简体中文
The main purpose of the ongoing Israeli military operation in the West Bank is to undermine the new-born Palestinian unity government by weakening the Islamic Hamas movement, Palestinian analysts said on Sunday.
But analysts warn that the suffering brought by the military operation may help increase Hamas' popularity.
Largest operation in 12 years
The Israeli army has carried out a week-long military operation to search for three Israeli teenagers who have been missing since June 12. This is the largest operation in 12 years after the 2002 Operation Defensive Shield, in which Israel reoccupied most of the West Bank big cities and broke into the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) headquarters.
Palestinian official figures showed that five people have been killed and more than 10 other wounded in the West Bank cities of Ramallah, Hebron and Nablus. Meanwhile, more than 400 Palestinians have been detained, including the speaker of the Hamas-dominated parliament, lawmakers, former prisoners and students.
Since the three teenagers disappeared near Hebron in southern West Bank, the Israeli government has officially announced that they were kidnapped by Islamic Hamas movement's militants, but Hamas officials have denied their involvement.
On Sunday, the PNA decided to approach the UN Security Council in a bid to call on the international community to pressure Israel to stop its operation in the West Bank. However, analysts ruled out that the PNA would succeed as long as the three Israelis are still missing.
The attempt "will be difficult because this will deepen the crisis between Israel and the United States," said Jacqman, a political analyst from the West Bank.
Military operation targets Hamas
Analysts also said that the operation was not only to find the three Israeli teenagers, but to weaken Hamas. They believed that the crackdown on Hamas was significant when the Israeli army detained top Hamas leaders and stormed its political, social and economical institutions.
"Israel in fact is using the incident and the political vacuum in the peace process to crack down on Hamas movement in the West Bank, to keep confiscating the Palestinian lands, to expand settlements, and to increase the pressure on the Palestinian ( National) Authority," Jacqman said.
Meanwhile, Akram Atallah, a Gaza-based political analyst, told Xinhua that these days Israel reoccupied the West Bank "to win more time and to cut the road for any renewal of the stalled peace talks," adding that this would help Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu achieve the goal of toppling the Palestinian unity government and the internal reconciliation with Hamas.
Despite the large-scale operation, analysts believed this would only weaken Hamas in a short period but increase its popularity for the long run.
"Not everything happens in the West Bank is linked to finding the three missing Israelis, but to create a new reality on the ground. The Israeli measures are a clear punishment to Palestinian President Mahmod Abbas because he made reconciliation with Hamas, and this punishment will increase Hamas popularity there," Atallah said.
He added that if Israel succeeds in finding the three Israelis, dead or alive, which would end the military offense, "a new reality would be created on the ground in the West Bank, where the PNA would be weaker and Hamas popularity will increase."
In response to Israel's massive offensives, Hamas leaders warned that the escalating operation against the movement in the territory "would open the gates of hell against Israel."
