While all eyes are focused on the bigger regional issues, there has been an unprecedented increase in settler violence across the occupied West Bank.
Attacks on Palestinians by illegal “Israeli” colonists are no longer isolated acts of violence but a state policy of deliberate and organised terrorism.
At a recent press briefing, Palestine’s minister of foreign affairs and expatriates, Varsen Shahin, pointed to a sharp increase in the frequency and severity of settler attacks. She explained that such violence includes murder, physical assaults, the burning of homes and agricultural lands, destruction of infrastructure, theft and incitement practices, such as targeting places of worship.
The objective of these actions, she said, is to intimidate Palestinians and force them off of their land.
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Shahin stressed that the situation in the occupied West Bank can no longer be viewed as isolated “acts of violence”, but as terrorism. She described this settler terrorism as “a deliberate and organised system of provocation” and a “state policy” designed to terrorise, displace and inflame.
Its purpose is to uproot us and provoke reactions that can be exploited for escalation against us. It is a calculated strategy to justify continuation and expansion of genocidal violence against the Palestinians, carried out by settler militias and armed gangs, who are illegally residing in occupied territory and supported by “very influential people in the government.
Israeli settlers armed by government, protected by IOF
These colonial Jewish settlers operate under the protection of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). They are armed and funded by the “Israeli” government, and constitute a direct extension of policies of annexation and settlement expansion. Shahin noted that the impunity and lack of international accountability, which has been ongoing for decades, has allowed Israel to do whatever it wants, including getting away with genocide.
She said:
Settler terrorism complements the accelerating settlement expansion that is occurring, through approval of new settlement units, new settlements, new planning measures and new legislation. All this entrenches the settlement enterprise and fulfills Israel’s expansions and colonialist policies, and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.
She added:
These acts are illegal under international law and aim to normalise permanent control of the occupied state of Palestine, undermine the Palestinian right to self-determination, and try to force us to leave. When we are forced to leave, they will then call that voluntary.
More than 20 Palestinians have been injured in the latest reported settler attacks.
In theKhalla Amira and Rujoum Ali areas of Masafer Yatta, in the South Hebron Hills, settlers released their livestock near people’s homes on 25 March. They assaulted Palestinians in the area, injuring and hospitalising several. The IOF then arrived, firing tear gas and sound grenades at residents. Seven Palestinians were abducted and several people were detained.
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Tragedy: One man, 31, dead, and others injured
In another incident in the evening of the same day, vehicles carrying Palestinian workers on the Umm al-Khair to Fateh Sidreh road, in the Masafer Yatta area, were chased by settlers accompanied by the IOF. They opened fire on the vehicles which led to one overturning and catching fire.
Yusri Majed Abu Qabita, 31, was killed and three other Palestinian men were injured.
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No Palestinian is spared from this settler terrorism. An elderly man was injured in an attack in the Tubas governorate, in the Northern occupied West Bank.
East of Tulkarm, in the town of Ramin, settlers stole sheep and injured two Palestinian men.
About 750,000 Zionist settlers live illegally in settlements across the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem. They carry out crimes against Palestinians all day every day, but harsh words and meaningless sanctions from the international community do absolutely nothing to stop them. As yet, they have faced no accountability for any of their vicious crimes.
Fourteen Palestinians were killed by settler terrorism in 2025 while 11 people have been murdered in the first three months of 2026, according to figures from the Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission (CWRC).
In 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled“Israel’s” occupation of Palestine is illegal, and called for all settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem to be evacuated.
Shahin summed up the situation and said:
Not only are our lives, our dignity and our rights threatened, but humanity, morality and justice under international law, and its applicability to all similarly. This is a real test. If the test fails in Palestine it will fail elsewhere, and the suffering will mount elsewhere.
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Featured image via the Canary
By Charlie Jaay
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