Israeli security chiefs warn of “third intifada” in West Bank

Occupied Jerusalem: Top officials of the Israeli army warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of the war cabinet on Tuesday that the West Bank is on the verge of an explosion amid escalating military campaigns across the occupied Palestinian territories. Israel's Channel 12 television reported Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy and senior officers made clear and direct warnings to the war cabinet hat the West Bank is on the brink of an explosion, and that tensions could end up with "a third intifada (uprising)." They cautioned that Israel "is going down a slippery slope that might lead to imminent escalation in West Bank cities and open up a new front Israel would have to deal with." The channel pointed to stepped up military operations across the West Bank and a surge in incursions, raids, arrests and assassinations, which coincided with the ongoing war on Gaza that began on October 7. The top brass of the army attributed West Bank tensions to rising anger due to unemployment and worsening economic conditions amid a ban on Palestinian labour in Israel. The channel said the Shabak security service shared the fears of security officials and they had issued similar warnings to the military. The situation reached the boiling point that might trigger widespread violence, said top figures in the military establishment, urging Netanyahu to devote discussion to this matter and take decisions to rein in the volatile situation in the West Bank. The television station said officials in the administration of US President Joe Biden shared these fears and were exercising pressure on Tel Aviv to reduce tensions in the West Bank, but Netanyahu refrains from any such action for his own political considerations and the pressure on him by far-right coalition partners. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who arrived in Israel Monday night, will try to convince Netanyahu that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich releases withheld Palestinian tax money to the Palestinian Authority, sources said. Source: Jordan News Age ncy