Settlement Expansion Accelerates as Settler Violence Hits Unprecedented Levels

By: Madeeha Al-A’raj
The ‘National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements stated in its latest weekly report , that settler terrorism and attacks against Palestinian citizens in the West Bank as targeting their lives, homes, property, and fields, have reached unprecedented levels this month. Their attacks have intensified amid the American-Israeli war on Iran with settlers exploiting the situation to spread fear among Palestinian citizens, who are confronting this with bare chests. Multiple sources report that entire communities are living in constant fear, effectively besieged and cut off from the outside world. Hundreds of Palestinian families have been forced to flee their homes due to the escalation of their attacks, particularly in the Jordan Valley, where settlers have reportedly been supplied with weapons and special vehicles.
It confirms the occupation authorities reliance on the settlers to create the conditions for displacement and ethnic cleansing. This has become evident in the widespread nature of this terrorism in recent weeks, including during the Eid Fitr holiday, which witnessed a surge in attacks on Palestinian citizens. The attacks targeted dozens of towns and villages, and even medical clinics were not spared, as was the case in the villages of Jalud and Burqa in the Nablus Governorate. This is also confirmed by consistent assessments from the National Bureau for Defending the Land, the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, and numerous Israeli human rights organizations opposed to the occupation and settlements.
Settler terrorism has swept through dozens of towns and villages across the West Bank, resulting in scores of injuries and damage to homes and vehicles due to acts of vandalism and arson perpetrated by these terrorists. The most recent incident occurred in the village of Deir Al-Hatab, east of Nablus, where four houses and nine vehicles were burned, and 13 citizens were injured, four of whom were hospitalized.
The goal of such terrorist attacks is clear: it isn’t only to seize Palestinian land, expand settlements, and destroy any chance of a political settlement to the conflict, but also to carry out plans reminiscent of the displacement and ethnic cleansing schemes Israel has practiced since its inception. This ethnic cleansing, carried out under the guise of war, is documented in reports by the organizations B Tselem and Ir Amim, which monitor the escalating violence in the West Bank.
These reports indicate an increase in Palestinian bloodshed and an intensification of ethnic cleansing under the pretext of the war with Iran, describing it as a ‘spreading cancer.’ The Israeli government, in an attempt to mislead the public about settler terrorism in the West Bank following protests from US administration officials, claims it will establish a unit within the Ministry of Army to confront the ‘Hilltop Youth’ terrorist settler organization, which uses settlements, outposts, and so-called pastoral farms as safe havens, and allocates a budget of NIS 130 million for the next 3 years.
However, a senior Israeli reserve officer confirmed that this budget would be allocated to the regional councils of settlements and would be used to benefit settlement outposts and farms, which serve as strongholds for terrorist settlers. He added that the government is engaging in deception, as reported by Haaretz on Friday. Israeli officers and Shin Bet agents, speaking to the newspaper, also revealed the lies and misinformation spread by PM Netanyahu on this issue. He claims that only about 70 angry and confused youths from within the Green Line are involved in the attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.
Though, events and facts confirm that hundreds of these youths are systematically carrying out continuous attacks on Palestinian villages and Bedouin communities with the aim of expelling them from their homes. In many cases, they use firearms, and they are supported by a broader network of backers.
Data here pointed to shocking figures. The Guardian reported on the 25th of this month that Israel has not prosecuted a single Israeli for the killing of Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of this decade. The newspaper added, quoting the Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din, that more than 96% of police investigations into settler violence between 2020 and 2025 ended without charges. Of 368 cases, only 8´-or-just 2% of the total, resulted in full´-or-partial convictions. Furthermore, 1,746 complaints were filed by Palestinians regarding harm inflicted upon them by Israeli soldiers, including more than 600 complaints related to killings, and less than 1% of these complaints resulted in charges.
This systematic failure, persisting for over 2 decades, proves, according to the organization, that the failed law enforcement policy is not accidental, but rather evidence that Israel deliberately enables and sometimes even collaborates with violence against unarmed civilians. The organization documented numerous incidents of violence in the West Bank between 2023 and November 2025, and in several of these incidents, soldiers´-or-police officers were reported to be present during the attacks, providing -dir-ect´-or-in-dir-ect assistance to the settlers.
