Escalating settler attacks: a silent policy of ethnic cleansing

Ahmed Osman Jalajel

In a scene that recurs day after day, Palestinian villages in the West Bank are subjected to violent and organized attacks by heavily armed Israeli settlers under the direct protection of the occupation army.
These attacks are no longer just "individual assaults," but have evolved into an organized approach aimed at displacing landowners, terrorizing farmers and shepherds, and forcibly displacing Palestinians.
From the village of Al-Mughayyir, east of Ramallah, to Turmus Ayya and Burin, south of Nablus, and the town of Hizma in occupied Jerusalem, the same story is repeated: settlers storm agricultural land, burn greenhouses, destroy olive trees, and assault residents. Then the occupation army intervenes, not to deter them, but to protect the attackers, suppress the residents, and arrest those defending their land.
Recently, human rights organizations documented armed attacks on the villages of Al-Lubban Al-Sharqiya, Deir Jarir, and Ein Samiya, during which people were injured, vehicles were burned, and dozens of families were forcibly displaced from their homes in Area C.
Observers believe that what is happening is not merely a security breach, but rather a silent policy of ethnic cleansing practiced with clear complicity between the settlers and the Israeli military establishment. Reports indicate that most of the attacks occur within earshot of the occupation soldiers, who do not intervene to stop them. Instead, the settlers are often provided with cover, while the residents are suppressed with tear gas and rubber bullets, turning the lives of citizens in Palestinian villages into a daily hell.
What exacerbates the danger of these attacks is the impunity enjoyed by settlers. According to human rights reports, the percentage of investigations opened into settler attacks on Palestinians is extremely small, and they are often closed without indictments. This distorted legal environment further emboldens them, transforming them into militias that operate openly, even with excessive confidence, relying on the military and political protection provided by the Israeli government.
In many cases, the occupation army does not merely protect the settlers during the attack, but actually participates in the repression. Following every incursion or attempt at self-defense by Palestinians, the army intervenes by firing tear gas, arresting young men, or imposing a closure on the area.
The repeated attacks on villages cannot be separated from the larger settlement project, through which Israel seeks to control as much of the West Bank as possible, particularly fertile agricultural areas and highlands. These repeated attacks force farmers and shepherds to abandon their lands, creating a new reality that facilitates the subsequent process of annexing or surrounding them with settlements.
Despite all this, Palestinian villages demonstrate a determination to survive. Residents rebuild their tents after each demolition, cultivate their lands despite the threat, and establish popular protection committees to monitor settlement activity.
This steadfastness, even if it seems modest, is the most powerful weapon against settler arrogance.
What is happening in Palestinian villages is more than just attacks. It is a deliberate project to empty the land, a silent continuation of the Nakba. Between the armed settler and the complicit soldier, the Palestinian farmer remains clinging to his olive roots, standing up against the policy of slow annihilation.
International silence is an accomplice to the crime, and the responsibility falls on the world to break the circle of protection enjoyed by the settlers and expose the true face of an occupation that knows only the language of force, expulsion, and domination.
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What is happening in Palestinian villages is more than just attacks. It is a deliberate project to empty the land and silently complete the Nakba. Between the armed settler and the complicit soldier, the Palestinian farmer remains clinging to his olive roots, standing in the face of the policy of slow annihilation.