For Issa Amro, Hebron has always been home. He was born there and has made his life in the industrial Palestinian city in the West Bank. Throughout his life he’s watched the Israeli settlements in the area grow. And since the Hamas attack of 7 October, he’s witnessed a surge in settler violence. And while all the world’s attention has been on the crisis in Gaza, tensions in the West Bank have been threatening to combust.
The Guardian’s world affairs editor, Julian Borger, has been reporting from the West Bank and he tells Nosheen Iqbal the place is at ‘boiling point’. Frustrations with a weak Palestinian Authority leadership are butting up against outrage at the increasing violence from settlers to an extent that many are predicting a third intifada.
But there is also a narrow window of opportunity. If Israel eventually has to turn to the Palestinian Authority to help administer Gaza after the war, optimists wonder if that could be a moment to drive a sustainable peace deal that also covers the West Bank. For now though, such talk appears far out of reach.
Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Anadolu/Getty Images
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