Former IDF Colonel Warns of Escalation in West Bank

Retired Colonel Michael Milstein, a former senior intelligence official, has issued a stark warning regarding the escalating tensions in the West Bank. Despite a recent decrease in the scope of terror attacks and the non-materialization of a feared scenario where Palestinian security forces would turn their weapons on Israelis, Milstein believes the situation could still deteriorate.

Milstein identified a sense of "passivity" in the internal Israeli discourse concerning the West Bank. He acknowledged that the reduction in terror activity is partly due to effective Israeli operations, but also because dire predictions of widespread Palestinian security force defections have not yet come to pass. "Both because of our very effective execution, but also because all the prophecies in Israel about turning guns have not been advanced," Milstein explained.

However, the retired colonel pointed to specific actions that could reverse this trend. He linked the ongoing weakening of the Palestinian Authority and what he termed an "ambivalent attitude" towards rising Jewish terrorism as potential catalysts for renewed violence. "If we continue and advance all the moves to weaken the Authority and a kind of ambivalent attitude towards the rising Jewish terrorism, then it is possible that this prophecy will come true in the end," he stated.

These remarks come amid heightened tensions in the West Bank, including a recent violent incident in the village of Qusra. Amos Harel of the newspaper Haaretz, also participating in the discussion, cautioned against a broader conflagration in the region. "I think it's worth zooming out, so many jeeps, so many violent incidents, this is a big event," Harel said, adding, "We are two months before elections. It is quite clear that the West Bank is the place that is going to ignite. There is considerable panic on the ground."