Furthermore, according to the laws of war and the laws of occupation, the occupying police are supposed to play their role in curbing settler terrorism, since Israeli citizens in the West Bank are subject to Israeli law, and the police are supposed to investigate crimes committed by settlers. However, law enforcement data indicates a failure to do so. Reports from the Yesh Din organization in this regard indicate that only 3% of investigations into ideologically motivated crimes committed by Israelis against Palestinians result in indictments.
In other words, no one is brought to justice in most cases of violence such as arson, assault, and property destruction. Even when investigations are conducted, cases are closed due to insufficient evidence. In this way, the law enforcement system under Minister Ben-Gvir effectively contributes to the continuation of violence.
Since this organized violence has become an embarrassment for the occupying power on the international stage, former ambassadors and senior Israeli diplomatic officials have called on their government to immediately halt settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. The petition, signed by more than 90 former ambassadors and diplomats and shared by former Israeli Ambassador to India Daniel Carmon in both English and Hebrew on his X page on Wednesday, states, ‘We call on the Israeli government to take all necessary measures to immediately end the violence -dir-ected against the Palestinian population in the West Bank and to take urgent and decisive action against the perpetrators of these criminal acts.’ They added, ‘This unacceptable violence, which is escalating under the guise of war, fundamentally contradicts the most basic principles of good governance and morality, and constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and Israeli law.’
The olive groves have also become targets of settler and Israeli army attacks, in just a few days, the Israeli army, accompanied by settler mobs, uprooted hundreds of mature trees, particularly in the Ramallah and northern Jerusalem areas. This was based on military orders to uproot trees from approximately 380 dunams of land in Silwad, Ein Sinya, and Atara, northeast and north of Ramallah, 100 dunams of land in Ni lin, west of Ramallah, and about 200 trees between the towns of Beit Iksa and Biddu, northwest of Jerusalem, all without prior warning, the arbitrary measures are part of an effort to expedite the creation of buffer zones around settlements and along roads used by settlers.
In villages northeast of Ramallah, local councils were notified of a decision to cut down trees on 380 dunams in the areas of Ein al-Haramiya, Wadi al-Balat, and Wadi al-Zaytoun. The decision, issued on March 3rd, included an accompanying map indicating that the occupation intends to cut down trees on both sides of the main road between Ramallah and Nablus, which is used by settlers, as reported by the mayor of Silwad, Raed Hamed. The decision includes uprooting thousands of trees from the lands of Ein Sinya and Atara.
In Ni lin, west of Ramallah, the decision also stipulates the uprooting of trees on 100 dunams of land belonging to several villages located on the southern side adjacent to the separation wall. This comes in implementation of military orders to expand the so-called security zones surrounding several settlements, according to a plan prepared by Smotrich to impose buffer zones after clearing them of trees, extending between tens and 200 meters from the designated security area.
Regarding settlement activity, Palestinian concerns are growing about the consequences of the accelerated and relentless implementation of settlement plans. This was highlighted at a meeting on the Palestinian question last week, where the UN Security Council heard a briefing from Ramiz Alekperov, the UN Resident Coordinator in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, on the implementation of resolution 2334 concerning settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. He confirmed that settlement activity continued at high levels.
During the period covered by the briefing, from Dec. 3 to March 13, Israeli planning authorities advanced´-or-approved more than 6,000 housing units, including 3,160 in the occupied West Bank and 2,850 in East Jerusalem. The eviction of Palestinians from their homes in occupied East Jerusalem also continued, as did violence against civilians, with a significant number of deadly incidents. During the reporting period, 32 Palestinians including 7 children were killed in large-scale operations carried out by the occupying forces and in settler attacks.
The occupying state no longer cares about international bodies and international laws and on this basis continues its policy of planning to establish the ‘Nahal Doran settlement’ on Mount Tarousa, on the lands of the city of Dura, south of the city of Hebron, and the town of Deir Samet, west of the city, after the decision issued by the Israeli Cabinet at the end of last year, which stipulates the establishment of the new settlement and at the same time the legitimization of a number of settlement outposts and terrorist pastoral farms, including the ‘Nahal Doran settlement’.
