It’s an intense time in the West Bank. A weekend of unchecked settler pogroms on Palestinian villages has added another round to the never-ending cycle of violence in the West Bank — rounds we use to justify our occupation in the name of “security.” I know, from my time as a soldier in these places, that the events of this past week are no anomaly: they’re the direct result of years of policy in the West Bank.

Let’s recap. Last Monday, an IDF incursion into Jenin escalated; soldiers were injured and at least 7 Palestinians were killed, including a 15 year old girl. On Tuesday in Eli, a Jewish settlement in the northern West Bank, four settlers were killed by a Palestinian gunmen at a gas station. Soon after, Netanyahu approved new building plans for settlements in the West Bank. The next night, in a revenge attack that was openly plotted online, settlers set Turmus Ayya aflame, sparking a weekend of settler pogroms in Palestinian villages all over the West Bank. Only a few settlers were arrested: all were released.

This is what happens when settlers are encouraged to encroach upon land by whatever means necessary. It’s what happens when bureaucratic arms of the military government are passed to civilian hands (Smotrich), normalizing living on stolen land. It’s what happens when soldiers stand idly by when settlers commit violence, and when a lack of soldier intervention in settler violence becomes the norm.

Last month, [the neocolonial government] told the USA not to worry about more settlers in the WB. Last week, [neocolonial] streamlines construction in the West Bank. Read the full article

And none of these events are isolated: instead, each ripple through the occupied territories, from the West Bank to Gaza. Violence begets violence, but as long as the government is openly supporting these moves — and using them as justifications for the next “no-choice” operation and the newly erected outpost — nothing will change.

A soldier who was on the scene in the Huwara pogrom in February shared his testimony with us, illustrating IDF policy in these settler riots. In his testimony, which was published in a recent CNN International investigation, the testifier said he watched as settlers set shops on fire, but “The fire truck simply drove alone and was attacked… The village continued to burn.” The army “doesn’t know how to deal with settler terrorism,” he said. As settlers approached, “We just let them continue to advance.”

“You have a group of dozens of people you see who are hot-headed and they start walking towards Huwara, they are masked and some of them may have knives. What do you think they are coming to do? … At this point, they [the army] should have started shooting tear gas, and stun grenades and start repelling them,” the soldier said. Instead, soldiers did nothing.

CNN’s latest investigation looks deep into the Hawara pogrom, when settlers staged an attack on a Palestinian town and set the town ablaze. Read the full article

This weekend, as the attacks intensified, the IDF did not stop the violent rampages. The military claimed they were “surprised” by the settler attacks, as if one of the most technologically advanced armies in the world couldn’t see what was being planned in open online forums and Whatsapp groups.

Meanwhile, MKs give these attacks their support – sometimes with a wink, sometimes with full-fledged approval. MK Itamar Ben-Gvir of Jewish Power went to the Itamar outpost and spoke in the wake of the violence, saying “We need to settle the Land of Israel and must embark on a military operation — demolish buildings, and killing terrorists, not one or two but tens and hundreds, even thousands if need be.”

Ben Gvir said the quiet part out loud as the government cynically exploits the chaos in the West Bank to approve new settlements. Each new settlement results in increased military presence, strengthening our control over Palestinians in the West Bank. Settler violence serves this purpose, as they act effectively as private militias to carry out the worst of the violence with impunity. Thus supported, the settlers serve as an arm of the government’s annexationist agenda as we increase our decades-long project of increasing presence and control over the West Bank.

Nadav Weiman, senior manager at Breaking the Silence

(Emphasis original. Message extracted from an e‐mail from Breaking the Silence.)