Settler terrorism accompanies settlement activities and expansion plans.

Settlement Weekly Report 31 Oct – 6 Nov, 2026
By: Madeeha Al-A’raj
The ‘National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements “ stated in its latest weekly report , that Israeli settler attacks across the occupied West Bank have increased sharply in both frequency and severity, developing from isolated incidents into organized campaign to displace Palestinian communities and seize their land. All data showed that the violence by settlers has intensified over the past 4 years, accompanied by settlement plans and measures it says are designed to force Palestinians from their homes, farmland and property.
Data regarding the extent and scope of these acts of violence and terrorism varies. In this regard, there are two distinct models for tracking violent incidents perpetrated by extremist settlers and terrorists: an Israeli model relying on data from the occupation army, the General Security Service, and the police force under Ben-Gvir in the West Bank, which presents a clear, biased Israeli narrative-;- and an alternative model used by UN agencies, human rights organizations ‘including Israeli ones,’ and institutions affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority, while the former adheres to a distinctly biased Israeli narrative, the latter reflects a broad consensus and a significantly different account.
Nonetheless, data from both sources indicate a sharp and sustained rise in the level and frequency of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, particularly over the past 4 years under the Netanyahu, Smotrich, BenGvir government. According to the Israeli figures cited in the data, the number of incidents classified by the Israeli authorities as ‘nationalist crimes’ rose from 495 in 2024 to 870 in 2025. The Data also quotes Israeli security figures indicating that 15 Palestinians were killed in settler attacks between January and August 2026, compared with 8 during 2025.
Figures attributed by the Bureau to (OCHA) paint an even broader picture. Between January and July 2026, the report says, settlers carried out 1,380 attacks in 250 Palestinian communities, injuring nearly 900 Palestinians. It states that the monthly average of such incidents increased roughly fourteen-fold between 2020 and 202, the claim that settler violence is primarily a response to Palestinian attacks. Citing Israeli security figures, it reports a decline in Palestinian attacks in the West Bank from 414 in 2023 to 68 in 2025, with 21 recorded in the first half of 2026. It adds that Israeli fatalities in those attacks fell from 46 in 2024 to 25 in 2025 and three through July 2026.
According to the report, many of those involved in settler attacks live in,´-or-operate from, outposts and agricultural´-or-pastoral settlements established in open areas between Israeli settlements and Palestinian towns and villages. Beyond physical assaults, data showed restrictions on access to farmland-;- damage to crops, olive trees and agricultural equipment-;- vandalism affecting homes and water and electricity infrastructure-;- and the theft´-or-killing of livestock. It interprets this pattern as pressure intended to make Palestinian communities leave.
They further link the escalation to Israeli government measures, saying the Ministry of National Security, headed by BenGvir, established equipped civilian teams granted powers similar to those of police units. It also says the Israeli defense establishment recruited 5,500 settlers into reserve units described as ‘regional defense’ forces based near settlements, expanded weapons distribution and supplied Polaris Ranger off-road vehicles.
A comparison of Oct. 2026 with the same month in 2025 shows what the Bureau calls a sharp deterioration in security for Palestinian communities near pastoral settlement outposts. The reported daily average rose from 5 attacks in Oct 2025 to 7.4 in Oct 2026, reaching a peak of 39 incidents in a single day at the start of this year’s olive harvest. The report identifies southern and eastern rural Nablus, northeastern Ramallah and Masafer Yatta in the Hebron Governorate as the area’s most heavily affected during October, it says attacks increasingly concentrated on villages surrounding pastoral settler outposts.
In Nablus, which the report identifies as having the highest number of people affected, residents of Beita and Osarin faced confrontations after settler-operated machinery bulldozed olive-growing land near Jabal Sbeih. The report describes beatings and the use of gas against families, olive pickers and journalists. In Qusra, Jalud, Qaryut and Lubban al-Sharqiya, it records repeated stone-throwing attacks on vehicles at village entrances, the pursuit of farmers and damage to mature trees. It also reports an increase in attacks by armed settlers arriving from the Itamar settlement near Beit Furik and Salem, allegedly to drive farmers away from eastern agricultural areas.
In Ramallah and Al-Bireh, al-Mughayyir was among the towns most severely affected. Settlers deliberately drove sheep and other livestock through Palestinian olive groves, damaging trees, while clashes repeatedly erupted on the town’s outskirts. Abu Falah and Turmusaya experienced attacks that included the deliberate burning of olive trees, assaults on farmers and harassment of foreign volunteers supporting local residents. In Um Safa and Burqa, the report says incidents involving torched vehicles and the encirclement of homes near settlements doubled compared with the previous year.
