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- A year after Oct 7, Israelis in West Bank fear history could repeat itself
A year after Oct 7, Israelis in West Bank fear history could repeat itself
According to many residents, the horror scenario that occurred in the south is not out of the realm of the possible, as Palestinian terror is rearing its head
A year has passed since the October 7 massacre in the Gaza envelope, and one of the most disturbing and burning questions in Israeli society is whether such a massacre can repeat itself, and whether the State of Israel will be caught by surprise again.
Among the majority of the West Bank's Israeli residents, the prevailing view is that the threat of intrusion into Israeli settlements by Palestinians and the massacre of their inhabitants is not divorced from reality. On the contrary, it could happen any day, yes, even today. The slaughter of infants and children and the killing of men and women, young men and women, were sights that, unfortunately, Israelis in the West Bank have faced in recent decades. The readiness from the security system deserves examination and it is very possible to see in the expression of the old and worn "security conception" very relevant to the sector which is under a growing escalation, the Third Intifada is coming.
In the past year, Palestinian terror in the West Bank has risen another notch, raising its head in scope, capabilities, and also in "achievements" that have not been seen for years. Car bombs, suicide bombers, high-power explosive devices and quantities of weapons in the hands of thousands of terrorists, constitute only part of the threats faced in the past year by the Central Command and the Shin Bet throughout the area.
The dramatic increase in arrests, elimination of terrorists, and prevention of attacks in the last 12 months may somewhat reveal how terrorist organizations have developed and prospered in recent years under the nose of the security system, with each dispatch of IDF forces for arrest and elimination of terrorists becoming a slightly more challenging mission, to put it mildly, and with every attack that takes place - the reflected threat only grows due to the terrorists' arming themselves with proper and upgraded weaponry.
The state echelon's guidance during the outbreak of the war to the IDF was to manage the burning area of the West Bank as a secondary arena, a decision that in those days was logical, as almost all attention and resources had to be directed mostly towards the southern front, for the liberation of the hostages and the elimination of every single Hamas terrorist in Gaza. As the fight continued, additional means were added and operational adaptations were made to carry out large and intense operations in the terror strongholds in the West Bank, more terrorists were killed, terror infrastructures were destroyed and attacked forcefully.
Meanwhile, the prohibition on the entry of Palestinian workers into settlements in the West Bank and Israel has greatly diminished and almost faded away, be it by an official decision to allow the entry of several thousand workers, or by turning a blind eye to those sneaking in through the separation fence. Whoever managed to identify this has noted a calm in the area, as unemployment strengthens terror, while employment and prosperity create calm and hope. See the Gaza entry during the ramp up to October 7.
Smuggling of weapons and border breaches
In those days, there were quite a few signs in the conduct of the IDF forces in the Central Command, and it seemed as if the master had gone mad, that this time the games had really ended, businesses that expressed support for the Hamas massacres were visited and destroyed, thousands of terrorists were arrested, and further actions were taken. However, a year passed and the threat of the October massacre is still tangible; terrorists in the West Bank have a lot of resources, hence the continuous smuggling of equipment from enemy countries through the Israel-Jordan border, which even as these lines are being written, remains breached and punctured. This is in addition to the supply of criminal organizations in Israel who are largely supported by looting from IDF bases and battlefields.
In the year preceding the slaughter of October 7, several Palestinian cities, mainly in Samaria, were marked as terror strongholds. Jenin, Nablus, Tubas, and Jericho entrances were the main areas where the IDF operated with some intensity, achieving a number of significant successes.
Today, active and significant terror hubs such as the Hebron sector have been added, which have produced a series of armed and suicide attackers, firebomb cars, and more. This trend certainly concerns the new command chief Avi Blot, who, to further complicate matters, will not be granted a hundred days of grace given the escalation in the field, which he is well acquainted with from his previous role as the brigade commander in the West Bank.