On the dreadful morning of Simchat Torah, October 7, 2023, almost all eyes in Israel were on Gaza as Palestinian terrorists invaded Israel. The Palestinians were composed of members of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and some unaffiliated with any terrorist organization. These Palestinians saw the opportunity to kill Jews and streamed across Israel’s border with Gaza and committed a genocidal massacre.
While everyone was watching the horrific attacks unfold along the Gaza border, many Israelis had a more geographically local focus. With split-screen vision, those in Judea and Samara watched their Palestinian neighbors very carefully. Their concern was that Palestinians in Judea and Samaria would see the killings in Gaza and be incentivized to commit their own attacks.
The IDF and local town security teams went into action and shut down the roads and highways leading from Palestinian towns to Jewish ones.
Since October 7, there has been a heightened security situation in Judea and Samaria. The concern that Palestinians will attack Jewish towns is just as large of a concern today as it was on October 7.
In a Reuters report on Palestinian attitudes about the massacre on the Gaza border, polls showed that three out of every four Palestinians approved of the October 7 attacks. The Palestinian Center for Policy Survey and Research found that 72% of respondents said they believed the Hamas decision to launch the cross-border rampage in southern Israel was “correct” given its outcome so far, while 22% said it was “incorrect.”
In a Jerusalem Post analysis, Seth Frantzman reported about recent outbreaks of violence between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority in Palestinian-controlled territories.
“Hamas is seeking to inflame the West Bank and create protests against the Palestinian Authority amid major setbacks in Gaza through 14 months of war. Now, it wants to spread the chaos and terror it has sowed there to the West Bank. This has been its plan since October 7. However, now it sees an opportunity.”
When outbreaks of violence occur between Palestinians, the chaos is rarely limited to their towns. The vacuum of security frequently develops into Israeli-Palestinian violence that costs lives. There is a legitimate fear that besides using the October 7 attacks as a model for their own third intifada against Israelis, the inter-Palestinian violence will also incentivize Palestinians to attack us.
LAST MONTH, the Defense Ministry announced that it had begun building a fence along the entire Jordan-Israel border. This fence, which has been under construction periodically for years, is now being made a priority because of recent infiltrations. Iran has been smuggling guns to Palestinians in Judea and Samaria to encourage them to kill Israelis and give them the means to carry out attacks.
Officials claim that tens of thousands of guns have made it across the border and into Palestinian hands. In November, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) intercepted a large shipment of weapons smuggled from Iran into Judea and Samaria. Among these were rockets, RPG launchers, powerful remote-controlled explosives, mortar launchers, bombs, rifles, and ammunition.
Belief in an armed struggle
Earlier this year, that same Palestinian Center for Policy Survey and Research poll showed that 70% of Palestinians oppose a two-state solution, and the majority of Palestinians believe that an armed struggle against Israel is the most effective means to end the “occupation.”
Previous polls have shown that 93% of Palestinians hold antisemitic views, and two-thirds of Palestinians support stabbing attacks against Israelis. Based on end-of-the-year statistics released by Israel’s security establishment, Palestinians in Judea and Samaria attempt between three and six terror attacks every day.
In the US State Department’s “West Bank and Gaza 2023 Human Rights Report,” alarming details of Palestinian violence were shown.
“In the West Bank, the trend of violent attacks by Palestinian militants against Israelis had already increased in the first nine months of the year to record levels and spiked sharply after October 7… Significant human rights issues included credible reports of [violence by] Palestinian civilians against Israeli civilians in the West Bank: unlawful killings; physical abuses; crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting Israelis.”
In response to calls from so-called human rights organizations and the State Department, Israel has eased security measures, like checkpoints, in Judea and Samaria.
Instead of ensuring the security of its citizens there, it has turned to the Palestinian Authority to keep an eye on Palestinians who are planning an attack – the same PA spending over $400 million a year on a “pay-to-slay” program that incentivizes Palestinians to commit terror attacks against Israelis.
The easing of restrictions allows for easier access by Palestinian terrorists to areas where Israelis gather. This makes committing terror attacks easier for would-be terrorists. After witnessing the massacre that resulted from trusting Hamas to keep the peace in Gaza, it is absurd to trust the Palestinians with Israel’s security. During this precarious time, Israel shouldn’t be decreasing its security measures in Judea and Samaria; it should be increasing them!
Recently, Israel conducted an airstrike against Palestinian terrorists in the town of Tulkarm. This was in addition to two others conducted since October 7, one in Jenin and another in Nur Shams.
Airstrikes by the Air Force into Palestinian-controlled areas are a significant escalation in Israeli defense. It signifies the Israeli assessment that Palestinian territories have become the next battlefield in the war Israel has been fighting against its enemies since October 7.
With the small amount of attention being given to this battlefield, it is appropriately called “The war no one is talking about.”
The writer is a certified interfaith hospice chaplain in Jerusalem and the mayor of Mitzpe Yeriho, where she lives with her husband and six children.