. Conflating understanding with approval is a mistake that is far too commonplace by those pleading anti-Semitism at every juncture.
To claim Hamas’ attack a year and a half ago was entirely unprovoked is ignorant. This complex conflict began in 1948. It probably began before that if you want to get down to the finer details.
It did not begin two years ago.
“I believe that a lot of factors play a role here,” he explains. “Let’s compare it also to what happened in Ireland. They spoke about terrorist bombings, they called them terrorists, even if it was done by Christian white people.
“Because it was against a Western government they were called terrorist attacks, regardless of the source. Being brown or Muslim, it adds to it.
“It’s easier for them to frame them as a terrorist. This is a factor. The other factor is anti-Semitism. It’s kind of trendy now I don’t know why. We are also Semites!” he exclaims. “When you look at history, where do Semites come from? Arabs, Persians, Jews – we are relatives. It’s not anti-Semitism, how could we be against ourselves?
“If there is a war between two Arab countries, we can’t say it’s anti-Arab if we are Arabs! I don’t know how people accept this, and to this level the western media have blinded people.
“Just one Google search, who are Semites and what does anti-Semitism mean. I just want people to stop for five minutes, just five minutes of your life and think. Make one small, neutral search and look at the history. You will be shocked.”
The situation in the West Bank continues to worsen. Raids are a regular occurrence, and with that the killings of innocent civilians.
It’s becoming more and more dangerous, and our own interviewee has had a few close calls. One of those was during an Israeli raid in late January, with his father.
“My father is a salesman in the city of Jenin, sometimes I come here and help him,” he explains. “We got used to surprise raids over the city that my father works in.
“We saw in front of our own eyes, people getting shot and killed.
“One raid eight people died, and that became 12 after some wounded died after.
“[It was like] when you throw water at ants and they all scatter. That was the same exact situation if you look from a drone over my city.
“Jenin camp is just 500 metres away from me right now, [and] the Israeli military are raiding houses. Just search Jenin and you’ll see what is going on right now, since January 21.
“When they declared a truce between Hamas and Israel, they finished in Gaza, and they moved to West Bank.”
The raids aren’t the only problem. The West Bank itself is not what it appears on the map. Israel’s control over the area continues to grow. The Palestinian areas are shrinking fast.
“If you look at the West Bank it’s split into areas A, B and C. The centres of the cities and the towns are there, but none of them are connected to each other.
“Not a single area in A is connected to another area. If you want to cross from one city in A to another in A, you have to cross through areas B and C which are fully controlled by Israel.
“It’s not just the control, there are more than 750,000 Israeli settlers living in the West Bank,” he says. “There are more than 100 settlements sometimes bigger than the Palestinian spots.
“They’re all connected, very well connected and safely connected. From far north to far south. On the other hand, Palestinians in the West Bank face a crazy situation to move from town to town.
“Moving between the cities, right now – it’s really shit.
“If you are going from Jenin to Ramallah which is less than 60, 70 kilometres – last Saturday it took me more than seven hours.
“Why is that? Because of a lot of checkpoints. Now there are more than 800 to 900 checkpoints in this small piece of land in the West Bank,” he adds. “If you are going from one town to another you need to check the telegram groups for the checkpoints – see if they’re closed, opened or jammed. The north is much worse than the centre, but all of the West Bank, at the moment it’s not good.”