In Hebron, the greatest reported destruction of trees, with 3,366 damaged. In Masafer Yatta, including Susya, Al-Tuwani, Al-Fakhit and Qawawis, residents reportedly faced severe beatings by settlers from pastoral outposts, destruction of agricultural tools and the theft of hundreds of sheep. These acts are intended to force Bedouin communities to leave. In Sa’ir and Al-Shoiokh, farmers were reportedly prevented from working as military orders were issued to seize extensive areas of land for the Bnei Kedem settlement.
Attacks also affected Salfeet and Bethlehem governorates. In Salfeet, Yasuf and Deiristiya were badly affected by the bulldozing of olive-planted land for new settlement roads, attacks on farmers and confiscation of equipment. In Bethlehem, residents of Battir and Tuqu’ faced increased closures of access roads and land seizures. The report says Israeli authorities designated parts of Battir’s land for the Bar Kokhba settlement site.
The rise in settler violence has coincided with a series of measures advancing Israeli settlement expansion. On 28 Oct, Israeli authorities issued a military order to take control of 26.473 dunams of land belonging to Deir Nizam, Um Safa and Atara, northwest of Ramallah. According to the report, the purpose was to connect settlements and outposts around Ateret and Halamish ‘Neve Tzuf’, facilitate settler movement and impose further restrictions on Palestinian farmers accessing adjacent land.
On the same date, two additional military orders targeted a combined 11.205 dunams in the Jenin governorate on stated security grounds. One concerned 8.645 dunams in Deir Abu Da’if, east of Jenin, for a 1,800-metre security route and buffer zone around the former Ganim settlement, described by the authorities as the ‘Ganim Perimeter Axis.’ The other covered 2.560 dunams in Qabatiya for a 500-metre road known as the ‘Kadim Emergency Axis,’ serving the Kadim settlement. The Bureau warns that these measures would link infrastructure serving 2 settlements evacuated in 2005, before Israeli legislation was amended to permit settlers’ return, and further isolate Palestinian villages from nearby olive groves.
On 27 Oct., Israeli authorities issued another declaration classifying about 370 dunams of land in Abu Dis and Arab al-Sawahra, east of occupied Jerusalem, as ‘government property’´-or-‘state land.’ The declaration covers parcels in land blocks 3 and 6, including Sarrarat, Mughri, Qal’a, Satah Ghazal, Arqub Marrah, Jabal Jorat Qutfa and Um Rayan. According to the report, the measure supports the establishment of the new Mishmar Yehuda settlement. It follows a December 2025 ‘Blue Line’ mapping plan covering approximately 3,380 dunams in the same area, intended to prepare for settlement infrastructure. The Bureau warns that the new declaration threatens Bedouin families with displacement and contributes to the geographical separation of East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.
In a further decision dated 3 Nov, the Israeli Civil Administration’s authority responsible for government and absentee property, acting under the -dir-ection of Yossi Segal, designated 2,536 dunams in Beitillu, Mazra’a Qibliya and Deir Ammar, northwest of Ramallah, as ‘state land,’ the report says. The affected areas include land blocks 1 and 6 in Beitillu, blocks 2, 3 and 6 in Mazra’a Qibliya, and block 5 in Deir Ammar.
The decision focuses on land surrounding the Kerem Re’im settlement and seeks to connect settlements in the Talmonim bloc, including Kerem Re’im, Neria and Nahliel, with Talmon and Dolev. The authorities allowed 45 days from publication for legal objections. According to the report, taking control of the hills and valleys between the 3 villages would create a settlement belt restricting their future urban expansion. It attributes a central role in the wider programme of ‘state land’ declarations to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, citing Palestinian and Israeli official and human rights reporting on his responsibilities for settlement policy.
For his part, Yossi Dagan, head of the Northern West Bank Settlements Council, inaugurated the new Shalem settlement on land belonging to Salem village, east of Nablus, as its first 12 settler families moved in. It describes Shalem as the ninth settlement established in the northern West Bank in less than a year. At the inauguration, Dagan reportedly referred to a plan for 19 settlements in the area, intended to link settlement communities.
Shalem is located in the hills east of Nablus, about 2.9 km from Elon Moreh, overlooking Salem, Beit Furik and Beit Dajan. It lies near Road 555 and the Elon Moreh and Itamar settlements. The report warns that the project threatens agricultural livelihoods in Salem, whose land totals roughly 12,000 dunams. About 8,000 dunams lie beyond the bypass road in an area subject to Israeli military restrictions and control. The report describes a sequence of land levelling, road construction, outpost establishment and the eventual housing of settlers as a growing threat to the village’s remaining farmland.
