Why doesn't the United States rein in Israeli settlement?

Official Palestinian data indicates a significant increase in attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, while the United States, despite labeling some of these crimes as "terrorism," does not exert pressure on Israel to stop them.

According to reports from the Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, settler attacks in the West Bank have nearly doubled during October and November of this year compared to the same period last year.

In numerical terms, settlers carried out 2,934 attacks during 2024, while they executed 4,538 attacks against Palestinians and their properties, including killings and property destruction, from the beginning of the year until mid-November.

In comparison, 360 attacks were carried out in October 2024, while settlers executed 766 attacks in October of last year.

The data also indicates that 247 attacks were recorded during the first half of November this year, compared to 156 attacks during the same period last year.

In light of this data, Palestinian concerns and fears are growing regarding what they perceive as an opening of the gates of hell in the West Bank, especially after the ceasefire agreement since October 10 of last year, which Israel continues to violate since its implementation.

Thus, the Palestinian presidency - in a statement from its spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh - addressed the U.S. administration, warning of "the danger of the terrorist and brutal attacks carried out by settlers" in the West Bank, including "the burning of Palestinian homes and properties."

These attacks were considered "a blatant challenge to the efforts of the international community, especially to the efforts of U.S. President Donald Trump, and his endeavors aimed at solidifying the ceasefire in Gaza and starting political pathways that achieve security and stability for all."

Abu Rudeineh called on the U.S. administration - according to what was reported by the official Palestinian news agency on Saturday - for "immediate and firm intervention to stop this Israeli recklessness and disregard for the rights of the Palestinian people, and to stop providing support and protection to settlers to launch terrorist attacks on the Palestinian people, their land, and their sanctities."

According to Dr. Said Shaheen, head of the media department and a faculty member at Hebron University, the United States is completely biased towards Israel as an exceptional strategic ally in the region that serves all its interests.

He specifically points to the current Trump administration, considering that everything rumored about peace and reaching an end to the war is "false; rather, America supports tensions to remain the primary decision-maker in matters of peace and war in the world."

Despite the U.S. role in the Gaza agreement, Shaheen states that "the U.S. foreign policy has not changed regarding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict," and he goes further to indicate that "the current U.S. administration adopts the same religious positions held and endorsed by the current Israeli government, especially concerning the continuation of the settlement project in Palestine, not just in the West Bank, but even in Gaza."

Shaheen described the statements of U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, in which he labeled the wave of violence perpetrated by settlers in the West Bank as "terrorism," as "mere words for media consumption."

Last Wednesday, the U.S. ambassador - in an interview with American news channel "Elizabeth Vargas," reported by the Times of Israel - described the wave of violence launched by settlers in the West Bank as "terrorism," but insisted that it "is limited to a few thugs (…) many of whom do not even live in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and come there to create chaos."

Shaheen argues that this is organized violence officially supported by the occupying government, and they are not a minority; they reside in illegal settlements in the West Bank, questioning: If the U.S. ambassador's statements are sincere, why does his country not pressure Israel to stop it? And why are terrorists not classified on U.S. blacklists?

He added that Huckabee himself purchased a house in the Israeli settlement of Efrat and made statements more extreme than those of the two extremist ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, claiming that the true land of Israel is the West Bank, and that there is no such thing as the West Bank, referring to it by the Hebrew name "Judea and Samaria."

From this perspective, the media professor sees that the United States adopts Israeli policies, considering Huckabee's statements supporting settlement as a green light for the continuation of settlement and settler attacks.

For his part, political writer Muammar Al-Awiyoui states that settlers are a tool of the occupation in