At dawn on Tuesday, Israeli military vehicles stormed the “Nour Shams” camp in the West Bank and put its streets and shops out of service, in an operation that lasted more than 3 hours.
The picture in the main square in the middle of the “Nour Shams” camp looks similar to the Jenin refugee camp (north of the West Bank), which witnessed a military operation early last July.
In the field of the camp, the Israeli forces completely destroyed the infrastructure, blew up shops and a service center, and the destruction reached the main entrance to the city of Tulkarm.
Israeli bullets targeted a private dental clinic and a mosque whose windows were broken overlooking the camp square in the city of Tulkarm in the northern West Bank.
The Israeli forces withdrew from the “Nour Shams” camp after an operation that took about 3 hours.
One Palestinian was killed and another wounded
Eyewitnesses said that the army withdrew completely from the “Nour Shams” camp after carrying out a military operation that resulted in the death of one citizen and the serious injury of another.
And the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced in a statement, “The young man, Ayed Samih Khaled Abu Harb (21 years old), was killed by live bullets in the head in Nour Shams camp.”
During the operation, the camp witnessed clashes with Palestinian resistance fighters, according to eyewitnesses who said that an Israeli force stormed the camp from several directions.
For months, the West Bank has been witnessing an escalation as a result of the Israeli army's incursions into Palestinian cities and towns, as well as settler attacks and attacks on Palestinian villages and towns.
Clashes with Palestinian resistance
Following the Israeli withdrawal, hundreds of Palestinians went out to inspect the destruction and remove the rubble, while a few armed men from Palestinian factions were seen, some of them wearing masks.
One of the masked men said: "It was a real war, but they could not implement any of their objectives. They destroyed infrastructure and shops, killed civilians and withdrew."
He pointed out that “the resistance was able to target the forces with explosive devices and live bullets.”
Resistants from various Palestinian factions are active in Nour Shams camp, but the majority of them follow the “Islamic Jihad Movement.”
General mourning was declared in the city of Tulkarm and its camps, while citizens prepared for the funeral of “Abu Harb.”
On the other hand, the Israeli army said in a statement: “Last night, the security forces directed the Shin Bet intelligence agency to operate inside the Nour al-Shams camp.”
He added, "The forces detonated a large number of explosive devices that were ready for use inside a building that was being used as a headquarters for wanted persons in the camp."
The statement added: “During the military activity, a number of suspects burned tires and threw explosive devices, and clashes took place with a number of gunmen.”
He continued: “An engineering mechanism working in the area to detect explosive devices was also able to discover and detonate an explosive device without causing casualties.”
Widespread destruction
Muhammad Abu Talal, owner of a store that was completely destroyed by Israeli bombings, says: “Everything was gone in the store. I don’t know why. Everything was blown up. The goods were mixed with bricks and rubble.”
He adds: “It is as if an earthquake struck the shops,” and goes on to say: “The money is compensated, the important thing is the safety of the residents.”
Abu Talal owns a supermarket and a wholesale food store.
In turn, Taha al-Irani, head of the Popular Committee of the “Nour Shams” camp affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization, described the Israeli military operation as “barbaric.”
He said: “In less than two months, there was a new incursion and major destruction to the camp’s infrastructure. The military machine destroyed everything, bulldozing the streets and water networks, and blowing up an electrical transformer.”
The Iranian pointed out that the army “is brutal every time. This time, it killed a citizen and seriously injured another. It destroyed private property, including shops and vehicles, for no reason.”
He continued: “The occupation seeks to abolish the national state through oppression and destruction, but it is delusional, and our people remain committed to their rights.” He said: “There is no peace except with the freedom of our people and the establishment of our independent state.”
The Palestinian official called on the international community to take urgent action to protect civilians, and said: “We are refugees and the responsibility to protect us lies with the international community.”
On July 24, Israel carried out a military operation in “Nur Shams”, which caused great damage to the infrastructure and homes, in addition to the arrest of a number of its residents.
The camp's population is about 11 thousand people, living in an area not exceeding 232 dunums (a dunum is equivalent to a thousand square metres).
Nazareth : This is how Smotrich thinks about the Palestinians, transfer, revenge, and “price payment.”
The Minister of Finance in the occupation government, settler Bezalel Smotrich , sees the killing of Palestinian civilians, even if they are children, as legitimate, within the theory of “conflict resolution,” which includes displacement and revenge.
This is confirmed by an investigation published by the independent Israeli investigative journalist website “Shomrim” about the head of the “Religious Zionism” party, Minister Bezalel Smotrich. It was translated by researcher Hisham Nafaa from the “Madar” Center.