List of Israeli Assaults over the Last Week Documented by the National Bureau:
Jerusalem:
- Forcing Jihad Matour to demolish his home in Beit Hanina comprising of 2 residential apartments, in the al-Marwaha neighborhood, under the pretext that it had been built without a permit. Four residential structures were also demolished in the Bir al-Maskoub 1 Bedouin community, along with solar panels, rooms and toilets, while Civil Administration teams issued 5 demolition orders.
Hebron:
- Attacking members of the Abu Alayan family as they harvested olives on their land south of Yatta and attempted to prevent other residents from picking olives in the Ma’in area east of the town. In the village of Sikka, south of Hebron, a settler reportedly fired live ammunition towards children playing football at a school playground east of the village. Other settlers entered farmland in al-Rahniya, south of Hebron, and stole olives.
- Releasing livestock into olive-planted land in the Hamrush area.
- Stealing 30 boxes of grapes from Palestinian farmland in al-Baq’a, east of Hebron city, under the protection of Israeli soldiers. In ash-Shuyukh, an elderly woman and her husband were injured when settlers attacked them with blows and clubs as they harvested olives in Wadi Abu Safar.
- Setting fire to 2 vehicles, a house and an agricultural room, and painted racist slogans in Wadi al-Rakhim in the Yatta area. The report also describes a fire at a house under construction that destroyed possessions inside, racist graffiti on its walls, the burning of another agricultural room and damage to the contents of a cave used as a residence.
- Destroying several olive trees in Wadi al-Sour, in the Khirbet al-Sheikh area Near Surif, beside the Aparthied Wall, in the presence of Israeli soldiers.
Bethlehem:
- Attacking Hassan Salah and his family while they were picking olives in al-Sawana, in al-Khader stolen the harvested fruit and picking tools, and threatened the family against returning to their land.
- Assaulting olive pickers near the village’s eastern entrance and forced them to leave at gunpoint In Marah Rabah,.
Ramallah:
- Throwing stones at Palestinian vehicles on the Marj Si’ road between al-Mughayyir and Abu Falah.
- Invading private farmland, chased and beat olive pickers, and forced them from their plots in Kafr Malik.
- Establishing an outpost by placing a mobile home and a tent on Palestinian land in the al-Marj area between Ni’lin and Qibya.
- Seizing privately owned land, began cultivating it and barred its owners from entering it in al-Mughayyir.
- Injuring 84 year old man after being beaten near Ras Karkar. Olive crops were stolen in the al-Batin area near Sinjil, while a family harvesting olives in al-Maysha, Deir Ammar, was attacked.
Nablus:
- Assaulting several Palestinians in the al-Shajara area east of Duma, leaving one person with a head injury, entered the village, closed its main entrance and detained an ambulance that arrived to transport the injured man.
- Attacking olive pickers in al-Hara’iq, near Beita, forced them to leave and seized harvesting equipment, preventing farmers from harvesting their olives.
- Vandalizing the contents of a house and cut its electricity wires in al-Masoudiya.
- Approaching the house of Ayman al-Khatib in Aqraba and attempted to attack him.
- Cutting down mature, fruit-bearing olive trees in al-Dababes in Qaryut.
- Demolishing a water spring at Ain al-Kafarat in an-Naqura, north of Nablus,.
Salfit:
- Injuring 2 Palestinians when settlers attacked them during the olive harvest in Wadi al-Sha’er-;- their injuries were described as moderate. Israeli forces ordered farmers off their land in the southern part of Deir Istiya near the Revava settlement and prevented them from continuing the harvest.
- Assaulting olive pickers in al-Wadat, north of Buruqin, and forced them to leave.in Yasuf,
- Expelling several farmers from the Bab Asrab area during the olive harvest. Settlers also attacked farmers on agricultural land west of the area between Deir Istiya and Qarawat Bani Hassan, beat them and confiscated their equipment. I
- Assaulting 4 farmers from Haris, stopped them from harvesting and seized their tools, set fire to farmland and several olive trees.
- Blocking major roads linking Salfeet with neighbouring towns and villages and burned tyres, disrupting residents’ travel and access to work. The closures included the road leading to the western part of the Salfeet governorate, from the Kifl Haris roundabout through the Haris traffic lights.

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