Since Israel launched its brutal bombing campaign in Gaza on October 7 following a deadly Hamas attack, settler attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem have more than doubled from an average of three to eight incidents per day, according to the United Nations.
A surge in settler attacks has forced hundreds of Palestinians to flee their homes over the past three weeks, amid Israeli bombardments on Gaza that have killed more than 9,500 people.
So who are the settlers and where do they live?
Who are the settlers?
The settlers are Israeli citizens who live on private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. The vast majority of settlements were built entirely or partially on private Palestinian land.
More than 700,000 settlers – 10 percent of Israel’s approximately 7 million people – now live in 150 settlements and 128 outposts scattered across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
A settlement is authorized by the Israeli government while an outpost is built without government authorization. Outposts can range from a small shantytown of a few people to a community of up to 400 people.
Some settlers move to the occupied territories for religious reasons while others are attracted by a relatively lower cost of living and financial incentives offered by the government. Ultra-Orthodox Jews make up a third of all settlers.
A majority of Israeli Jews living in the West Bank say settlement construction improves the country’s security, according to the Pew Research Center. The argument is that settlements act as a buffer to Israel’s national security as they restrict Palestinian movements and undermine the viability of a Palestinian state. However, some on the Israeli left argue that settlement expansion harms the two-state solution and, therefore, Israel’s own peace prospects.
When were the first settlements built?
Israel began building settlements immediately after capturing the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the Six-Day War in June 1967.
In September 1967, the Etzion Block in Hebron was the first settlement built in the occupied West Bank. The colony now accommodates 40,000 people.
Kfar Etzion, one of the oldest settlements, is home to around 1,000 people while the largest – Modi’in Illit – has around 82,000 settlers, mostly ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Successive Israeli governments have continued this policy which has led to an increase in the settler population in the occupied territories.
Around 40 percent of occupied West Bank land is now controlled by settlements. These settlements – along with a vast network of checkpoints for Palestinians – effectively separate Palestinian parts of the West Bank from each other, making the prospect of a future contiguous state almost impossible, critics say.
The first Jewish settlement in Palestine dates back to the early 20th century, when Jews facing widespread discrimination, religious persecution and pogroms in Europe began arriving. At the time, Palestine – which was still under British colonial control – was predominantly Arab with a tiny Jewish minority.
Tel Aviv, Israel’s largest city, was built in 1909 as a settlement on the outskirts of the Arab city of Jaffa.
The mass migration of Jews to Palestine sparked an Arab uprising. But in the violence that followed, well-armed Zionist militias carried out an ethnic cleansing of 750,000 Palestinians in 1948. Palestinians call their expulsion the Nakba, which means catastrophe in Arabic.
Are the settlers supported by the government?
The Israeli government openly financed and built settlements for Jews to live in.
Israeli authorities give their West Bank settlers some 20 million shekels ($5 million) a year to monitor, report and restrict Palestinian construction in Area C, which makes up more than 60 percent of the West Bank. The money is used to hire inspectors and purchase drones, aerial images, tablets and vehicles.
On April 4, Israeli authorities requested that this amount be doubled in the state budget to 40 million shekels ($10 million).
In recent years, the Israeli military has set up a hotline called War Room C, allowing settlers to call and report Palestinian construction in Area C.
Several Israeli laws allow settlers to seize Palestinian land:
After the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the Israeli government officially stopped the construction of new settlements, but existing settlements continued to expand.
The population of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem increased from around 250,000 in 1993 to almost 700,000 as of September this year.
But in 2017, Israel officially announced the start of new settlements.
Prime Minister Netanyahu – Israel’s longest-serving prime minister – has supported settlement expansion since coming to power in 1996.
There are also Israeli “non-governmental” organizations working to evict Palestinians from their land using loopholes in land laws.
Israeli authorities also regularly seize and demolish Palestinian properties, citing the lack of building permits and land documents issued by Israel.
But international rights groups say it is almost impossible to obtain an Israeli building permit.
Are Israeli settlements legal under international law?
No. All settlements and outposts are considered illegal under international law because they violate the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits an occupying power from transferring its population to the area it occupies.
The settlements, activists say, are enclaves of Israeli sovereignty that have fragmented the occupied West Bank, and any future Palestinian state would resemble a series of tiny, unconnected former South African bantustans or townships reserved for black.
The United Nations has condemned them through multiple resolutions and votes. In 2016, a United Nations Security Council resolution declared that the settlements had “no legal validity.”
But the United States, Israel’s closest ally, has provided diplomatic cover over the years. Washington has always used its veto power at the UN to protect Israel from diplomatic censorship.
Israel authorizes and encourages settlements. Despite considering the outposts illegal under its laws, Israel has retrospectively legalized several outposts in recent years.
More than 9,000 settlers withdrew from Gaza in 2005 when Israel dismantled settlements as part of a “disengagement” plan by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
How does Israel maintain control of the West Bank?
Israel has built a separation wall or barrier that stretches more than 700 km (435 miles) across the West Bank, restricting the movement of more than 3 million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. But Israel says the wall is for security purposes.
Palestinian farmers must apply for permits to access their own land. These permits must be renewed several times and can also be refused or revoked without explanation.
For example, approximately 270 of the 291 hectares belonging to the Palestinian village of Wadi Fukin, near Bethlehem, are designated as Area C, under Israeli control. Around 60 percent of the occupied West Bank falls under Area C.
In addition to the separation wall, more than 700 road obstacles are installed in the West Bank, including 140 checkpoints. Around 70,000 Palestinians with Israeli work permits pass through these checkpoints during their daily travels.
Palestinians cannot move freely between the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza and need a permit to do so.
Rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and B’Tselem have concluded that Israeli policies and laws used to dominate the Palestinian people can be described as “apartheid.”
Has settler violence increased in recent weeks?
Yes. Settlers have carried out more than 198 attacks in the West Bank, forcing around 1,000 Palestinians to flee their homes as Israel continues its relentless bombardment of Gaza since October 7.
“The settlers committed crimes in the occupied West Bank well before October 7. It is as if they got the green light after October 7 to commit more crimes,” said Ghassan Daghlas, an official with the Authority. Palestinian police who monitor settler activities. Jazira.
On October 28, a Palestinian farmer harvesting olives was shot dead by settlers in Nablus, in the occupied West Bank. “We are now in the olive harvest season – people have not been able to reach 60 percent of the olive trees in the Nablus area because of settler attacks,” Daghlas said.
The Bedouin village of Wadi as-Seeq, in the occupied West Bank, was emptied of its 200 inhabitants on October 12 following threats from settlers.
The current violence comes as settler violence reached a record high last year, rising from an average of three to eight incidents per day, according to the United Nations.
In recent years, settlers have increasingly attempted to pray within the grounds of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, sparking Palestinian concerns that they are encroaching on Islam’s third holiest site. Jewish prayers are not permitted under the “status quo” governing Al-Aqsa.
Three days before Hamas carried out a deadly attack in Israel, settlers stormed the mosque compound. In 2021, Israeli police stormed the mosque compound to facilitate the entry of settlers, sparking a deadly conflict.
In February, far-right settlers went on a rampage in the West Bank town of Huwara, burning dozens of homes and cars. Following the violence, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for Huwara to be “eliminated.”
Israeli settler violence has displaced more than 1,100 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since 2022, according to a UN report released in September 2023.