It’s a war, but a quiet one

Since October 7th not all is well in Judea and Samaria.

With the world’s attention being riveted on Israel’s war in Gaza, its incursion into southern Lebanon, and an anticipated response to Iran’s missile attack, that might explain why another battlefront—Palestinian Arab terror attacks in Yehuda and the Shomron – seems to have slipped below the proverbial radar.

Make no mistake, there’s a war there too, albeit one I’ll call a quiet one because it does not attract attention as much as the other battles Israel is waging.

According to news reports in the Jerusalem Post, pre-October 7th Palestinian Authority security forces were

IDF activity following a shooting in Huwara. IDF Photo Unit, Wikimedia Commons

working to prevent a new armed group from operating in the northern Palestinian Authority city of Tulkarm.

Some ascribed ulterior motives for such actions as the PA’s way to eliminate competition to its own militant activities. A jaundiced view? Perhaps, but the fact remains that since October 7th not all is well in Judea and Samaria.

Mahmoud Abbas, now in the 19th year of his four-year term as the president of the Palestinian Authority, has made several statements regarding the conflict between Israel, Hamas, and Hezbollah. He has criticized Hamas, stating that their actions do not represent the Palestinians. He then seemingly walked back that comment as it was removed from a report in the PA’s mouthpiece news agency WAFA. He also expressed his condolences to Lebanon following the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli strike.

Abbas has made several statements regarding Israel and the ongoing war with Hamas. As expected, he has strongly condemned Israel’s military actions in Gaza as a “genocidal war.” He has a willing audience.

According to Palestinian Media Watch, every poll of Palestinian Arabs since October 7, 2023, by both AWRAD – Arab World for Research and Development, and PSR – Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, shows that an overwhelming majority of Palestinians supported and continue to support the rapes, torture, beheadings, and murder of more than 1,100 people in southern Israel led by Hamas, and their kidnapping of 250 hostages.

Meanwhile, according to the Jerusalem Post, “since the Israel-Hamas War began on October 7, 2023, the Shin Bet and IDF have thwarted over 1,200 significant terror attacks.” In the meantime, they have thwarted terror attacks including approximately 900 shooting terror attacks and around 290 explosive terror attacks. This is more than double the number of thwarted attacks in many previous years.

And what’s actually happening?

In the days after 7 October, 567 terror attacks took place in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem. A sampling from the Shin Bet:

-a firebomb attack in east Jerusalem injured one;

-a shooting attack in east Jerusalem injured two;

-a member of the security forces was killed and two injured in a shooting attack in the Samarian village of ‘Arabunna;

-a shooting attack in east Jerusalem injured two members of the security forces;

-in Nur al-Shams a member of the security forces was killed and two others injured in a combat incident;

-in the village of Burqa an IED attack injured one;

-in an assault near the town of Rimonim, two people were injured;

-a security force member was injured in Jenin in a combat incident;

-and to round out the month, a stabbing attack in Jerusalem injured one.

In November 2023 seven people were killed and 18 injured out of the 292 terror attacks that took place.

December 2023 saw a drop in the number of attacks to 203 but 26 people were injured, there were no fatalities.

The new year did not bring any let up. 19 major terror attacks took place in January 2024. Three were inside Israel, and 16 in Judea and Samaria. Luckily, 139 attempted attacks were foiled by the security forces.

103 attempted attacks were foiled by the security services (102 in the territories and one in Israel) in February 2024. But 25 major terror attacks were carried out; three in Israel and 21 in the territories.

32 Major attacks took place in March; 33 in April; and 30 in May. I could go on and on, but the numbers are there, and we get the message: shootings, vehicular assaults, IEDs, pipe bombs, stone throwing, tire burning, and arson attacks are part and parcel of the Palestinian Authority playbook for would-be martyrs.

So, let us and the world not lose sight of the fact that Palestinian Arab violence in Judea and Samaria is not just simmering, it’s boiling over.