Settlers are continuing their settlement activities with the support of political levels after Israeli Settlement Minister Orit Strock and extremist settlers stormed “Mount Tarousa” and held a ceremony with these settlers to light the eighth candle of the ‘Jewish holiday of Hanukkah’, where Minister Strock said at the time that ‘establishing the Doran settlement means returning to the land of the fathers, and will form a plan to link the settlements together to strengthen the Jewish presence’, while the head of the Regional Council of Settlements of the Hebron Hills, Eliram Azulay, stated that the ‘Doran settlement’ will link the ‘Adora settlements’ north of the town, and ‘Nigohot to the south, in the presence of a number of families, who announced that they were ready to settle there through an agricultural outpost.
The Israeli occupation authorities also approved new settlement plans to build 100s of housing units in several settlements in the occupied West Bank. The plans include the construction of 316 housing units in the ‘Kedek Arava settlement’ in the southern Jordan Valley, which was established as an outpost in 2017 near the intersection of roads 1 and 90 south of Jericho-;- 90 settlement units in the Shiloh settlement on land belonging to the villages of Qaryut and Turmusaya south of Nablus, about 54 housing units in the Fasayil settlement in the central Jordan Valley-;- and 12 housing units in the Bedu el settlement in the Salfeet Governorate.
Besides, on March 13, the occupation authorities issued military orders to seize dozens of dunams of land in the Al-Buqai a Plain. This follows similar military orders issued at the end of last year to seize 1,042 dunams in the Atouf Plain, located within the Al-Buqai a Plain in the northern Jordan Valley. The northern Jordan Valley is among the areas most vulnerable to land confiscation and settlement expansion, with the occupation authorities frequently issuing military orders to confiscate land, designate it as military zones,´-or-allocate it for settlement projects.
Moreover, occupation forces seized 133 dunams of Palestinian land in the town of Arraba in the Jenin Governorate under the pretext of ‘military purposes’. This includes 128.6 dunams for expanding a military site east of the town, along with another order to seize 3.6 dunams for constructing a road in the same area.
In the Salfeet Governorate, the occupation authorities issued an order to confiscate land in the town of Deir Istiya, with the aim of constructing a ‘security road’ south of the town of Marda, adjacent to the Ariel settlement. The military orders included the destruction of an area of 21.43 dunams planted with trees on land east of the town of Arraba, in addition to an area of 47 dunams of Palestinian land and an area of 25.74 dunams of land in the Deiristya town in Salfeet, in the area located north of the town, adjacent to Wadi Qana Street, east of the Qalqilia Governorate.
List of Israeli Assaults over the Last Week Documented by the National Bureau:
Jerusalem:
- Forcing Ahmad Hamed Bakirat to demolish part of his own home in Sur Baher, in compliance with a demolition order issued against him last Sunday, giving him 10 days to carry it out.
- Seizing 2 homes in the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood of Silwan for the benefit of settlement associations.
- Imjuring Palestinians in an attack by settlers on the Mikhmas town. The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that its crews treated 5 people injured in the settler assault and took them to the hospital.
Hebron:
- Attacking farmers and shepherds in the Al-Rakeez area of Masafer Yatta, assaulting them. Citizen Mohammad Yahya Abu Aram suffered from suffocation after pepper spray was sprayed in his face. Shepherds from the Alian Awad family in the Wadi Abu Shaban area of Masafer Yatta were also attacked with tear gas canisters.
- Demolishing homes, sheep pens, and sanitary facilities in the Hanu Khalil area, south of Hebron, and in the village of Al-Mufaqara.
- Storming the Khallat Al-Mafatih area in the town of As-Samu, firing tear gas and live ammunition at residents and confiscating 60 livestock.
- Seizing a water well north of Ar-Rihya, south of Hebron, coinciding with the commencement of excavation work and the construction of a settlement road in the area, aimed at expanding an outpost established last year.
- Demolishing a house under construction and several shops west of Beit Awa, south of Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank.
- Injuring 8 Palestinians in an attack by settlers in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron. Settlers also set fire to two bulldozers in the town of Sa ir, northeast of Hebron, belonging to a member of the Shalalda family.
