The West Bank Is Reaching Breaking Point

Hamza Abu Howidy returns for another Conflicted Conversation. Last time he appeared, he told us his personal story of growing up in Hamas-ruled Gaza, how he was imprisoned and tortured by Hamas for speaking out against their oppression, and how he entered into exile in Germany just before the 7 October attacks changed everything. This time he switches from Gaza to the West Bank, telling Thomas all about the other side of Palestine — a side which goes overlooked, but which is increasingly becoming a zone of almost unbearable conflict. Hamza and Thomas discuss: Settler violence as settler terrorism How Israeli settlements undermine the Oslo process Settlement expansion as a strategy to prevent a Palestinian state The shift from a two-state ideal to a one-state reality The Hardal movement and Smotrich’s political world The Hilltop Youth: origins, ideology and violence The dual legal system in the West Bank The Yehuda Shmuel Sherman incident and the revenge attacks that followed E1 and the threat to a viable Palestinian state The West Bank economy after 7 October Palestinian municipal and national elections Israeli elections and the lack of hope for political change Israel’s post-7 October security doctrine The Board of Peace and the problem of Hamas disarmament Arab disillusionment with resistance ideology Find Hamza on X: https://x.com/HowidyHamza Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm Find us on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted⁠ ⁠And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. This episode was produced and edited by Thomas Small. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices