Israeli settlers are appropriating Palestinian land under the guise of war

According to Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem, in the past 10 months, Israeli settlers have forced Palestinians from at least 18 villages in the West Bank, Palestinian territory between Israel and Jordan that was occupied by Israel in the war. of the Middle East in 1967, and has remained occupied ever since.

In the Palestinian village of Battir, where ancient terraces are supplied with water from a natural spring, life goes on as it has for centuries.

Being part of the UNESCO World Heritage, Battir is known for its olive groves and vineyards. But now it is the latest flashpoint in the fighting over settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Israel has approved a new Jewish settlement there, taking land from private ownership for new settler homes, and new posts have been erected even without Israeli authorization.

"They are stealing our land to build their dreams," says Ghassan Olyan, whose property is among those seized.

UNESCO says it is concerned by settler plans around Battiri, but the village is far from an isolated example. All settlements are seen as illegal under international law, although Israel disagrees.

"They don't care about international law, or domestic law, or even God's law," says Olyan.

Last week, Israel's domestic intelligence chief, Ronen Bar, wrote to ministers warning that Jewish extremists in the West Bank were carrying out acts of "terror" against Palestinians and causing "unspeakable damage" to the country.

Since the start of the war in Gaza, there has been an acceleration of settlement growth in the occupied West Bank.

Extremists in Israel's government boast that these changes will prevent the creation of an independent Palestinian state. There are also fears that they seek to prolong the war in Gaza to suit their own ends.

Yonatan Mizrahi of Peace Now, an Israeli organization that monitors settlement growth, says Jewish extremists in the West Bank are exacerbating an already tense and volatile situation, and making it harder than ever to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. .

"I think it's extremely dangerous. It's increasing hatred on both sides," says Mizrah.

He believes a "mixture of anger and fear" in Israeli society after the October 7 attacks, in which 1,200 people were killed, is driving settlers to take more land in the West Bank.

A June survey by the Pew Research Center found that 40% of Israelis believed settlements make the country safer, up from 27% in 2013. Meanwhile, 35% of people polled said settlements hurt Israel's security. , from 42% in 2013.

Since the outbreak of war, settler violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank has increased. Violence had already been on the rise, but in the past 10 months the UN has documented around 1,270 attacks, compared to 856 in all of 2022.

According to Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem, during the same period Israeli settler harassment has forced Palestinians from at least 18 villages in the West Bank, the Palestinian territory between Israel and Jordan that was occupied by Israel in the war. of the Middle East in 1967, and has remained occupied ever since.

Between October 7 and August 2024, 589 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank, at least 570 by Israeli forces and at least 11 by settlers, according to the UN. The dead include some who were said to have planned attacks as well as unarmed civilians. In the same period, Palestinians killed five settlers and nine members of the Israeli security forces.

Last week, a Palestinian in his 40s was reportedly shot dead after Israeli settlers and soldiers entered Wadi al-Rahhel, near Bethlehem. The Israeli army said stones had been thrown earlier at a nearby Israeli vehicle.

Last month, a 22-year-old Palestinian was killed when dozens of settlers invaded the village of Jit, sparking international reactions. Israeli security forces have made four arrests and described the incident as a "serious terrorist incident".

But punishments in such cases are almost non-existent. The Israeli civil rights group Yesh Din found that, between 2005 and 2023, only 3% of official investigations into settler violence resulted in a conviction.

In Ronen Bar's letter, which was leaked to Israeli media, the head of Israel's Shin Bet security service said that radical settlers were emboldened by the lack of enforcement of the law.

"Extremely dangerous"

Settlers live in exclusively Jewish communities set up in parts of the West Bank.
Many settlements have the legal support of the Israeli government, others, known as outposts, are illegal even under Israeli law. But the extremists build them anyway, in an attempt to grab more land.

In July, the UN's top court ruled for the first time that Israel's occupation of the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, was illegal, said the country must halt all settlement activity and withdraw as soon as possible. possible.

Israel's Western allies have repeatedly described the settlements as an obstacle to peace. But Israel rejected the finding, saying: "The Jewish people are not invaders in their land."
It is now feared that extremists are working to make settlements in the West Bank irreversible.

They have rapidly expanded their control over the territory, with the support of Israel's far-right government. These extremists are advancing annexation plans in the West Bank. Settlers now serve at the heart of Israel's government, in key ministries.

