Situation quite grim in Nablus

Israeli forces have been raiding Nablus and Jenin, two West Bank cities. This week, six Palestinians were killed by the Israeli forces, three of them belonged to armed resistance groups. Thousands of Palestinians turned up for their funeral and the mourning was loud and heartfelt. It showed that the ordinary Palestinians have reached the edge of a sense of helplessness, and more young people are joining armed groups like the Lion’s Den in Nablus. Khaled Jamal, a 25-year-old Nablus resident, said of the funeral that it was “unreal.”

He said, “At the funeral for the men, people were crying hysterically. People are going crazy. Hundreds of people were at the Rafida hospital in Nablus, where the injured and martyrs were coming in. People came on motorcyles from Jenin to bid farewell to the martyrs. People came from Jenin to help the families of Nablus cope with the tragedy.”

Palestinians in these towns are facing a double onslaught. There is the attack from Israeli forces, who claim to be targeting the armed Palestinian groups, but they end up killing unarmed civilians as they did in the latest incident. They killed two barbers going home from work. The other problem is that the Jewish settlers in West Bank have turned violent and they have been attacking the Palestinian towns even as the Israeli forces play the role of passive onlookers. On October 4, the settlers attacked the Huwwara Boys Secondary Boys School, beat up students and teachers, and smashed cars and class windows. The school principal, Abdulhameed Shehadeh, said that the settlers “were throwing rocks at me, at the cars, at everything. It was raining rocks. I was hit on my arms, legs, chest. I fear for the lives of my students.” The Palestinian health ministry said Israeli forces killed 184 Palestinians since the beginning of 2022, 132 in Occupied East Jerusalem and West Bank, and 51 in Gaza.

Things are turning difficult for the Palestinians in the West Bank and in Gaza, and it seems one of the reasons that some of the young Palestinians are joining armed groups though that is not proving to be effective in any way. The cycle of violence is unabating, and the Palestinians are facing greater suppression than before. It has been observed that Gaza is an open prison, and tens of thousands of the people are hemmed in and choked. The situation cannot be allowed to persist longer. It is bad for Israeli governments and Israeli people, and it is bad for the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank and the Hamas provincial government. It is then necessary for the United States which seems to exert enormous influence on the Israeli government to counsel the Israeli leaders to negotiate with Palestine and establish peace between the two states.

The plight of the Palestinian refugees is also quite pitiful. The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has appealed for $13 million in funding to support Palestinians in Lebanon, as the country reels from an unprecedented economic crisis.Palestine refugees, living in overcrowded camps... are at the end of their rope, said UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said adding that “almost every Palestine refugee in Lebanon lives in poverty”.

They need cash assistance for families, primary health care services and to keep the agency’s schools open until the end of this year. Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are “often unable to even scrape by”, he said, adding: “Our assistance is a drop in an ocean of despair.”

Lebanon hosts about 210,000 Palestinian refugees, including 30,000 who fled Syria after war erupted in 2011, according to UNRWA.

Unprecedented levels of poverty, skyrocketing unemployment rates and increasing despair are... severely hitting the Lebanese people and Syrian and Palestine refugees. The dire situation should be checked, and a lot depends on the international community.