Since January 21, Israel has launched a military operation under the title “The Iron Wall”, during which it targeted the cities and camps of the West Bank, and in the focus of this escalation against the Palestinians, the settlers appear as a tool in the hands of the occupation army to implement its crimes.
The relationship between the occupation army and settlers evolved from security coverage to the exchange of weapons, which made the army a direct partner in the crimes carried out by the settlers against the Palestinians in the West Bank.
In light of the escalation of their attacks, a central question arises about how the occupation is turning the settlers into “regular militias” that implement war crimes under the supervision of the army.
Military doctrine
Although the coordination of the army with the settlers is not considered part of the Israeli military doctrine, but with the increase in the control of the national and religious right over the joints of government in Israel, this has led to strengthening the relationship between the two sides.
A report published by “Foreign Policy” magazine confirms that the occupying state has used a semi -official “police army” in the West Bank, which includes infantry units, border police, armed settlement militias and an army trained.
The report, which was published under the title “How does the violence practiced by settlers in the West Bank serve the interests of Israel?”
The New Yorker newspaper reveals in a report that a large percentage of male settlers in the West Bank are reserve soldiers, as “this category constitutes about 70% of the combat forces in some areas.”
She said they are undergoing frequent training with the regular army units, which enhances job integration between settlers and the military establishment, and the Israeli National Security Research Institute report showed that 20% of the army budget is devoted to protecting illegal settlements.
The researcher, Igal Harovney, explains – in the framework of a long analysis, the English site published excerpts from it – how “security forces appointed by settlement societies supervised by the Israeli army, and use a security authority against the Palestinians, with the aim of expanding and changing the nature of the seized areas, and says that this represents a measure that has a strategic nature more than a purely security.
Arming the settlers
During the past two years, armaments of Israeli settlers in the West Bank have escalated with direct government support from the ministers of finance and national security extremists in Salafel Smotrich and Etamar Bin Ghaffir, and a volunteer organization (Yis Din) has documented the army’s handover weapons and automatic rifles for settlers.
This armament led to the formation of armed terrorist “terrorist militias” practicing murder and destruction against the Palestinian population and caused the displacement of 10 Palestinian gatherings.
According to the figures of the National Security Committee in Israel, 250,000 Israelis applied to obtain licenses to carry weapons after the Al -Aqsa Flood operation, while the demand for training centers increased to the use of weapons, and thousands of Israelis got a weapon for the first time.
Battilm is documenting dozens of attacks by settlers with direct participation with the occupation army, and the United Nations documents indicate that settlers use government weapons in 70% of the attacks.
A report published by the Palestinian return network last year revealed that 80% of the armed settlers underwent military training in the units of the Israeli army, which confirms the nature of this integrative relationship.
In the context, a report of the “Makraat” association, based in the city of Lod, said that 85% of the settlers’ attacks in Hebron were used gas canisters from the army stores.
For its part, Human Rights Watch registered cases of transportation of advanced military monitoring systems to illegal settlement outposts, in a clear violation of Article 8 of the Rome Basic System.
The collusion of the army
The writer in the newspaper “Haaretz”, Zif Sahil, says: The policy of overlooking the crimes against the Palestinians in the West Bank, which lasted for many years, turned with the current government into a clear and explicit message that supports and supports ideological crime.
Documents to the Israeli government reveal unofficial orders to “overlook” settlement violence unless it is documented in the media.
The leadership of the West Bank brigade, close to Etamar Bin Ghaffir, stated that the application of the law regarding the violence of the settlers is not at the top of the police priorities, and revealed that 94% of the investigation files had been closed without providing indictment against the aggressors.
Human Rights Watch has documented that the occupation army has achieved in less than 2% of settlers’ attacks, while the International Criminal Court ranked 10 war crimes in a report since the beginning of the year 2025.
A report by the “Law for Palestine” organization indicates that 92% of Palestinian victims did not receive compensation due to the “security blackout” policy, and that 65% of the cases filed were closed on the pretext of “lack of evidence” despite the existence of compelling illustrated evidence.
The tip of the iceberg
The Knesset General Authority session revealed a few days ago that 414 incidents of national violence committed by Jewish settlers in the West Bank during the first half of the year 2025.
Sahil says that the violence of the settlers has become more dangerous, and its results are more deadly.
He stressed that all these incidents are taking place with the support of the laws of applying the law, “in fact, there are soldiers who protect the attackers, and in return they neglect the Palestinians.”
