Watan-The “Arab Center Washington DC” Center for Studies has warned of escalating Israeli violations that have reached a serious level in the West Bank, which has been subjected to suffocation and practices of separation, closure, and movement restrictions since the start of the brutal war against Gaza in late 2023.

The center stated in a report, as reported by (Watan), that the Palestinian crisis extends beyond the residents of the besieged Gaza Strip, facing siege, bombardment, and oppression, to those living in the occupied West Bank, which has been completely closed since the brutal war that began on October 7.

Closure, Violence, and Tightening Grip on West Bank Residents

The report mentioned that the occupied Palestinian areas in the West Bank, under the pretext of an attack by the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, on October 7, 2023, are facing oppressive and brutal policies from the occupation, including road closures, intensified checkpoints, and violence from the occupation forces and settlers.

This has resulted in keeping most Palestinians in the West Bank confined to their cities and villages, while “closure operations and violence have crushed the economy and kept children out of schools.”

The ACW Center explained that Palestinians in the West Bank, witnessing the dire conditions faced by their brethren in Gaza, are now under great concern that their turn will come after Gaza, which, according to observers, faces abandonment by the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas, even before any other Arab regime.

The restrictions imposed by the occupation against Palestinians in the West Bank increased significantly after the Oslo Agreement (for peace) in 1993, which was supposed to be a temporary agreement laying the foundation for a sovereign Palestinian state.7

Disastrous Results of the Oslo Agreement

The report states that after the Oslo Agreement, the occupation gained almost complete control over Palestinian borders and most of the land within the West Bank, expanding its control over the Palestinians economically through the separation wall.

The occupation also built hundreds of temporary and permanent physical barriers, as mentioned by the report’s journalist, Yara Assi.

Administratively, the occupation imposed complex rules for the permits required by Palestinians for activities such as travel, praying at Al-Aqsa Mosque, taking care of their crops on the other side of the wall, or receiving advanced medical care in an Israeli hospital.

West Bank Residents Lack Freedom

Residents of the West Bank lack freedom, as Yara Assi emphasizes that the majority of those residing in the occupied West Bank have not known freedom of movement within or outside the region for many years to this day.

Since the start of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation on October 7, 2023, the Israeli occupation has initiated collective punishment for the Gaza Strip, starting from the continuous blockade (in place for 17 years) to the bombardment. This has led to an unprecedented number of civilian casualties, especially among children and women, among 26,000 martyrs, providing evidence of the occupation committing war crimes that warrant justice.