The investigation stated that a few weeks after the government passed the law abolishing the argument of reasonableness, despite the unprecedented popular opposition experienced by Israelis on a large scale, Minister Bezalel Smotrich launched the “Brothers’ Dialogue” campaign. According to him, his party “is embarking on a process to bring hearts together,” through dialogue circles in Israeli society, because “it is time to heal the rift.”
Smotrich is a politician who carefully calculates his steps, and a comprehensive analysis of his ideological doctrine presents a clear revolutionary vision that includes a lot of religious law and very little dialogue. In the face of secularism, he presents “a position that seeks change.” He said about public schools: “Children are superficial, confused, brainwashed, progressive, and lack national, personal, and gender identity.”
Regarding the judiciary, he says: “We want to restore Torah law to its place.”
Smotrich on the arrest of Ahed Tamimi: I am really sad that she is in detention. She should have taken some kind of bullet, at least in her knee joint. This would have placed her under house arrest for life.
“Whoever does not want to, either leave or we will see him in the top scorer.”
When it comes to the conflict with the Palestinians, Smotrich makes a refrain that repeats itself along the way. The first is that the assumption that terrorism stems from despair is wrong. In an article for “Hashiloh” magazine, in 2017, two years after he entered the political arena, Smotrich presented what he called “the decisive plan,” and wrote that “terrorism stems from the hope of weakening us,” and therefore “any solution must be based on amputating the ambition to achieve national hope.” The Arab world is between Jordan and the sea... This matter will take time, because through our foolishness we have reinforced the illusion among the Arabs that they will be able to establish their own state here.”
As for the other refrain phrases that Smotrich usually uses, they are: “There is no such thing as “two states for two peoples” and “the land of Israel” is ours, and what is ours cannot be stolen,” and another refrain that clearly reflects his quest for one state or the implementation of a transfer. In 2015, he said, in a speech to the Knesset plenary: “There is only one state here, a Jewish state, and there will never be a Palestinian state alongside it. Whoever wants to live with us is welcome, but whoever does not want to either leave, or we will see him in Al-Mahdaf” (The Target of the Guns). A year later, he wrote on Twitter, "All that's left now is to move from words to action: turn out the lights in the Palestinian Authority, impose sovereignty, and do whatever any independent, self-respecting state would do."
The investigation shows that if we go back to Smotrich's political and security vision for the Palestinians, as he expressed it in an article for "Hashiloh", it is easy to define in its clauses the idea of "resolving the conflict instead of continuing to manage it"; “Whoever wants and is able to abandon the realization of his national ambitions can stay here and live as an individual in the Jewish state. “This will be a life that includes most democratic rights.” He asserts that his intention is to give the right to vote to municipal councils, but not to the Knesset (“participation in civil decisions, as opposed to national ones”) and explains that “this will preserve the Jewish majority in decision-making in Israel,” and that “in the long run it will be possible to improve the democratic element In the plan, through a settlement with Jordan, within the framework of which the Arabs of the West Bank can vote for the Jordanian parliament, while full citizenship will be considered in parallel with absolute loyalty and military service.
Apartheid
According to the investigation, Smotrich rejects, in his aforementioned article, the claim that the settlement he proposes turns Israel into an apartheid state, and claims: “There is, at most, a missing element in the basket of freedoms, or if we like: a lack of democratic clarity. The system of freedom does not begin and end with the right to nominate and be elected,” he explains. And he “naives” later, claiming that the state originally “shifts the focus on democracy from the simple meaning of “majority rule,” from which the right to nomination and election is derived and constitutes a means of exercising it, to a system of values and rights. For some reason, in the Palestinian context in particular, they suddenly want to stick to the technical nomination and election mechanism.”
The idea of displacement and transfer
As for the idea of voluntary transfer, Smotrich calls it “encouraging immigration ,” explaining that “whoever does not want, or cannot, put aside his national ambitions, will receive help from us to immigrate to one of the Arab countries, or to any other destination in the world.” This is not a migration on rickety boats, but rather a modern phenomenon of migration on a plane towards an organized future. “Relocation” to countries that offer the opportunity for a better future, and assimilation into an environment that most likely includes an immigrant community of similar background. “The state can, and should, be generous towards Arabs who prefer to live in other countries, and provide them with a grant that, for its part, constitutes a parting grant.”
What about the Palestinians who will not accept the choice between apartheid and voluntary transfer? In this regard, Smotrich could not have been more clear: “Those who are intransigent about the use of violence will be dealt with and dealt with decisively by the security forces with greater force than we do today, and under conditions that are more comfortable for us... when they provide decisive political guidance that does not Undoubtedly, the Israeli army knew how to defeat terrorists within a short time. Killing those who must be killed, collecting weapons until the last bullet, and restoring security to the citizens of Israel.”
