The West Bank and Jerusalem Face the Bloodiest Chapter: Organized Settler Terrorism and Forced Displacement

The occupied West Bank and Jerusalem are facing the most dangerous and bloody phase in decades, as Israeli settler attacks have escalated into organized terrorism targeting Palestinian villages and towns daily. These violations range from burning homes, mosques, and vehicles, to direct physical violence, uprooting trees, and preventing farmers from accessing their lands, all within an environment of impunity provided by the current Israeli government.\n\nIn the latest field developments, groups of masked settlers set fire to vehicles and tents in the village of Susiya, near Hebron, causing extensive material damage and panic among residents. Local sources reported that the attack was carried out under indirect protection from occupation forces, as these practices have become a consistent approach to tighten the noose on the Palestinian presence in areas classified as (C).\n\nThe attacks did not stop at destroying property but extended to livestock, which is the sole source of livelihood for many families, as settlers attacked the home of detainee Khalil Al-Manasra in Masafer Bani Na'im. The attackers stole about thirty sheep and killed several of them in cold blood, in a move aimed at forcing residents to voluntarily leave their lands under the weight of economic and security intimidation.\n\nIn a related context, citizen Wedad Makhamra was assaulted and beaten by a settler who stormed Khirbet Al-Markaz in Masafer Yatta, and provocatively searched homes and livestock pens. Eyewitnesses confirmed that these repeated incursions have caused severe panic among women and children, especially with the increasing pace of physical violence perpetrated by armed settlers against unarmed civilians.\n\nIslamic holy sites were also not spared from the wave of incitement and vandalism, as settlers set fire to parts of the Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq Mosque in the village of Tell, north of the West Bank, and spray-painted racist slogans calling for the killing of Arabs on its walls. The Palestinian Ministry of Endowments condemned this attack, describing it as a heinous crime that comes within the series of targeting the religious and national identity of the Palestinian people in their land.\n\nRegarding forced displacement, 11 Palestinian families began dismantling their homes in the Al-Khalayel Bedouin community east of Ramallah, fleeing continuous settler attacks that made life in the area impossible. These families include 55 individuals, who were previously displaced two years ago from the Ain Samiya community, revealing a systematic Israeli policy to pursue Bedouin communities and empty the land for settlement expansion.\n\nIn Jerusalem, a report issued by the International Jerusalem Foundation revealed a dangerous leap in the number of intruders into Al-Aqsa Mosque, with the number exceeding 65,000 settlers during 2025, an increase of 22% over last year. The report indicated that these incursions are carried out under official patronage, with ministers and Knesset members participating, in an attempt to impose new Judaization facts and change the existing historical status quo.\n\nIsraeli measures inside Al-Aqsa included extending the hours of incursions and increasing the number of intruders in a single group to 200 settlers, while reducing the time intervals between groups. Observers believe that these steps aim to entrench the temporal and spatial division of the mosque, amid international silence and complicity from the occupation authorities who provide full protection to the intruders and assault Palestinian worshipers.\n\nFor its part, the United Nations Office for Human Rights warned that settler violence is increasing unchecked, pointing to the killing of Palestinian Nasrallah Abu Siam in the suburbs of Mikhmas without any legal action being taken against the killers. The UN office called for an immediate end to the occupation and settlement expansion, stressing that the policy of impunity is the primary driver for the continuation of these crimes against humanity.\n\nInternational reports also warned of "ethnic cleansing" operations in the West Bank and Gaza, where Israeli policies aim to uproot Palestinian communities through the systematic use of force and demolition of homes. The United Nations documented an unprecedented increase in attacks since October 2023, indicating the occupation's exploitation of current circumstances to implement annexation and permanent displacement plans.\n\nThe Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission recorded 468 attacks carried out by settlers during January alone, including burning fields and preventing farmers from accessing their lands. These attacks coincide with daily raids carried out by occupation forces in various cities and towns of the West Bank, resulting in the martyrdom and injury of thousands since the outbreak of the war on the Gaza Strip.\n\nOfficial statistics indicate that at least 1,117 Palestinians have been martyred in the West Bank since October 7th, while the number of arrests has reached about 22,000 cases, in an unprecedented targeting campaign. This military and security escalation aims to shatter the social and political structure of Palestinians, paving the way for the official annexation of the West Bank to Israeli sovereignty.\n\nIn a related context of systematic targeting of truth, 2025 was recorded as the deadliest year for journalists in three decades, with 129 journalists killed worldwide, and Israel was responsible for two-thirds of these cases. Reports confirm that the occupation army carried out the largest deliberate killings of journalists, especially those who documented famine crises and field crimes in the occupied territories.\n\nToday, about 770,000 settlers reside in hundreds of settlements and outposts in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, carrying out daily attacks aimed at undermining the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state. Palestinians warn that the continuation of this international silence will lead to a comprehensive explosion, given the extremist Israeli government's insistence on proceeding with settlement, Judaization, and killing policies.\n\nSettler violence is increasing relentlessly and unchecked amid complete impunity provided by the most extremist Israeli government.