FEW, IF ANy, security forces are as ruthlessly effective as Israel’s. Its military and intelligence services strike against enemies even at extreme distances. In the past couple of years alone Israel has assassinated dozens of opponents inside Iran, plus proxy militia leaders in Lebanon and Yemen. Israel’s martial capabilities earn respect even from its bitterest enemies.
Yet this superiority seems to count for little closer to home. Those same forces are responsible for a dire failure in the occupied West Bank, where violent Israeli settlers have been attacking Palestinian residents with increasing brutality. Settlers want to force Palestinians from their land and claim it for themselves.
De redactie van NRC selecteert de beste artikelen uit The Economist voor een breder perspectief op internationale politiek en economie.
Israel’s failure in the West Bank can hardly be put down to a lack of resources. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) deploy 25 combat battalions there. Shin Bet, the powerful security agency, has networks of agents and informers throughout. But these are used mostly to protect the 500,000 or so Israeli settlers, and against the threat of terrorist attacks, not to assist the more than 3m Palestinians who live in the territory. This has largely been the case since Israel replaced Jordan as occupier of the West Bank in 1967.
