Israeli settler violence
Palestinians are the target of violence by Israeli settlers and their supporters, predominantly in the West Bank. In November 2021, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz discussed the steep rise in the number of incidents between settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank, many of which result from attacks by residents of illegal settler outposts on Palestinians from neighboring villages.[3] Settler violence also includes acts known as price tag attacks that are in response to actions by the Israeli government, usually against Palestinian targets and occasionally against Israeli security forces in the West Bank.[4]
Palestinian police are forbidden from reacting to acts of violence by Israeli settlers, a fact which diminishes their credibility among Palestinians.[5] Between January and November 2008, 515 criminal suits were opened by Israel against settlers for violence against Arabs or Israeli security forces; 502 of these involved "right wing radicals" while 13 involved "left wing anarchists".[6][7] In 2008, the senior Israeli commander in the West Bank said that a hard core of a few hundred activists were involved in violence against the Palestinians and Israeli soldiers.[8] Some prominent Jewish religious figures living in the occupied territories, as well as Israeli government officials, have condemned and expressed outrage over such behavior,[9] while religious justifications for settler killings have also been given.[10] Israeli media said the defense establishment began taking a harder line against unruly settlers starting in 2008.[11] In 2011 the BBC reported that "vast majority of settlers are non-violent but some within the Israeli government acknowledge a growing problem with extremists."[4] UN figures from 2011 showed that 90% of complaints filed against settlers by Palestinians with the Israeli police never led to indictment.[4]
In the 21st century, there has been a steady increase in violence and terror perpetrated by Israeli settlers against Palestinians.[11] In 2012, an EU heads of mission report found that settler violence had more than tripled in the three years up to 2011.[12] United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) figures state that the annual rate of settler attacks (2,100 attacks in 8 years) has almost quadrupled between 2006 and 2014.[13] In 2021, there was yet another wave of settler violence which erupted after a 16-year-old settler died in a car chase with Israeli police after having hurled rocks at Palestinians. So far it has resulted in 44 incidents in the span of a few weeks, injuring two Palestinian children.[14] In the latter parts of 2021, there has been a marked increase in settler violence toward Palestinians, condemned at the United Nations Security Council.
This violence increased further following the election of a far-right government in 2022 which proposed to expand Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories, as well as the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.
History
In late 2022, far-right leaders of the Israeli settlement movement were elected into the government of Israel and appointed as prominent ministers; in early 2023, Israeli settler violence increased, which included the Huwara rampage of February 2023.[15][16] In October 2023, the outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war was accompanied by a further escalation in Israeli settler violence in the West Bank.[15] [17] After the war began, the settlers "have acted with near-impunity", wrote BBC News in May 2024.[18][19]
In April 2024, Israeli settlers rampaged through Palestinian villages in the West Bank after the disappearance of Israeli teenager Benjamin Achimeir on 12 April 2024, whose dead body was found a day later.[20] In total, 11 Palestinian villages were attacked, four Palestinians were shot dead and thousands of animals were killed, while a dozen homes and over 100 cars were burned.[18] BBC News, citing messages from Israeli settlers' WhatsApp groups and testimony from Palestinian villagers and officials, described the rampage as appearing to be a "organised campaign of revenge … carried out by co-ordinated groups on the ground, and targeted against ordinary Palestinians with no apparent connection to the murder of Benjamin Achimeir other than the bad luck of living nearby."[18]
Causes of violence
When an 11-year-old Palestinian girl from Nablus was killed by settlers in 1983, in their defense, the chief rabbi of the Sephardic community reportedly cited a Talmudic text justifying killing an enemy on occasions when one may see from a child's perspective that he or she will grow up to become your enemy.[31] Rabbis have been asked by settler militants to provide rulings to justify acts that are aimed to block peace with, or the return of land to, Palestinians.[32] The theft of Palestinian olive harvests has been justified by some rabbis. Former chief rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu stated that: "Since the land is the inheritance of the People of Israel, planting on this land by gentiles is planting on land that does not belong to them. If someone puts a tree on my land, both the tree and the fruit it yields belongs to me."[33] Some rabbinical extremists cite the biblical edict to exterminate the Amalekites to justify both expelling Palestinians from the land and killing Arab civilians in wartime.[34]
