Israeli human rights organizations and activists have reported an increase in the incidents of settler violence in the West Bank as well as in the level of the violence since the beginning of the war following the Hamas terrorist surprise attack of southern kibbutz communities on Oct. 7.
They say the extremist settlers have exploited the lack of public attention on the West Bank to carry out attacks and threaten Palestinian villages, including most recently threatening the village of Susiya.
According to the NGO Yesh Din, settlers have attacked Palestinians in more than 100 incidents in at least 62 towns and villages in the West Bank under cover of the war from Oct. 7-22.
In addition, B’tselem said at least 13 Palestinian communities have been self-displaced—according to the data they presented a Palestinian community has been self-displaced almost every day since the outbreak of the war due to threats from the settlers.
“The frequency (of the attacks) has increased. In Masafer Yatta and the Jordan Valley people are used to violence from both settlers and soldiers, it has been going on for years, but now it is multiple times a day and in multiple villages,” said a 28-year-old Israeli veteran activist who asked not to be identified out of concern for his safety. “And these days it always come with a threat: if you don’t leave within 24 hours we will kill you…and it is working.”
'You can't even distinguish between a soldier and a settler'
He noted that a day ago a policeman who has known him for years pointed a gun at him through the windshield of his car, and two weeks ago he was punched in the face by a settler.
“Since the war started there is a situation where you can’t even distinguish between a soldier and a settler. Since the start of the war a lot of weapons have been distributed to an already heavily armed population so in any situation they are all wearing uniforms or partial uniforms and you never know if they are actually a reserve soldier or a settler,” he said. “Everything has gone up significantly—the main thing is the violence, the readiness of soldiers and settlers to shoot. I can teel by the number of times a gun has been put in my face.”
Incidents of increased violence have included the shooting killing of a Palestinian farmer, Bilal Muhammed Saleh, 40, outside the village of As-Sawiya in the northern West Bank while he was harvesting olives in his grove on Oct. 28. The following day an off-duty IDF soldier was arrested by military police on suspicion of involvement in the shooting. At the time the IDF said an altercation had taken place between some Palestinians and some Israeli civilians near the Rehlim settlement.
On Oct. 21 Ha’aretz reported that three Palestinians from the Wadi as-Seeq village had been detained and handcuffed by soldiers and settlers, and according to the Palestinians, they had been held for almost the entire day and were severely beaten and abused, including being stripped and forced to sit for hours in their underwear and were urinated on and were burned with lit cigarettes. On Oct. 30 there was an incident of arson and a house was burned in the village of a-Safai.
In a statement to the Jerusalem Post the IDF noted that the arrest in Wadi as-Seek –which they say was made following discovery of a knife and an ax on the farmers—was “contrary to what was expected of soldiers and commanders in the IDF.” Because of the series of unusual events the commander of the unit was dismissed following an investigation by commanders and in view of the “seriousness of the suspicions”, it was decided to open an investigation by the military police.
Activists: settlers in uniform held me, Palestinians at gunpoint
They said the IDF received the report of vandalism and arson in the village of a-Sfai but the location was mis-reported initially. When they arrived at the location no suspect was in the area, they said, noting that following the event, the area will be reinforced with additional patrols.
A Mexican activist, who also asked for anonymity out of concern for her safety, said for the past two nights settlers have threatened Palestinian farmers under cover of dark, in different villages in the South Hebron Hills including Tuba where they ransacked one of the three homes of the village, cut off the small village’s lights, punctured the water tank and threw the food for their animals on the floor and the activists were told to leave.
She said in another later incident, she and two other activists along with several Palestinians from the village of Sha'ab Al Butum were held at gunpoint by settlers wearing military garb. She said they forced two teenagers face down on the ground, took people’s phones and broke them.
“It was very dark. Then they told us to turn around with our hands on our heads. At that moment I thought anything was possible, that they would shoot us or shoot the Palestinians. But they walked backwards from us with their guns pointed at us,” she said.
Biden: settler violence 'has to stop now.'
U.S. President Joe Biden has spoken out against the attacks saying that the attacks by “extremist settlers” are like “pouring gasoline” on the flames in the Middle East since the attack by Hamas.
“It has to stop. They have to be held accountable. It has to stop now,” AP quoted Biden saying Oct. 26 at the start of a news conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Others in the US administration have condemned the increasing violence including US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan who said on CNN that believed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had the “responsibility to reign in the extremist settlers in the West Bank.”
“Israel must take measures to protect Palestinians from such attacks and to hold accountable any settlers who carry out attacks as well as any members of the Israeli Defense forces who stand by or fail to intervene when these attacks occur,” said US State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller on Oct. 31. “We have made clear privately to the Israeli government and publicly that these attacks are unacceptable. They need to stop and those responsible need to be held accountable.
“The IDF together with the security forces operates day and night with increased forces to protect the residents of Judea and Samaria,” said the IDF in a statement to the Jerusalem Post. “The task of protecting the residents should be left to the security forces only. Alongside the excellent cooperation with the settlements, there are a handful of criminals who take the law into their own hands, these incidents are handled and do not reflect the general atmosphere.”