Under the smoke of war, Israel escalates its repression in the West Bank.

Nabhan Khreisha

While the world's attention is focused on the major escalation between Israel and Iran, with its potential regional threats, Israel is using this conflict as cover to deepen its repressive policies against Palestinians in the West Bank. Taking advantage of the international and Arab media's preoccupation with the war, Israel is implementing a systematic campaign of collective punishment, arbitrary measures, and ethnic cleansing. Since the first days of the attack on Iran, the occupation authorities have escalated their actions on the ground in the West Bank, deploying massive military checkpoints and cutting off main and secondary roads connecting cities and villages, making movement between one area and another almost impossible.
The West Bank has been transformed into isolated islands, with every city or village under siege. This has disrupted trade, prevented the arrival of essential goods, and paralyzed medical and educational services, echoing the numerous closures Israel has repeatedly used throughout its occupation of the Palestinian territories. For example, the agricultural sector in the West Bank is facing a stifling crisis, with farmers finding it difficult to market their crops due to the blockade imposed by the occupation forces on villages and towns, turning agricultural roads into traps. A report by the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem stated that trucks carrying agricultural produce have spoiled because they were not allowed to pass, incurring heavy losses for farmers, particularly during the summer vegetable season, which is considered the most important of the year.
Palestinian merchants are also facing a parallel crisis. The Israeli closure imposed since the outbreak of the Israel-Iran war prevents imported goods from entering the Gaza Strip, whether through Israeli ports or from Jordan via the Karameh Bridge, due to complex security procedures. The Ramallah Chamber of Commerce announced in a statement that more than 60% of merchants were unable to bring their goods to market on time, leading to a severe shortage of basic goods and, in turn, to rising prices.
As part of its collective punishment policies, Israel halted fuel supplies to Palestinians under the pretext that the Haifa oil refinery had been bombed by Iran. This led to a partial paralysis of traffic, disruption of public transportation, and the inability of many workers to reach their workplaces. This threatens the collapse of essential fuel-dependent services, such as hospitals and electricity generators in the West Bank. The goal is to use fuel as a weapon to break the will of the people.
The economic crisis currently ravaging the Palestinian territories is not solely the result of the war between Tel Aviv and Tehran. Rather, it represents the culmination of a series of Israeli policies that seek to undermine the Palestinian economic structure by controlling every aspect of it. According to an UNCTAD report, the Palestinian economy is one of the most fragile in the world, due to its near-total dependence on the Israeli economy for imports, exports, and money transfers. Thus, any minor disruption to this system, such as the current one, leads to a near-total paralysis of economic life.
The economic crisis in the Palestinian territories is exacerbated by Israel's near-total halt to the transfer of clearance revenues to the Palestinian government. Days before the exchange of bombings between Israel and Iran, Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich deducted huge portions of Palestinian tax revenues, under the pretext of compensating what his government calls "victims of terrorism." According to a statement by the Palestinian Ministry of Finance in June 2025, more than 400 million shekels were deducted from clearance revenues in just three months, forcing the Palestinian Authority to pay only 60% of its employees' salaries, further deteriorating purchasing power in the markets.
Israel's repressive practices against Palestinians, under the smokescreen of war with Iran, take other forms. While the international media is preoccupied with the exchange of fire between Tehran and Tel Aviv, the occupation army continues its campaign against the camps in the northern West Bank, particularly in Tulkarm, under the pretext of eliminating resistance there, despite the absence of any resistance or resistance fighters. In its efforts to re-engineer the camps geographically and demographically, the remaining residents are being expelled, more homes are being demolished, the remaining infrastructure is being destroyed, and more military units, vehicles, and bulldozers are being deployed to various areas in the northern West Bank, in a scene that resembles a war zone.
The Israeli occupation forces are not the only ones suppressing the population. They have also unleashed settler militias in the West Bank to carry out some of their missions on their behalf. They attack villages, burn cars, uproot trees, and assault residents, under the full protection of occupation soldiers. Remarkably, these attacks are not described in the Israeli or Western media as "terrorism," but are justified under the pretext of "responding to Palestinian incitement" or eliminating "Palestinian terrorism." The escalation of settler violence is not random; rather, it comes within the framework of a clear policy to create permanent terror among Palestinians and force them to voluntarily emigrate from their lands, especially in areas targeted for annexation, such as the Jordan Valley.
The war with Iran, with its dramatic implications and strategic importance, has given Israel cover to divert attention from its daily crimes in Palestine. While screens are filled with images of ballistic missiles and air defenses, no one talks about the body of the young Palestinian man who lay bleeding for hours on a Tulkarm street, or about the checkpoint that was opened five hours later for an ambulance transporting a woman about to give birth. Thus, the international media, with its almost exclusive focus on Iran, has become an implicit partner in the systematic concealment of Israeli repression in the occupied territories.
The round of war between Israel and Iran may end, a ceasefire may be declared, or new political deals may be concluded. But the repression in the West Bank is neither waiting for nor linked to war; rather, it finds in it an ideal environment for expansion. What is happening today in the West Bank is not merely a "temporary security tightening." Rather, it is another chapter in a long-term project to empty the land of its indigenous population and establish an apartheid regime, under the clouds of missiles and the devastation they cause. Palestine, as it has always been, remains the silent victim of every noisy war. Unless the spotlight is shone on what is happening in the shadows, the occupation will continue to use the noise of war as a permanent cover for its crimes.