One of the causes of violence is settler vigilante action in response to, usually unrelated, acts of Palestinian violence.[35][36]
Human rights group B'Tselem says that the violence is "a means to harass and intimidate Palestinians" and that the evacuations are a necessary part of the peace process. According to B'Tselem, when a building is evacuated by the Israeli government, settlers lash out at Palestinians because they're "easy victims" and as a means to widen the area under settler control.[37]
Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official who deals with the settlements issue in the northern West Bank, said, "These groups of settlers are organised and support each other...If there’s an outpost evacuation, they call people from Hebron to Jenin to stop the Palestinians working on their lands". Michael Sfard, a lawyer with Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group which monitors the violation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, stated that there are between a few dozen and a few hundred extremist settlers using a tactic called price-tagging: if the government sends police or soldiers to dismantle an outpost that is being built, the settlers make the Palestinian population pay the price. While people in the outpost are confronting the security forces, others start harassing Palestinians, forcing commanders to divert men from the outpost and making them think twice about launching future operations. It’s such a big headache that many of the relevant authorities give up without trying and the outposts are quickly rebuilt once the army gives up and leaves.[38]
Criticism of violence by settler leaders
The violence by extremist settlers against Palestinians has been condemned by leading religious, political and municipal figures in the West Bank, including Rabbi Menachem Fruman of Tekoa, who said: "Targeting Palestinians and their property is a shocking thing, (...) It's an act of hurting humanity. (...) This builds a wall of fire between Jews and Arabs."[9] According to former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, "most of those extreme right wing activists" are not settlers and do not represent the settlements community.[39]
The Yesha Council and former Knesset member Hanan Porat has also condemned violence against Palestinians. "The 'price tag' response is immoral", Porat said. "It's unheard of that one needs to burn the vineyards and fields of Arabs. It's immoral ... and it gives legitimacy to those who are interested in undermining the outpost issue. It's a very grave matter."[40]
Yesha Council is the umbrella organization of municipal councils of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Council chairman Dani Dayan said that settlers must not use violence to advance their means. He said that such actions were "morally bankrupt" and serve only to "hinder the settlers' struggle".[41]
Differing legal status and treatment of Israeli settlers and Palestinians
Unlike Palestinians, Israeli civilians living in the Palestinian Territories are not subject to military or local law, but are prosecuted according to Israeli civilian penal law. This originates in the Emergency Regulations bill enacted in 1967 and extended since which gives extraterritorial rights to Israelis in the occupied territories. B'Tselem has said that the difference in legal status of Israelis and Palestinians in the territories has led to a double standard in which Israelis are given more legal rights and are punished more lightly than the Palestinians who are subject to military and local law. B'Tselem notes the system violates the principles of equality before the law and territoriality.[42]
Referring to settler violence during the police evacuation of the "Federman Farm" near Kiryat Arba, Haaretz has stated in an editorial "Israeli society has become accustomed to giving lawbreaking settlers special treatment", noting that no other group could similarly attack Israeli law enforcement agencies without being severely punished.[43] Haaretz has characterized settler violence on soldiers and policemen who participated in the evacuation of the "Federman Farm" as "terrorism".[43]
In response to the violence directed towards Israeli security forces, Israel declared it would no longer fund any illegal outposts from November, 2008.[44]
After the evacuation of settlers from Hebron in December 2008, a riot ensued and a Jewish settler, Ze'ev Braude, was recorded on video shooting two unarmed Palestinians after Palestinians had hurled rocks at him. The victims were shot on their own property, which Braude had entered, and later needed surgery. The Israeli State Prosecutor's Office decided to abandon the prosecution of Braude after the Israeli High Court of Justice ruled that the prosecution must give the defendant access to "sensitive information". The prosecutor's office had earlier said that some of the evidence against Braude was classified for security reasons, due to "the Shin Bet's sources and methods of operation, and identifying details about its units and people". Braude had petitioned the High Court for access.[45][46]
Settler riots
Israeli withdrawals from Gaza (in 2005) and an eviction in Hebron (in 2008) triggered settler rioting in protest. There is also continual conflict between settlers and Palestinians over land, resources and perceived grievances.
