Hezbollah sparks fear of settler community disintegration in North

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Israeli media
24 Jul 2024 23:01
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Yedioth Ahronoth reports that more than 30% of the Israeli settlers who were evacuated from northern occupied Palestine have so far announced that they will not return to their settlements.

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Smoke billows after a hit from a rocket fired from southern Lebanon over the Upper al-Jalil region in northern occupied Palestine, on July 21, 2024. (AFP)

The wave of discontent among Israeli settlers in northern occupied Palestine, near the border with Lebanon, is growing, with hardly a day passing without them expressing their anger toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the military, whom they see as incapable of securing the North and ensuring their return to the settlements.

The Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth news website reported Wednesday that more than 30% of the Israeli settlers who were evacuated from the North have so far announced that they will not return to their settlements.

The site presented an infographic titled "Under Fire", depicting the situation along the northern border with Lebanon.

The infographic highlighted that tens of thousands of settlers have been evacuated from 43 settlements, 1,536 buildings, cars, and various infrastructures have been damaged, six industrial areas have been disrupted, and hundreds of businesses in the North have been closed due to Hezbollah's strikes.

Settlers' 'greatest fear' is disintegration of communities

In a related context, the Israeli Channel 13 recalled that the Israeli government decided at the start of the war to evacuate all northern settlements within four kilometers of the border with Lebanon, which left a significant number of other settlements without evacuation, leaving them under Hezbollah's fire and creating uncertainty among the settlers about their future.

The channel added that settlers are wondering where their children will study and when their lives will return to normal.

Channel 13's military affairs correspondent reported that it is evident from the current situation on the northern front that the scholastic year in frontline settlements would not begin on September 1.

He noted that this means the current situation and attrition between the Israeli military and Hezbollah would continue into the next scholastic year.

The correspondent underlined that the settlers' "greatest fear" is the disintegration of their communities in the North and their relocation to other places.

Israeli military losing readiness every day

Meanwhile, the Israeli newspaper Maariv suggested that, with every day passing in its confrontation with Hezbollah, the Israeli military is losing its readiness on the northern front.

The newspaper blamed the Israeli political leadership for the situation on the northern front and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of settlers from the north, noting that "the decision regarding the future of the war in the north with Hezbollah is not military but political."

This comes as Hezbollah has expanded its range of targets, bringing new Israeli settlements within its fire range.

During a debate on the Israeli Kan channel, Israeli minister of education, Yoav Kisch, addressed the heads of the councils of frontline settlements, telling them that the scholastic year will not start in the evacuated settlements on the border with Lebanon.

The Israeli channel noted that the minister's statement came after a day of fighting, "which included gunfire on new settlements, as [Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan] Nasrallah promised."

Kan channel's northern correspondent, Rubi Hammerschlag, suggested that "it seems that no one in Israel cares," as Hezbollah's expansion of its fire range has not been met with response.

Hammerschlag highlighted that, on Monday night, there was a relatively unusual event, with Hezbollah focusing its fire on the settlement of Tzuriel near Hurfeish, noting that it had not been evacuated.

Hezbollah announced that Tzuriel was included in its fire plan and was bombarded for the first time with dozens of Katyusha rockets in response to the Israeli attack that targeted civilians in the town of Hanin, which resulted in the injury of a family.

Sayyed Nasrallah had vowed that any renewed Israeli strikes on Lebanese civilians would be met with retaliatory attacks from Resistance fighters, targeting settlements that had remained untouched since the confrontation began on October 8, 2023.

Meanwhile, evacuated settlers from the Metulla settlement told the Israeli Channel 13 that "the situation in the north is a continuous nightmare for hundreds of thousands of people."