Jono Maryono
As the Muslim world observed Eid al-Fitr, marking the conclusion of Ramadan, and with the United States-Israel conflict involving Iran entering its fourth week, Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have been subjected to a brutal surge in violence and systemic repression. This period, typically one of reflection and celebration, has been overshadowed by widespread assaults, land seizures, and restrictions on movement, disproportionately impacting Palestinian communities. The escalating situation highlights a deepening pattern of Israeli policy aimed at altering the demographic and territorial landscape of the West Bank, particularly in areas designated for potential annexation by Israeli settlers.
The violence manifested acutely in the blocking of roads leading to numerous Palestinian communities, perpetrated by Israeli settlers who, according to reports, also engaged in the destruction of homes and the bulldozing of ancient olive groves. These actions are not isolated incidents but represent a broader strategy of intimidation and dispossession. The desire of many Israelis to annex these territories, despite international law deeming them occupied, fuels this aggressive behavior, often with tacit or explicit state support.
A particularly symbolic act of repression occurred at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem during Eid al-Fitr. Israeli authorities, citing the ongoing conflict with Iran as a pretext, reportedly cleared the holy site of Muslim worshippers. This measure, described as unprecedented since Israel’s capture of East Jerusalem in 1967, aimed to suppress Palestinian religious and national expression during a significant period of observance. Further exacerbating tensions, Israeli police employed sound grenades and physical force to disperse Palestinians attempting to pray outside the gates of the Old City, following days of similar forceful dispersals. These actions underscore a deliberate effort to control and restrict Palestinian access to their most sacred sites.
The conflict’s deadly ramifications were tragically underscored on March 18, when four Palestinian women were killed by rocket debris in Beit Awwa, a community in the southern West Bank. Unlike Israeli cities and settlements, Palestinian villages in the West Bank often lack essential civil defense infrastructure such as air raid sirens and bomb shelters, leaving their residents acutely vulnerable to collateral damage from regional conflicts. This disparity in safety and protection highlights a systemic neglect of Palestinian civilian lives.
Despite the broader regional conflict, the immediate focus for many Palestinian communities remains the intensified settler violence and movement restrictions that have plagued the West Bank since the outbreak of hostilities. The death of Yehuda Sherman, a settler from Beit Imrin, on a Saturday marked a grim prelude to a peak in violence in the early hours of Sunday. Approximately 100 masked settlers, clad in black, descended upon the villages of Jalud and Qaryut, south of Nablus. According to local Palestinian sources, their rampage resulted in the torching of at least five vehicles, the setting ablaze of over 10 homes, the destruction of the Jalud village council building, and an attack on a fire truck that injured its driver. An attempt to set fire to a mosque was also reported, all occurring despite the presence of Israeli army and police forces on the outskirts of these villages.
This wave of violence was not confined to Nablus. On Sunday, settlers extended their attacks to Deir Sharaf, northwest of Nablus, setting fire to vehicles. In Deir al-Hatab, homes were torched, and residents were injured. In Burqa, an attempt to set fire to a medical clinic was narrowly thwarted by intervening Palestinian residents. These attacks were reportedly in retaliation for Sherman’s death, which settlers attributed to a Palestinian ramming incident. However, local Palestinian accounts suggest that a settler stole a farmer’s pickup truck and crashed it into a ditch. Witness testimonies from Sherman’s funeral revealed his active role in settler ideology, with one attendee describing Sherman as someone who “every day, he took his herd out [to pasture] to remove the enemy from all the territory there so that Jews will come back to this place.” This statement provides insight into the settler movement’s explicit goal of ethnic cleansing and territorial acquisition.
The depth of support for settlers within the Israeli government was evident when Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attended Sherman’s funeral. Despite Sherman residing in an outpost illegal even under Israeli law, Smotrich used the occasion to reiterate the Israeli government’s commitment to undermining the Palestinian Authority and dismantling the limited autonomy granted to Palestinians in parts of the West Bank. This endorsement from a high-ranking government official emboldens settler actions and signals a continued erosion of Palestinian self-governance. Israeli authorities have not responded to requests for comment from Al Jazeera regarding these events.
A Surge in Assaults and Arbitrary Arrests
While settlers are perpetrators of widespread violence, it is often Palestinians who face arrest by Israeli forces in the aftermath of these attacks. On Saturday night, settlers raided al-Fandaqumiya, south of Jenin, setting fire to homes and vehicles before moving to the adjacent village of Silat al-Dhaher, where additional homes were torched, and six residents injured. Local Palestinian networks reported that Israeli forces did not intervene to halt the attackers or prevent their movement between villages, suggesting a pattern of selective enforcement.
Further illustrating this disparity, Palestinian activists reported that on March 17, settlers raided the home of Yousef Muzahim in Jiljiliya, northeast of Ramallah. Following the raid, the settlers reportedly contacted the Israeli army to arrest Muzahim and his two sons, aged 12 and 14, highlighting the use of Israeli military forces to facilitate settler retribution. Similar incidents of settler raids and subsequent Palestinian arrests were reported in the Salfit governorate and the South Hebron Hills, indicating a coordinated and widespread pattern of harassment and suppression.
