Following Hamas’s attack on Israel on the morning of October 7, the question of the conditions under which Palestinians have lived for decades, especially in the Gaza Strip and beyond, arose. A situation described by the main international organizations dealing with human rights as a genuine “Apartheid”, a policy not unlike the policy of apartheid established by the white ethnic government of South Africa in 1948 and remaining in force until 1991. , segregating and discriminating against the black population. To better understand what the Israeli government’s practice of apartheid against Palestinians involves in daily life, Today.it contacted FP*, an Italian researcher affiliated with the Free University of Brussels (ULB) who specializes in international cooperation policies and agricultural development in the Middle East. . The academic has traveled extensively to the West Bank in recent years, with his last visit dating back to last September, a few weeks before the Hamas attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip.
What kind of situation did you encounter during your last trip to Palestine in September?
I noticed that the mobility issue got worse the most. As a European, I have the opportunity to move between different jurisdictions and regions, so I can land at Ben Gurion airport and depart from there, passing through East Jerusalem to Ramallah and other villages in the West Bank (also known as the West Bank). Ed). As a rule, this right to mobility is not recognized by the vast majority of Palestinians. Although they reside in Jerusalem (they have a blue ID card, ed.) Palestinians do not have Israeli citizenship, so they lack a number of rights, but they still enjoy a certain freedom of movement, unlike those in the West Bank (who have a green ID card). card, ed.). To enter Jerusalem and Israel, they need a permit, which is granted at Israel’s discretion only in a few other cases such as work, illness, and Muslim holidays.
During my last trip, I witnessed movement in the West Bank being made more difficult by fixed and mobile checkpoints, which are now located outside all towns and villages and are responsible for checking all crossings of people, vehicles and goods. There, the Israeli army carries out very slow document checks. Getting through security can take hours, and then you find yourself faced with a road system designed and built solely to serve Israeli settlements and their inhabitants, while the roads of the Palestinian movement remain dilapidated and isolated. Finally, there are shared paths. In one particular example in Jerusalem, there is a literal “apartheid road” where an eight-meter high wall has been built along the entire route to prevent Israelis and Palestinians from coming into contact. It’s so surreal that it’s hard for me to even explain.
Can you give me a practical example that happened to you?
One day I had to go from Ramallah to a village in the West Bank. It normally takes an hour round trip by public transport. Instead it took me nine minutes round trip because all the checkpoints around Nablus were closed and I was queuing for the bus for hours. Since it was impossible to take public transportation on the way back, I had to go to the Dead Sea and return to Ramallah from there. Although for me it is an exception, for Palestinians this is their daily life and affects all their life choices. This is just one of the many symptoms of the Israeli government’s apartheid in Palestine; A definition codified thanks to numerous reports by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and also an Israeli organization that deals with human rights in Israel. territories occupied and known as B’Tselem.
What else does this separation mean?
Unprecedented amount of violence escalated by the Israeli army. While I was there in September, scores of villages and refugee camps had been burned to the ground in recent weeks on the West Bank, including Jenin, where homes and vehicles were bombed by remote-controlled drones. In addition to the violence of the army, there has also been an increase in attacks by residents of Israeli settlements, which are declared illegal under international law. The settlements are actual fortified cities inhabited by Israeli Jews who contribute to ethnic cleansing aimed solely at eliminating Palestinians.
What do you mean by “ethnic cleansing”?
For example, the evening before the Hamas offensive against Israel took place, one of many “pogroms” carried out by Israeli settlers in rural Palestinian areas of the West Bank, in which houses, transport vehicles and olive trees were burned. Sometimes, guns and stones are thrown directly to attack common roads shared with Palestinians. This situation, which has worsened over the past year at the hands of both the military and the settlers, has left Palestinians in a state of insecurity that includes physical and genocidal violence. More than 250 people were killed by the Israeli army last year in the West Bank alone.
Hamas’s attack started from the Gaza Strip. What are the conditions in that part of Palestinian territory?
70 percent of Gaza’s population comes from villages destroyed by Israel in 1948. More than two million people live under an Israeli-controlled air, land and sea blockade in the region, which is only 41 kilometers long and 10 kilometers wide. Most of the population is under 18 years of age. These are boys and girls who grew up under siege and have lived through multiple wars, such as those in 2008, 2014 and 2021. This means that they have already experienced various traumatic events in the first years of their lives and also cannot leave Gaza. The United Nations predicted that living conditions in the Strip would become “unlivable” by 2020, and this is indeed the case. Israel controls every basic need (food, electricity, water) that is rationed in a way that only ensures Palestinian survival.
Why did you never go to the Gaza Strip and concentrated your education on the West Bank?
As an international researcher, it is not possible for me to enter the Strip like most researchers. Authorization must be granted by the Israeli government, and obtaining this permission is very rare. I believe that the restrictions on academics stem from the desire to prevent them from documenting the inhumane conditions in which people live in Gaza. They could talk about a people living under occupation and physical blockade. The statements of independent eyes accredited at the university level could be problematic for the narrative Israel presents to Western media.
You are an expert on rural issues in Palestine. What has happened in the agricultural areas of the occupied lands in recent years?
With the Oslo accords, rural areas in the West Bank returned to the so-called Area C, which is completely under Israeli control and whose aim is to establish new Jewish colonies there. These are the only fertile areas of a very arid region that can guarantee Palestinian food security. However, they are actually prevented from building and using agricultural infrastructure such as tractors, greenhouses and tool sheds. Even water resources are cemented by Israel. There are also acts of violence such as the burning of Palestinian olive trees. The wall in the West Bank was also built predominantly in rural areas. All these actions are part of a plan to hinder agricultural development, making it unsustainable on both an economic and human level.
If the land is not cultivated for three years, Israel will be able to take it back and offer it to settlers. The essential aim of the far-right government in power in Israel is to force Palestinians to flee so that these lands can be exploited by new colonies completely devoid of Palestinian presence. The demonstration that this plan is openly supported by the government took place in New York in recent weeks. Benjamin Netanyahu presented a map of Israel stretching from Jordan to the Mediterranean, then from the Golan Heights to the Sinai. This publicly presented Greater Israel project effectively envisages the “erasure” of Palestinians from these regions.
The violent attack against Israel was carried out by Hamas, which politically and militarily rules the Gaza Strip. What role does it play in the West Bank?
He is also gaining increasing sympathy in the West Bank, according to testimonies collected. At Bir Zeit University, for example, the Hamas-affiliated Islamic Bloc won the annual student council elections (defeating their Fatah-backed rivals). ed). This result gives the pulse of the situation.
What can explain Hamas’s attack on Israel without wanting to justify it?
In recent months, if not years or decades, Palestinians have employed a variety of means to achieve political change. After numerous peaceful attempts to draw, if not results, at least attention to their existence, the Palestinian people are left disappointed, humiliated and deprived of their basic rights as well as their dignity. This at least partially explains the events of the last few days.
* The researcher’s name is indicated only by initials for privacy reasons and to avoid restrictions on his academic activities following checks by the Israeli government.
Source: Today IT

Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.