Fears over arms and Israeli settlers in the West Bank
The Israeli government has requested 24,000 assault weapons from the United States, and there are fears in various sectors of US politics that these rifles could get into the hands of Jewish settlers in the West Bank, which would aggravate the situation in the conflict unleashed by the war between Hamas and the Israeli army, making it even more dangerous for the stability of the Middle East.
According to a report in The New York Times, the Israeli government's request for 24,000 assault rifles from the United States raised concerns among US politicians and members of the State Department that the weapons "could eventually find their way into the hands of settlers and civilians who are trying to force Palestinians off their land in the West Bank".
Here enters another controversial element, the extent to which Israeli settlers pressure and harass Palestinians in the West Bank by displacing them from their land. Settler attacks have intensified in recent times, following Hamas's horrific offensive against Israel on 7 October, killing citizens and even having the support of the Israeli army in operations. The Israeli response is being harsh following the Hamas incursion into southern Israel that left 1,400 Israelis dead and 240 taken hostage by the Palestinian militia.
Israel's ultra-Orthodox National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir promised to "give 10,000 free weapons to West Bank settlers", setting off alarm bells. The conditions for obtaining licences to purchase weapons were also relaxed so that 400,000 people could have access to weapons.
The arms package requested by Israel from the US includes $34 million worth of semi-automatic and automatic rifles ordered from US arms manufacturers, which requires the approval of the State Department as well as reporting requirements to the US Congress itself.
Last week, the US State Department addressed Congress on the concerns and prompted the Department to ask Israel how it intends to use the weapons.
Meanwhile, officials working on human rights issues at the State Department have expressed reservations and those overseeing arms sales intend to approve and announce the orders in the coming days, according to US officials, as reported by media outlets such as Al-Ain News.
For its part, Israel said the weapons would be for its police and security forces, but has also indicated that they could be given to civilians, according to sources consulted by The New York Times.
But US State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said the Israeli government has pledged not to give weapons to settlers in the West Bank, who stepped up their attacks on Palestinians after Itamar Ben Gvir himself promised such arms deliveries.
"We have been incredibly clear with our partners in Israel that action needs to be taken to address the extremist violence we have seen in the West Bank. We have listened to the Israeli government and Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been very involved in this directly as part of his travels," Patel said, as reported by Europa Press.
For the moment, the authorities in the Gaza Strip have put the number of Palestinians killed, including 4,800 children, at more than 10,000 following the Israeli operations unleashed in response to the Hamas attack on 7 October. In the West Bank, meanwhile, there are already reports of 150 dead.
Increased radicalisation and pressure
In recent years, some 500,000 Israelis have moved into these settlements, which, along with military barracks and checkpoints, keep some 2.7 million Palestinians in the region displaced and housed in small separate areas.
Even before the outbreak of the war in Gaza, violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank had increased to a higher level than before. Various experts indicate that this settler radicalism is a response to speeches coming from the Israeli government, which contain extreme right-wing elements, and statements by some Israeli officials who supported the annexation of the West Bank.
In the last decade, Israeli settler movements have pursued a new strategy to increase their control over land in the occupied West Bank: the installation of camps or precarious outposts, which are additional to settlements and are run by shepherds who manage to dominate a larger portion of territory. To ensure their success, they rely on the use of violence against the Palestinian population, for which they have the support of the Israeli authorities, as pointed out by various media outlets such as France 24.
In February 2021, Ze'ev Hever, leader of the "Amana" settlement movement, gave a speech in which he praised the Israeli settlers' new strategy to expand their dominance in the occupied West Bank. "Construction takes up little land, due to the economic considerations of building development, which is costly, and so we have reached 100 square kilometres after just over fifty years. With the shepherd's farms, on the other hand, in the last three years we have ventured over a large area; they cover an area almost twice as large as the built-up area of the settlements", as reported by France 24.
For its part, the Israeli NGO Kerem Navot issued the report "The Wild West", published in May 2022, which documented the existence of 77 agricultural colonies in the West Bank, most of them established over the last decade (and all illegal under international law and even Israeli law itself).
These facilities alone, together with Israeli settlements, control some 60,000 hectares of territory, just under 7% of the total of Area C, the portion of the West Bank under Israeli administrative and security control.
The extent of these settlements is growing with the actions of the right-wing government currently led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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