Entrenched Land Seizures and Agricultural Destruction
The ongoing campaign to seize Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank has seen a significant acceleration in the past week. Israeli bulldozers were documented uprooting olive trees across multiple days in Nilin, near the separation wall. In the Nablus governorate’s Huwara, over 100 dunams of land, encompassing more than 1,500 olive trees, were bulldozed. In Masafer Yatta, in the southern West Bank, settlers destroyed over 130 olive trees in Khirbet Mughayir al-Abeed by allegedly releasing livestock to graze on cultivated land, a tactic designed to render agricultural areas unusable and drive out Palestinian farmers.
On March 16, Israeli authorities issued military orders to seize 268 dunams of land belonging to families in Tubas and Tammun, in the northeast West Bank, ostensibly "for military purposes." Two days later, Israeli soldiers arrived in Tammun with an excavator to commence construction of a new road, directly on the seized land. These orders followed closely on the heels of the March 15 killing of four members of a Palestinian family, including two children, by Israeli forces while they were traveling by car in Tammun. This juxtaposition of land seizure and lethal force against Palestinian civilians paints a grim picture of Israeli policy in the region.
In the Jordan Valley, specifically in Fasayel al-Wusta, Israeli forces demolished the last remaining home in the community. This demolition occurred despite reports that the Israeli High Court had approved an agreement permitting the family to remain. The displacement of families from this community had begun months prior, driven by settler violence. Another demolition by the Israeli Civil Administration was documented on Monday in Khirbet al-Marajim, southwest of Duma, in the Nablus governorate, further contributing to the systematic erasure of Palestinian presence.
Isolation and Movement Restrictions: Communities Under Siege
Since March 17, settlers have been engaged in nightly massings at over 10 road junctions across the West Bank, including strategic locations like Zaatara, Yitzhar, Homesh, and as-Sawiya. These gatherings have been characterized by attacks on Palestinian vehicles, creating an atmosphere of terror and insecurity. On Sunday, Route 60, a critical artery connecting Sinjil to Homesh, was completely closed for the funeral procession of the settler Yehuda Sherman. All Palestinian entrances were shut, and movement was restricted even for ambulances, requiring prior coordination.
The intensifying movement restrictions, implemented by Israeli authorities since the onset of the Iran conflict, have further exacerbated the isolation of Palestinian communities. Settlers have also been reported closing the entrances to numerous other Palestinian villages, effectively trapping residents and hindering access to essential services and economic opportunities. These blockades often commence after settlers declare that "a red line has been crossed in the persecution of the pioneer settlement," typically in response to Israeli military actions dismantling illegal outposts. These grievances then spill over into acts of violence against Palestinians.
Amidst international reports of torture of a Palestinian man in Khirbet Hamsa, and the circulation of an open letter signed by hundreds of former Israeli security officers denouncing "Jewish violence and terrorism," Israeli military Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir publicly condemned settler violence on March 18, labeling attacks on Palestinian civilians as "morally and ethically unacceptable." Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, a prominent figure in the settler movement, echoed these sentiments. However, these condemnations stand in stark contrast to the reality on the ground. Reports from local activist networks indicate that settlers were rebuilding a demolished outpost southwest of Nablus on the same week, an outpost from which attackers had previously descended upon Qusra to kill a resident. This rebuilding effort was reportedly carried out under Israeli military protection, underscoring the complex and often contradictory nature of Israeli state policy towards settler activities.
According to the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, since the Iran conflict began on February 28, at least 14 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, including two minors. Of these, eight were killed by the military and six by armed settlers. This rate of killings, particularly by armed settlers, is unprecedented in recent history and reflects a significant escalation of violence and a perceived impunity for perpetrators.
The Deepening Crisis in Gaza Amidst Regional Distractions
While the West Bank grapples with a surge in settler violence and repression, the Gaza Strip faces a deepening humanitarian crisis that has largely occurred in near silence. The amount of aid entering Gaza has plummeted since the United States-Israel conflict involving Iran began, leading to soaring prices for essential goods. The Rafah crossing with Egypt only reopened on Thursday, subject to severe restrictions on the movement of people in and out of the Strip.
The World Health Organization has issued stark warnings regarding critical shortages of medicines, medical supplies, and fuel in Gaza’s hospitals. These price shocks follow months where famine conditions had appeared to recede from their peak during Israel’s war on Gaza. Humanitarian organizations, many of which have had their operations in Gaza and the West Bank recently halted by Israel, are now expressing grave concerns about a resurgence of famine conditions.
Amidst flagging reconstruction efforts, U.S. officials have reportedly presented Hamas mediators with a formal proposal for disarmament, a prerequisite for large-scale reconstruction of the devastated Gaza Strip. The work of the U.S.-led Board of Peace, established in part to facilitate the full enactment of the October ceasefire, has been largely stalled since the U.S. and Israel launched their conflict involving Iran on February 28.
Without significant progress on the terms of the October ceasefire, Israeli military actions continue to exact a heavy toll on Gaza. On March 17, Israeli air attacks killed at least three people, including a child, in Khan Younis. On March 19, four more were killed in two drone attacks in the Gaza City area, and on Sunday, four more were killed in the Nuseirat refugee camp, including three police officers. On the same day, at least three Palestinians were reported wounded in another Israeli attack in Gaza City. Heavy Israeli tank fire was reported east of Gaza City on Monday morning, with additional Israeli artillery shelling in the Bureij refugee camp. Since the October ceasefire, 680 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, according to Palestinian health officials, a stark testament to the ongoing devastating impact of the conflict.
