Israel’s war on Palestinians in the West Bank intensifies after Gaza ceasefire

While the war on Gaza was officially halted by the Trump-led ceasefire deal, in reality, the killing of Palestinians has not stopped. 

In the West Bank, Israel’s war on Palestinians continues with the same intensity as in the immediate aftermath of October 7, 2023. The intensification of Israeli raids into Palestinian towns and cities hasn’t reversed, and nor has the expansion of Israeli settlements or the restrictions on Palestinian movement.

On Sunday, the Israeli army killed Majed Daoud, 42, during a raid on the al-Ain refugee camp in Nablus, adding to the death toll of over 1,000 Palestinians killed by settlers and the Israeli army as of October 2023. In the same raid, Israeli forces wounded two other Palestinians, aged 22 and 38. Meanwhile, more than 40,000 Palestinians who were expelled from their homes in the Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams refugee camps in the northern West Bank in January and February continue to be banned from returning.

But the most noticeable aspect of the continuity of Israel’s war in the West Bank is the ongoing escalation of Israeli settler violence against Palestinians. Since the signing of the Gaza ceasefire, settler attacks have intensified against Palestinians harvesting their olive groves, especially in the central West Bank and the Ramallah area.

This past weekend, Israeli settlers unleashed a series of attacks on Palestinian farmers in the villages of Nablus and east Ramallah. On Friday, farmers in the village of Taybeh were forced to call off the olive harvest under the threat of Israeli settler violence. In the outskirts of the village, a Palestinian family spoke to Mondoweiss as they were leaving their grove, less than two hours after arriving.

“Don’t go up the hill, there are settlers up there and they just attacked a worker, we have been waiting for them to leave,” the mother told Mondoweiss.

“The worker is from Mazraa Sharqiyya,” the son, 21, told Mondoweiss, referring to one of Taybeh’s neighboring villages. “He was harvesting the olives just a hundred meters away from us when two settlers came and forced him to leave.”

“They took his car, his phone, and a sack of olives he had harvested just 15 minutes ago,” he added.

At the local Palestinian police station, a Palestinian officer who spoke to Mondoweiss said that reports from Palestinians of Israeli settler attacks in the area have surged since the beginning of the olive harvest season in mid-October.

But like in most rural areas in the West Bank, Palestinians have no recourse to seek justice when they are attacked. According to the officer, most complaints that are sent along to Israeli police are not followed up on. The Palestinian Security Forces can’t provide any physical protection to the farmers either, since they do not have jurisdiction in Area C of the West Bank, which makes up more than 60% of the territory. 

Back inside the police station, another officer answers a phone call and suddenly shouts, “We need to stay alert about what happens in Turmusayya!”

About fifteen minutes from Taybeh, the larger town of Turmusayya, known for its significant diaspora population in the U.S. and its high number of Palestinian-American citizens, was at the center of settler attacks over the weekend. On Saturday, a group of Israeli settlers attacked a farmer in the village, damaging his car. In reaction, residents went to the same area on Sunday to harvest the olive trees in larger groups, accompanied by international activists.

“We were surprised that settlers came back in even larger numbers, dozens of them carrying clubs and sticks, and they began to attack people,” Abdallah Awad, resident of Turmusayya, told Mondoweiss. “People began to run, but one settler got very close and beat a woman from the neighboring village of Mughayyir with a club on her head, causing her to faint and fall. He then went on to beat one of the international solidarity activists.”

A video of the attack on the woman went viral on social media, drawing outrage online over the brazen nature of the attack. 

While the international activist was only lightly injured, the elderly woman was transferred to the Ramallah hospital, where she is still receiving treatment for her injuries. In addition, Israeli settlers torched four cars used by Palestinians during the harvest. According to Awad, at least 40% of the Turmusayya’s farmland has become inaccessible to its Palestinian owners due to settler violence.

“I myself have 300 dunams that I can’t access, and for days now I’ve been forced to watch Israeli settlers harvesting my olives, unable to do anything,” he pointed out. “The situation is more tense than ever, and it only changes for the worse, and we don’t know until when.”

The escalation of Israeli settler violence in the West Bank since October 2023 has paralleled the Israeli government’s moves to expand settlements. In August, Israel approved the E-1 settlement project east of Jerusalem, which would split the West Bank’s Northern and southern halves in two. Israel’s hardline Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, celebrated the move for “burying” the Palestinian state. In May, Israel approved 22 new settlements, including the legalization of already-existing settler outposts on Palestinian land.

According to the Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, Israeli settlers have carried out 7,154 attacks on Palestinians and their properties since October 2023, killing 33 people, and destroying or damaging 48,728 trees.