Israeli Settlement Policy: Growing Tensions in the West Bank

The Israeli organization Peace Now, which monitors Jewish settlements, has criticized the Israeli government in light of the European sanctions. According to the organization, the government is not enforcing its own laws and is complicit in settler violence. Around 2.7 million Palestinians live in the West Bank alongside more than 500,000 settlers. Israel took over the area in 1967 during a war with three Arab states from Jordan. Since then, Israelis have settled there with both tacit and explicit government approval. The international community largely considers the settlements illegal, and many outposts also violate Israeli law. While settlers are subject to Israeli civil law, their Palestinian neighbors are under Israeli military law. Palestinians see the settlements as a creeping annexation that renders land unusable for a future independent Palestinian state. The war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, however, gives Israel’s right-wing government an opportunity to support settlers who oppose the creation of a Palestinian state under the pretext of additional security, as claimed by some human rights organizations. Hagit Ofran from Peace Now’s “Settlement Watch” project reported that the army has blocked “so many roads” in the West Bank that thousands of hectares of land have become inaccessible to Palestinians. The military is erecting gates in the name of security that prevent Palestinian access to large areas of land, ultimately serving the settlers’ goals. Noteworthy is the increased presence of Israeli troops in the region. “In every settlement now, there are reservists who are settlers and take extremist actions against Palestinians,” Ofran said. “Settler militias are de facto armed groups.” Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, himself a settler, supports extremist policies aimed at expanding Israel’s influence over the West Bank. Smotrich is stripping parts of the military of authority and transferring it to settlers, who are to take over civil administration – a strategic move to avoid international scrutiny. From the perspective of Israeli military officials, settler violence poses a security threat. Retired Major General Yehuda Fox, former head of Israel’s Central Command overseeing the West Bank, criticized government policy in his farewell address and condemned the increasing “national crime.” Since October 7, military presence in the West Bank has increased, with violent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops escalating as well. According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, Israeli troops shot and killed a man during clashes in Al Bireh on Tuesday. The Israeli military did not comment on the incident upon request. On social media, the military confirmed that it was pursuing individuals who had shot at a car with Israeli civilians in Ramin. The civilians suffered minor injuries and were being treated. Since the beginning of the Gaza war, Israeli forces have killed over 530 Palestinians in the West Bank, reports the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. In a recent update, the agency reported that the military killed a 13-year-old Palestinian boy and injured three other boys in Deir Abu Mash'al near Ramallah on July 9. The Israeli military confirmed the UN reports of the violence on July 9 but did not confirm the death or involvement of children. According to the military, “masked terrorists” had thrown stones at military vehicles, and a soldier responded with live ammunition, hitting one of the “terrorists.”