In August 2007, soldiers clashed with settlers during a raid in Hebron. Paint and eggs were thrown at the soldiers.[56]
A violent settler protest at the Palestinian village of Funduk occurred in November 2007, in which hundreds of extremist settlers converged at the entrance of the village and rampaged after 29-year-old local settler Ido Zoldan was shot dead in his car by Palestinian gunmen at the entrance to Funduk. The settlers smashed the windows of houses and cars. According to Funduk villagers, Israeli soldiers and police accompanied the protesters but mostly stood aside while the settlers rampaged.[57]
In December 2008, Hebron settlers angry at the eviction of settlers from a disputed house rioted, shooting three Palestinian rock-throwers and burning Palestinian homes and olive groves. Video footage of the attacks was recorded, leading to widespread condemnation in Israel. The attacks were characterized as "a pogrom" by Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, who said he was ashamed "as a Jew."[58][59]
Local Palestinians stated that once the disputed house was evicted, the IDF and the police were "indifferent" to the violence against the Palestinians and have made no real attempt to stop the settlers from rioting.[60]
Some settlers have publicly adopted a "price tag" policy whereby settlers attack Palestinian villages in retaliation after settler outposts are removed by the Israeli government.[61]
In April 2009, dozens of settlers from Bat Ayin rampaged through the West Bank village of Safa, smashing car windows, damaging homes and wounding 12 Palestinians. An Israeli army spokeswoman said that the violence started when Palestinians threw stones at Bat Ayin settlers praying on a nearby hill before the Jewish Passover holiday.[62]
The United Nations has warned that as many as 250,000 Palestinians in 83 villages are "highly or moderately" vulnerable to settler retaliation if the unauthorized outposts in the West Bank are removed by the Israeli government. A total of 75,900 Palestinians in 22 villages are "highly vulnerable." The report also warns that a number of roads around Palestinian villages may become dangerous for the Palestinians to use. The settlements of Havat Gilad, Kedumim, Itamar, Yitzhar, Ma'aleh Levona, Shilo, Adei Ad, Nokdim, Bat Ayin, Negohot, Kiryat Arba, Beit Haggai, Carmel, and Susya are considered possible threats to nearby Palestinians. The report criticizes "the inadequate level of law enforcement by the Israeli authorities" and "the ambiguous message delivered by the Government of Israel and the IDF top officials to the security forces in the field regarding their authority and responsibility to enforce the law on Israeli settlers."[63]
Involvement of youths
Some settlers who attacked or harassed Palestinians are disaffected young adults called the Hilltop Youth by the Israeli media. In 2008, welfare minister Isaac Herzog labeled them a "security threat" as well as a "societal and educational danger."[64] In December 2011, following an outbreak of settler violence against IDF property and personnel, Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak said, "There is no doubt that we are talking about terrorists."[65]
Statistics
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs shows that more Palestinians were injured either by settlers or members of the Israeli security forces in attacks in the first six months of 2021 than in the whole of 2020 and about equal to the total for 2019. B'Tselem has logged a 33 per cent increase in attacks during the first six months of 2021 compared with the same period last year and said this was "enacted with an increasingly open cooperation by Israel’s security forces and with the full backing of Israeli authorities".
[144] On 19 October 2021, Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the United Nations Security Council "We are deeply concerned by the violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers in the West Bank against Palestinians and their property," and that "Reports of masked men terrorizing a village in Hebron, destroying homes and injuring children on September 28, and similar acts elsewhere in the West Bank, are abhorrent." She said that the US "appreciated the strong and unequivocal condemnation of this violence by Foreign Minister Lapid, Defense Minister Gantz, and others in the Israeli government," while urging Israel "to investigate these incidents fully, including the response by Israeli security forces."[145]
On 14 November 2021, a report by B'Tselem detailed the takeover of nearly 11 square miles (28 km2) of farm and pasture land by settlers over the past five years and that recent months have seen a steep increase in violence committed by Jewish settlers. The NGO said that Israel has been using settler violence as a "major informal tool" to drive Palestinians from farming and pasture lands in the occupied West Bank. Haaretz asked the Israel Defense Forces, the police and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories for a response to the report's conclusion that violence from the outposts and isolated farms serves the state. The IDF Spokesperson's Office said: "The IDF invests a lot of effort in attempts to eradicate the violent incidents in the area, and is in direct contact with the various civilian and security entities in these areas. The IDF will continue to operate in the region, in order to enable law and security in the area." The police and COGAT declined to comment.[146][147]
Settler violence increased following the election of the thirty-seventh government of Israel in December 2022, which was notable for its inclusion of far-right politicians and support for expanding Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories.[148][149] Settler violence increased further following Hamas's attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. B'Tselem told BBC News that in first six days since the attack, there was an "organised effort by settlers to use the fact that the entire international and local attention is focused on Gaza and the north of Israel to try to seize land in the West Bank" and had recorded at least 46 incidents in which settlers threatened, physically attacked or damaged the property of Palestinians.[150] United Nations officials say that since the attacks, the Israel Defense Forces and armed settlers killed more than 120 Palestinians in the West Bank, with most deaths occurring in clashes with Israeli soldiers.[149]