The investigation recalls that in an interview he gave to Liberal magazine in 2018, Smotrich also referred to the Gaza Strip, from which Israeli army forces withdrew as part of the disengagement plan, in the summer of 2005, and included it in the resolution plan referred to above: “Gaza is part of “The Land of Israel” and even if it was once Palestine, it was not ideologically, it must remain there in practical terms. They were better off under the occupation.” In a post on his Facebook page, in the same period, he proposed “a complete occupation of the Strip reducing the population by distributing and rehabilitating refugees in Arab countries or in Europe and re-establishing a glorious Israeli settlement, which, along with the labor market inside Israel, could allow... For those who choose to live under Israeli rule, to earn a living and live in dignity.”
Ethics of war: “Huwara must be erased”
Understanding the principles of the “resolution plan” makes the recent statements of this politician, especially those related to the village of Hawwara, more clear. After the settlers, the brothers Hillel and Yigal Yaniv, were killed in an operation, Smotrich said at a conference of the economic newspaper “The Marker”: “I believe that the village of Huwara should be wiped out, and I believe that Israel should do that, and not, God forbid, private individuals.” His statements were in fact an explanation for his liking on Twitter for what was written there by the Deputy Chairman of the Shomron Regional Council, David Ben Zion, who wrote there a few hours before the outbreak of the pogrom in the village: “The village of Huwara must be wiped out today There is no room for mercy.” Ben Zion’s tweet has since been deleted, but is still circulating on the Internet.”
Smotrich: Gaza is part of the “Land of Israel,” and even if it was once Palestine, you must stay. Their situation was better under the occupation.
The investigation recalls that Smotrich Model 2023 is the Minister of Finance in Israel, an additional minister in the Ministry of Defense, and a prominent member of Benjamin Netanyahu's sixth government. His statements about Hawwara were strongly condemned by the US State Department, and even US government officials boycotted his visit to the US not long after. For his part, Smotrich hurried to the television and tried to minimize the damage. “Whoever can ascribe to me an intention to wipe out the village depends on his obsessive mind,” he said. The intention is to be more proactive, proactive and offensive in the war against terrorism, because here people are being killed. Perhaps the words were said during an outburst of emotions. I stumbled on my tongue.” But the truth is that Smotrich did not fail in his exact words, as he had previously used the phrase “erase” in March 2019, when rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip at Tel Aviv. He wrote on social media: “I wanted to write that Netanyahu must tonight erase 20 buildings belonging to Hamas in Gaza.” He continued, “I wanted to write that this is how deterrence is restored. But then it stopped because it had to be done since the rockets were being fired towards the south. Therefore, let twenty buildings be razed to the ground tonight, only if he commits that from today on, the rule of Sderot will be the same as that of Tel Aviv.”
Pay the price
When it comes to armed operations in the Palestinian territories, "price tag" operations, and Jewish terrorist operations, Smotrich usually adopts an additional concept that allows him to jump between justification and condemnation - revenge. In this way, he can not justify Jewish terrorist acts on the one hand, nor describe the aggressors as terrorists, on the other hand. For example, he wrote in a post on the eve of the 2016 Holocaust Remembrance: “It is true that revenge is indeed an important and moral value, but it has been entrusted in the hands of the state and in the hands of the law. It is not the property of the individual,” and this was in light of the terrorist attack on the village of Duma, in which the house of the Dawabsha family was burned down on its family and residents, and the boy Muhammad Abu Khudair was killed a year earlier. He added, “If the State of Israel had not removed the word revenge from its dictionary, under the influence of distorted Christian morals, and had done so in legitimate and deterrent ways to the enemy, we would not have faced these difficult cases of ordinary individuals taking the law and revenge and applying it into their own hands.”
“We have to correct the distortion.”
According to the investigation, the behavior and performance of the occupation army in the Palestinian territories is a topic that greatly concerns Smotrich, and the examples of his blunders in this regard are almost endless. He declared from the Knesset podium in February 2016: “Participate and spread the true ethics of war. A terrorist who goes out to kill a Jew, because he is a Jew, regardless of his age, never comes back alive. a point. This is the first alphabet of morals.
As for the arrest of the girl Ahed Tamimi, who slapped a soldier in the village of Nabi Saleh in March 2018, he wrote on Twitter: “I am really sad because she is in detention. I think she should have taken a bullet, at least in her knee joint. That would have put her under house arrest for life.” After this post, Twitter closed Smotrich's account for 12 hours.
Finally, in this regard, it is difficult to ignore Smotrich’s handling of the Elior Azaria case, especially that which came after the rejection of the appeal of the soldier who was convicted of killing a wounded Palestinian in Hebron, years ago, and was sentenced to 18 months in prison, calling for his pardon and to erase this shame.
It's highlighting ongoing tensions and the urgent need for international intervention to protect civilians.
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