In the context, the human rights organization “Bastel” recorded the army’s delay in more than 50 minutes from interfering in 95% of the attacks, while an analysis of videos published by the Palestinian Press Agency “Wafa” showed the soldiers to arriving the ambulances.
Legal dimensions
Human rights reports confirm that the positions of the occupation army supporting the settlers are criminalized by the text of international law, and the United Nations report defines the year 2023 military-sectarian coordination as “a systematic cooperation between the armed forces and armed civil groups to implement violations in the occupied territories.”
This coordination violates the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which organizes the behavior of the occupying state towards the civilian population in the occupied territories.
The occupying state may not deport or transfer part of its population (settlers) to the lands it occupies, and therefore, the presence of settlers itself is contrary to international law, and any cooperation between the occupation army and settlers is seen as a reinforcement of this illegal existence.
It is also classified by the Center for International Law in The Hague as a war crime when it targets civilians systematically, especially in the context of ethnic cleansing in the West Bank.
This is what the International Court of Justice confirmed in its July 2024 resolution that military-sectarian coordination constitutes a serious violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The United Nations Human Rights Council classifies settlement as a crime against humanity, while the United Nations report revealed that 90% of the attacks take place under the protection of the army in the areas classified “C”.
According to the report, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against 3 Israeli officers for their responsibility for war crimes in the West Bank, according to the Rome Basic System Article 8.
But on the other hand, the United States has been using the veto veto against any international decisions related to settlers and settlements within the West Bank, while the European Union documents show that 70% of the proposed sanctions on Israel are not effective symbolic measures.
The International Criminal Court is facing increasing political pressure to postpone settlement cases, as happened in the “Autra settlement” case, which was postponed 4 times.
Resistance strategies
With the intensification of the attacks by the settlers, the Palestinians had to carry out resistance activities for these practices that directly threaten their lives, whether through a popular resistance act or through armed resistance.
Citizens pursued a number of strategies in order to break the system of systematic violence carried out by the occupation through settlers.
- Popular Resistance:
The Palestinian villages established 750 “Popular Protection Committee” during the 2024-2025 years, according to “Human Rights Watch”, and campaigns of the BDS boycott movement succeeded in forcing 20 European companies to withdraw from settlements.
Human rights organizations have developed the “smart monitoring” system, which documented two thousand violations through drones, despite the confiscation of 100 photo devices.
- Armed Resistance:
Between international legitimacy and the Israeli classification, the Israeli army documents recorded 60% of armed operations in the areas of contact with settlers.
Despite Israel’s classification of it as terrorist acts, international law experts assert that the resistance in the occupied territories is a legitimate right in accordance with Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.
- Enhancing international documentation:
Human rights organizations are calling for the formation of a permanent international investigation committee for violations in the occupied territories, similar to the “Goldstone” committee.
It recommends the establishment of a unified international platform to systematically collect evidence, and also calls for the activation of the “Seventh Item” mechanism in the Security Council to impose sanctions on those responsible for military-sectarian coordination.
- Israel’s siege internationally:
Recommendations call for the escalation of boycott campaigns “BDS” to target the companies involved in the settlement.
It suggests forming an international coalition from the countries that reject settlement to impose an arms embargo on Israel, with a focus on revealing the Western contradiction by exposing European companies involved in building settlements.
Future scenarios
With the escalation of the Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip, and the operations of the occupation army and settlers in the West Bank, the conflict is likely to turn about 3 scenarios:
- Comprehensive annexation and collective displacement
The “Jerusalem Research Institute” documents reveal an Israeli plan to include 70% of the West Bank by 2030, with the displacement of 150,000 Palestinians.
UNRWA warns that this scenario may push 600,000 Palestinians to internal displacement.
This year’s settlement expansion maps show projects to build 15,000 new settlement units on the division road.
- Comprehensive resistance
The Palestinian Research Center expects that 85% of young people support armed resistance if the settlement expansion continues.
Recent polls revealed that 65% of the Palestinians believe that the armed confrontation is the only solution to stopping the displacement, while military analysts warn of an unprecedented wave of violence that may include all occupied lands.
- International pressure
Despite the escalation of international campaigns to boycott Israel, the Israeli Foreign Ministry documents indicate that 75% of European sanctions are ineffective.
But some experts see the accumulation of cases in the criminal court, with 140 countries voting in favor of United Nations resolutions against settlement, may change the equation.