Ramallam:
- Attacking the village of Abu Falah and set fire to a vehicle, sparking clashes that resulted in several Palestinians being injured by rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas inhalation.
- Bulldozing 20 dunams of land near road 60, in Ein Yabrud, uprooting several olive trees. Settler gatherings were also observed at the intersections near the settlement of Shilo, severely disrupting Palestinian movement.
- Attacking the village of Burqa, east of Ramallah, setting fire to the village s health clinic and a commercial truck, causing material damage and widespread panic among residents.
- Forcing shepherds to leave their grazing lands to allow settlers to graze their livestock in the village of Al-Mughayyir, pursued them and their animals using a drone.
- Erecting a tent near a stone quarry and concrete plant in the Taybeh town in an attempt to shut down the facility and seize the land.
Nablus:
- Attacking Palestinian vehicles near the town of Aqraba, pelting them with stones and damaging some of them. In Khirbet al-Tawil, settlers attacked Palestinians, injuring a 15-year-old boy.
- Assaulting Palestinians in the village of Beit Amrin, beating residents and spraying them with pepper spray.
- Injuring 3 Palestinians, and damaged 4 vehicles in the village of Jalud.
- Attacking Palestinians in the neighboring village of Qaryut, but residents confronted them and drove them away.
- Storming the Burin village and conducted a provocative tour among the homes of residents.
- Attacking 2 Palestiniansm they sustained bruises by settlers in Deir al-Hatab. The -dir-ector of the Red Crescent s ambulance and emergency center in Nablus reported that ambulance crews treated a 56-year-old man who had been assaulted and a woman who had been beaten and suffered from tear gas inhalation.
- Demolishing a house wall and assaulted a Palestinian man in Jabal al-Arma in the town of Beita.
- Storming the Huwara Secondary School on the main street, removed the Palestinian flag, and replaced it with the Israeli flag atop the school in the town of Huwara. They also spray-painted racist slogans on the school walls.
- Setting fire to an agricultural building in the al-Ma shar area, east of the In the Beit Furik town, destroying its contents. Three young men were also injured when settlers attacked them in two vehicles near the village of Beit Imrin.
Salfeet:
- Attacking 3 citizens of Bruqin, sustained bruises after settlers attacked them and pelted their vehicle with stones as they traveled on the Al-Matwi road connecting Salfeet city and Bruqin to the west.
- Attacking Palestinian vehicles near the village of Haris, while others stole 30 sheep from the Mughr al-Asmar farm in Deirstiya.
- Uprooting scores of olive trees at the main entrance to Kafr Haris as part of an effort to -alter-the town s entrance and widen roads for the benefit of settlers.
Jenin:
- Attacking several homes of citizens in the town of Silat al-Dhahr and tried to burn them down. They also assaulted a citizen and burned homes and vehicles in the neighboring village of al-Fandaqumiya. Attacking homes and smashed their windows, amid attempts by citizens to confront them and extinguish the fires. Local sources reported that a house and two vehicles were completely burned down, while a number of citizens sustained minor injuries and were taken to a nearby medical center for treatment.
Qalqilia:
- Razing 60 meters of land in the village of Kafr Laqif, following a decision made 2 weeks prior to seize 106 dunams of land belonging to both Kafr Laqif and the town of Azzun, under the pretext of using it for military purposes.
- setting fire to an agricultural storage room belonging to Abd Takruri in the village of Kafr Qaddum, damaging the room and its contents, including agricultural equipment. They also spray-painted racist slogans against Palestinians before withdrawing.
- Bulldozing the Mansour Land amusement park, located on the Nabi Elias-Jiyous road. The losses resulting from this bulldozing operation are estimated at -$-1.5 million.
Jordan Valley:
- Stealing a horse belonging to a Palestinian citizen at the Tayasir checkpoint. Smashing the windows of a vehicle belonging to Fayeq Abdullah Hussein Bisharat in Khirbet Als al-Ahmar in the northern Jordan Valley.
- Attacking the Malih school, vandalizing its contents, including the water and electricity networks and other facilities, and stealing some of the school s belongings.
- fencing hundreds of dunams of grazing and mountainous land as part of a policy of closing off pastures to prevent thousands of livestock from accessing these lands in the Hadidiya area of the northern Jordan Valley.

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