Israel's actions in the West Bank: The spiral of violence twists and turns

Mr Security, alias Benjamin Netanyahu, who is propagated on posters by his Likud party as “the man who fights for us”, wants to show strength once again in the last few meters before the parliamentary elections in Israel. To demonstrate this again with a major military offensive, the death of two Israeli soldiers near Hebron in the West Bank came at exactly the right time - as cynical as it sounds. From an Israeli perspective, the assassination attempt on the two men justifies the expulsion of over 2,000 Palestinians who - as so often before - will be punished collectively.

A new parliament will be elected this Tuesday. It could be tight for the incumbent head of government, who led his country to anything but greater security. He was unable to fulfill his promise to eradicate Hamas in the Gaza Strip once and for all, nor his intended overthrow of the Iranian leadership. The Lebanese Shiite terrorist organization Hezbollah, although greatly weakened, is still a threat, especially to the population of northern Israel.

On none of the many fronts on which the small Middle Eastern country is currently fighting has the military's massive crackdown come anywhere close to a solution, on the contrary. Without a diplomatic perspective, the spiral of violence will continue to spiral. Just imagine what is currently going on in the minds of Palestinians who have been forcibly evicted from their homes.

The Israel-Palestine conflict is discussed controversially, especially in left-wing circles. There are also some fundamentally different positions on this in the taz. In this section you will find all comments and debate contributions on the topic of the Middle East.

There is hardly any talk of diplomacy in the election campaign. There is no election to be won in Israel with the hope of peaceful coexistence and two states for two peoples - less so than ever after the massacre of October 7th. Instead, security is the central issue. No longer just using the motto “We can do better,” but now using the slogan “You are to blame for the violence,” Defense Minister Israel Katz (Likud) is quickly holding the opposition responsible for future attacks. Katz names three party leaders from the so-called Block of Change who have joined forces against Netanyahu and his right-wing extremist ministers.

The accusation is absurd. After all, it is the openly racist government that is partly to blame for the violence by promoting Israeli settlement in the occupied land, driving out the Palestinian population and neither stopping nor punishing the violent settlers. The Palestinians will watch the election with trepidation. Just like those Israelis for whom human rights still have meaning.