Just as world leaders who oppose the settlements are expressing renewed enthusiasm for a two-state solution, a long-awaited peace plan that would create a separate Palestinian state, Israeli religious nationalists, who believe that all these lands with rightfully belong to Israel, are vowing to make the dream of an independent Palestinian state impossible.
Analysts think this is why some politicians are refusing to accept any ceasefire agreement.

"The reason they don't want to end the conflict or enter into a hostage deal is because they believe Israel has to keep fighting until it reaches a point where it can stay inside Gaza," says Tal Schneider, political correspondent for The Times of Israel".

"They think that in the long run their ideology is more right. This is their logic", he adds.

Meanwhile, Israeli authorities have announced plans for five new settlements, including the one in Battir, taking a record area of ​​land, at least 23 square kilometers. This means that Israel considers that land Israeli, whether it is in the occupied Palestinian territories, or privately owned by Palestinians, or both, and Palestinians are not allowed to use it.

By changing the facts on the ground, as the settlers describe it, they hope to move enough Israelis onto the land and build enough on it to make their presence irreversible. Their long-term hope is for Israel to formally annex the land.

Outside of land confiscations, extremists have also rapidly established settlement posts.

In one of al-Kanoub, north of Hebron, satellite images showed that new caravans and roads had appeared in the months since the war began. Meanwhile, an entire Palestinian community has been forcibly evicted from the land.

Ibrahim Shalalda, 50, and his 80-year-old uncle Mohammed, say their homes were destroyed by settlers last November.

As we approached, an extremist settler blocked the road with his car.

Armed Israelis soon arrived. The group, several Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers, with insignia on their uniforms and one identified as a settlement security officer, stopped us for checks.

The settlement guard forced the two Palestinian farmers out of the car and searched them. After two hours, IDF soldiers dispersed the settlers and allowed the BBC car to leave.

Israel began settling in the West Bank soon after it occupied it from Jordan more than five decades ago. 

Today, about three million Palestinians live in the land, excluding East Jerusalem annexed by Israel, along with about half a million Israeli Jews in more than 130 settlements.
But a prominent figure in the far-right government, which takes office in 2022, is promising to double the number of settlers to one million.

Bezalel Smotrich believes that the Jews have a "God-given" right to these lands. He heads one of two far-right, pro-settler parties that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brought into his governing coalition after the 2022 elections.

Smotrich serves as finance minister, but also has a post in the defense ministry, which has allowed him to make sweeping changes to Israeli policies in the West Bank.

He has massively invested state finances in settlements, including new roads and infrastructure. But he has also created a new bureaucracy, taking over powers from the military, to speed up the building of colonies.

Smotrich boasts that he was working towards "changing the DNA" of the system, and for "de facto" annexation that would be "easier to swallow in the international and legal context".

"My Life's Mission"

Religious nationalists have remained on the fringes of Israeli politics for decades.

But their ideology has gradually become more popular. In the 2022 elections, these parties took 13 seats in the 120-seat Israeli parliament, and became kings of Netanyahu's right-wing coalition.

During the war, Bezalel Smotrich and his fellow radical, Itamar Ben-Gvir, now Israel's Minister of National Security, repeatedly made comments that fueled social division and provoked Israel's Western allies.

After the Israeli army arrested reservists accused of sexually assaulting a Palestinian prisoner, Ben Gvir said it was "shameful" for Israel to arrest "our best heroes". This month, Smotrich said it could be "justified and moral" to let Gazans starve to death. 

But it is in the West Bank and Gaza that the extreme right seeks to make permanent changes. 

"This is a group of Israelis who have been against any kind of compromise with the Palestinians or Israel's other Arab neighbors," says Anshel Pfeffer, an Israeli journalist and correspondent for The Economist.

And with the war in Gaza, the far right sees a new opportunity. Smotrich has called for Palestinian residents to leave, to make way for Israelis who can "make the desert bloom."

Although Netanyahu has ruled out restoring Jewish settlements in Gaza, he remains a supporter of far-right parties that threaten to collapse his coalition if he signs a "reckless" ceasefire deal to bring home Israeli hostages. currently held by Hamas.

The logic of the extremists may be that followed by only a minority of Israelis. But it is helping to prolong the war and dramatically transforming the landscape of the West Bank - causing long-term damage to the chances of peace.