As the new Israeli government approaches the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah on technical issues, the security situation in the occupied West Bank is worsening.

Over the weekend, Israeli security forces killed at least five Palestinians in various arrests against Islamist forces.

Israeli reports said they belonged to Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said they had "planned imminent terrorist attacks."

Two Israeli soldiers were seriously injured.

Four Palestinians were killed in similar actions in Jenin last month.

Jochen Stahnke

Political correspondent for Israel, the Palestinian Territories and Jordan based in Tel Aviv.

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A Hamas spokesman in Gaza said the blood of those killed served as "fuel to continue the people's revolution."

Hamas blamed the "ongoing coordination" between Israel and the Palestinian Authority under President Mahmoud Abbas for the dead.

For the first time in seven years, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, an Israeli minister, met with Abbas openly in August.

Unlike the previous government under Benjamin Netanyahu, Gantz speaks of wanting to strengthen the autonomy authority.

Abbas' reputation among the population is falling

It's weakened like it hasn't been for a long time. The corona pandemic has hit the Palestinian economy hard. In addition, Abbas' reputation among his own population is declining. This intensified after the short war between Israel and Hamas in May. 78 percent of Palestinians are now calling for Abbas to resign, according to a survey by the Palestinian Center for Politics and Public Opinion Research a few days ago. According to the survey sponsored by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, 45 percent of Palestinians today believe that Hamas deserves most of all to lead the Palestinian people. Only 19 percent are in favor of Abbas' Fatah party. Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip and is trying to expand its influence in the West Bank, should also be familiar with these attitudes.

Israel's new government plans a series of steps to improve living conditions for Palestinians in the occupied territories. The measures concern further work permits for Palestinians in Israeli factories or the disbursement of a "loan", which largely comprises taxpayers' money previously withheld by Israel, which is not released because the PA is paying out the same amount of money to Palestinian prisoners incarcerated in Israel, some of which were involved in terrorist attacks. Around a thousand new building permits for Palestinians in areas directly administered by Israel in the West Bank are also being issued.

From the Israeli point of view, these new measures of rapprochement are an attempt to calm down security policy.

Because that will not flank a new political process, which Bennett expressly denies.

The Prime Minister rejects a Palestinian state.

The expansion of the illegal settlements in the West Bank continues under the new government.

During his inaugural visit to the White House in late August, Israel's Prime Minister spoke to President Joe Biden of “natural growth”.

"Hope for peace between the two peoples"

The new President Yitzhak Herzog of the Labor Party recently demonstrated his support for the settlement system with a visit to the Israeli settlement of Har Bracha, which is located deep in the West Bank in front of the Palestinian city of Nablus. Human rights activists repeatedly document attacks by settlers on Palestinian farmers in the area. Herzog inaugurated a new school building in Har Bracha. Shortly before, he had spoken to Abbas on the phone, "in the hope of peace between the two peoples side by side," as Herzog announced in July.

The fact that Abbas repeated old threats in front of the UN General Assembly on Friday that the Palestinian recognition of the 1967 borders should not be withdrawn if Israel did not withdraw from the territories that have since been occupied behind these lines was greeted with shrugs everywhere.

The PA depends on Israel, which is persecuting common opponents like Hamas.

Israel in turn benefits from the autonomy authority, which takes over the daily administration of a large part of the Palestinians without its own sovereignty.