In West Bank, wave of settler violence creating feel of a war zone

After years of scattered pinpoint attacks, Israeli settler violence this week enveloped the West Bank and struck larger communities.

From Nablus to Jericho to Bethlehem to the edge of Ramallah, deadly attacks by far-right settlers hit towns and villages, killing four Palestinians, wounding dozens, and grinding life in the West Bank to a halt.

The wave of violence, which followed the disappearance and death of a 14-year-old Israeli settler, a shepherd, comes as the Palestinian Authority warns it is struggling to keep the peace.

The PA is calling for international intervention to prevent a “collapse” of order and an uncontrollable spiral of violence.

Palestinians say the violence is leaving them feeling abandoned in a war zone, unable to defend themselves and disillusioned with what they say is an ineffective international community. Increasingly, many are convinced they must take matters into their own hands.

“We are exhausted,” says Sarah al-Wadi, whose two-story home in Qusra, outside Nablus, was torched by settlers on Saturday.

“What is left? What else can I do?” she asks, as she attempts to clean up the damage. “We aren’t safe here, but at the same time we can’t stay silent and idle. We are totally alone.”

Systematic increase

The latest violence followed the disappearance last week of the Israeli teen in the West Bank. His body was discovered Saturday. Israeli officials say his death is being investigated as a case of terrorism.

Residents and activists say the ensuing Israeli attacks appeared preplanned.  

Settlers began the rampage last Friday in the morning, before the teenager’s body was found, overwhelming vulnerable Palestinian farming villages near illegal Israeli settlements.

While Israeli settlers for years have harassed and attacked relatively remote Bedouin communities, this week marked the first full-on assault on Palestinian villages.

“This is a significant change, and the significant losses resulting from the attacks are alarming,” says Abdallah Abu Rahmah, director-general of the Palestinian Wall and Colonization Resistance Commission – a semiofficial authority tasked with tracking West Bank settlement outposts and settler attacks.

Experts and activists link the increased violence in Palestinian villages and towns with the proliferation of illegal settler outposts on village outskirts. The new outposts connect existing outposts and larger settlements, effectively encircling West Bank towns and districts and cutting off main roads that connect much of the West Bank. 

“They send their cattle to destroy people’s farms; then they arrive armed and escalate tensions,” says Ghaleb Mayadmeh, a municipal official in Aqraba, where a group of 50 settlers killed two people Monday, according to residents on the scene, in the second deadly attack on the village in a month. “They attack; we defend ourselves and get accused of violence.”

Role of illegal outposts

Most of the violent attacks come from relatively few settlements that are situated “with the clear objective to displace Palestinian communities and limit [individuals’] ability to move from one place to another,” according to Peace Now, an Israeli peace group.

With the international community’s attention turned to Iran and Gaza, Israeli watchdogs and international organizations say, settlers are stepping up their violence.

Hilltop outposts are being used as a “tool to ban Palestinians from using their lands and to instill fear and insecurity,” says Mauricio Lapchik, Peace Now’s external relations director.

Removing illegal outposts and ending the violence is essential to “avoid a new war front in the West Bank,” he warns.

Yet settlers’ encroachment on Palestinian farming towns and villages is increasing.

On Sunday, a small group of settlers near Al Auja, near Jericho, blocked residents from using the village’s water spring, on which dozens of households depend, residents say.

Since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, 16 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in 700 settler-led attacks, according to the United Nations. The attacks have uprooted seven entire communities and displaced people from 20 other communities, which are mainly Bedouin.

But now in towns and villages, as larger groups of residents seek to repel settlers, activists warn that casualties could rise. Some accuse the Israeli army of facilitating the attacks, though the army says soldiers have a duty to intervene to stop them.

“Settlers are armed, their children are armed, the army is with them, and the law is with them,” says Palestinian activist Aymen Ghareeb, who tracks settler attacks. “This is the most difficult phase we have ever faced.”

New cycle of violence?

There are growing concerns that Palestinian citizens may take matters into their own hands.

“Don’t we have a right to defend ourselves?” asks one Jordan Valley resident, who requested anonymity for security reasons. “The international community and American sanctions have failed us. It is clear that the only thing that can stop force is force.”

During this week’s attacks, as in the past, PA security services were nowhere to be seen, residents say.

PA officials stress their security services’ mandate is limited to maintaining civil peace, not to act as an army to defend Palestinians from external threats or to confront Israelis.

“If the Palestinian security forces wished to go into Al-Mughayer” during clashes, “they would require coordination with the Israelis, which would not be granted under the current circumstances,” says senior Fatah official Mounir Jaghoub.

PA security officials warn that the increasingly deadly friction between Palestinians and far-right settlers is threatening an outbreak of a new, unpredictable cycle of violence, which they say they would have no way of stopping.

“The dangers posed by confrontations between the [Palestinian] public and settlers may lead to a total collapse” of the situation, says Talal Dweikat, PA security forces spokesperson. “The international community must act to hold perpetrators accountable for their actions and prevent escalation.”

On Tuesday, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights urged “all states with influence to do everything in their power” to halt “rising violence and targeted attacks in the West Bank,” which it called a “matter of grave concern.”

“Israel, as the occupying power, must take all measures in its power to restore, and ensure, as far as possible, public order and safety in the occupied West Bank,” the rights body said.

“The Israeli security forces must immediately end their active participation in and support for settler attacks on Palestinians,” the statement added. “Israeli authorities must instead prevent further attacks, including by bringing those responsible to account.”

Soldiers’ actions scrutinized

Residents in Aqraba say Israeli forces were on the scene of the settler attack Monday, but as of Thursday, no settlers had been arrested.

“Due to the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] constant presence in the area, the soldiers encounter incidents of violations of the law by Israelis, some may be violent incidents or incidents directed at Palestinians or their property,” the IDF said in a statement to the Monitor. “In these cases, the soldiers are required to act to stop the violation and, if necessary, to delay or detain the suspects until the police arrive at the scene.”

“In situations where soldiers fail to adhere to IDF orders, the incidents are thoroughly reviewed, and disciplinary actions are implemented accordingly.”

Separately, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant signed an administrative arrest warrant this week for a 16-year-old Jerusalem resident suspected of being involved in recent settler violence.

On Friday, the Biden administration announced its third round of sanctions on far-right Israeli settlers and groups, which included prominent activist Bentzi Gopstein, while the European Union sanctioned four settlers and the far-right Lehava organization.

Palestinians on the front lines of the violence say the international community’s condemnations, warnings, and alarms are of little help.

“I don’t believe anyone is here to uphold our human rights or protect us,” says a defiant Mrs. Al-Wadi in Qusra. “I won’t wait for accountability. They want us off our lands, but we aren’t going anywhere.”