Israel’s ethnic cleansing in the West Bank continues as the PA slips into irrelevance 

The ongoing Israeli military assault on Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank is part of a larger ethnic cleansing of the occupied territory, a systematic effort to forcibly displace Palestinians from their homes and erase their historical and national identity. As the world watches in silence, the relentless incursions into these camps — home to some of the most vulnerable Palestinian communities — are reducing entire districts to rubble, killing civilians and forcing tens of thousands to flee.

Meanwhile, and even as Israel wages a brutal genocidal campaign in Gaza, the Palestinian Authority (PA) stands idly by, unwilling to defend its people. Worse still, on Monday, 10 March, the PA security forces carried out Israel’s bidding and assassinated seasoned Jenin fighter Abdul-Rahman Abu Muna.

The refugee camps of Jenin, Nur Shams, Balata and others have long been the heart of legitimate Palestinian resistance. Housing Palestinians who were ethnically cleansed from their homes in 1948 — and today — they stand as grim reminders of Israel’s original sin: the Nakba. Through generations, the Palestinian camps have become a powerful symbol of Palestinian identity, embodying the deep-rooted belonging to Palestine. The camps are not just a physical space; they represent a collective memory, a repository of cultural heritage, and a reminder of the ongoing struggle for self-determination and homeland restoration. Thus, their erasure — much like the destruction of their residents’ original villages within historic Palestine since 1948 — has become an Israeli obsession aimed at wiping out their existence.

The Israeli war on the camps is not about security.

In reality, what is unfolding is a merciless campaign of destruction, aimed at crushing the spirit of Palestinian resistance and making life unbearable for those who dare to remain. Homes are demolished, roads are ripped up; electricity and water supplies are cut; and entire communities are left in ruins. Israel destroys civilian infrastructure, not for military tactical objectives, but purely to make life unbearable for residents, ensuring that even those who survive are left with an unliveable environment. This collective punishment is a blatant war crime under international law.

READ: US fast-tracks $294m arms deal to Israel, bypassing congressional review

The ongoing assault on Palestinian refugee camps is not about military strategy; it is tied deeply to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s endless war for political survival. On trial for alleged corruption and facing mounting political pressure, Netanyahu has relied on endless war and ever more violence to maintain his fragile coalition of right-wing, racist factions. By escalating attacks on Palestinians, he ensures the continued support of racist, ultranationalist, Jewish groups who demand harsher measures against the occupied population. This cycle of aggression is a deliberate strategy to prolong his grip on power at the expense of Palestinian lives.

The core issue is not simply the military assaults, but the very nature of the Israeli occupation and the hordes of violent settlers who terrorise Palestinian communities with impunity. The expansion of illegal, Jew-only colonies, backed by the Israeli military, has emboldened Jewish supremacists to carry out attacks against Palestinians, including arson, physical assaults and even outright murder. This settler-colonial project aims to replace Palestinian existence with a network of Jewish colonies, erasing any hope for a Palestinian state.

Israel’s strategy of targeting refugee camps is part of this broader policy. The destruction of Jenin camp in 2002 was supposed to end Palestinian resistance, but it did not. Two decades later, Israel is fighting the progeny of those it murdered more than 20 years ago, repeating the same failed strategy and hoping that this new wave of destruction will achieve what past massacres could not. But history has shown that Palestinian resilience cannot be broken by military force. As in 2002, today’s destruction will not erase the Palestinian struggle; it will only fuel the determination of a people who refuse to disappear.

While Israel carries out these atrocities, the Palestinian Authority remains paralysed, offering nothing but empty words of condemnation.

The PA, which was established through the Oslo Accords with the promise of leading Palestinians toward statehood, has instead become an enforcer of Israeli security serving as an administrative subcontractor rather than a true representative government. Its continued security collaboration with Israel, even as refugee camps are emptied of their inhabitants, is nothing short of a betrayal; treachery on a massive, deadly scale.

READ: Israeli human rights group B’Tselem warns of ‘Gazafication of occupied West Bank

At a time when the Palestinian people long for real leadership, the PA has shown itself to be an institution of self-preservation, more concerned with maintaining its own grip on power than resisting a malevolent occupation. It has failed to mobilise international support, and failed to take any meaningful action to stop Israel’s aggression.

It is very clear to all with eyes to see that the Palestinian Authority is complicit in the suffering of its own people through its inaction, collaboration and subservience to Israeli diktats. Worse still, the PA refuses to intervene because its leadership is more focused on protecting the privileges and VIP status granted to them under Israeli occupation. Rather than safeguarding Palestinian lives, the PA’s primary concern has become to maintain its elite’s access to special permits, security arrangements and economic benefits that Israel doles out to ensure its collaboration.

If the PA continues on this trajectory, it will cease to have any role in shaping the future of Palestine. The people will inevitably turn elsewhere for leadership, whether to civil society organisations, local resistance groups or new political movements that truly represent their aspirations. The Palestinian cause does not need an institution that stands on the sidelines while its people are ethnically cleansed; it needs a leadership that will fight for its people’s survival and sovereignty.

The Israeli destruction of Palestinian refugee camps is a military operation with a calculated strategy of population displacement. By forcing thousands to flee, Israel is laying the groundwork for a West Bank emptied of Palestinians, paving the way for further illegal annexation and settlement expansion.

This is a slow-motion ethnic cleansing that the Palestinian leadership cannot afford to ignore.

The United Nations, human rights organisations and the world at large must hold Israel accountable for its crimes and put pressure on the Palestinian Authority to end its complicity. If it continues to stand idly by as its people are being ethnically cleansed, it will slip further into irrelevance and its leadership will be consigned to the dustbin of history.

OPINION: The EU needs to clarify where it stands on Gaza

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.