The focus of the world’s media has been on Gaza….
But in the West Bank?
Things continue to be worrisome and violent….
And effort to expand Israeli territory by force IS on going?…..
NY Times Opinion Guest Essy….
On Oct. 10, the same day the cease-fire went into effect in Gaza, a group of Palestinians in the West Bank village of Beita set out to harvest their olives when they were assaulted by a group of Israelis. Twenty Palestinians were reported wounded, including two elderly men; one man was hospitalized with a bullet wound. Nine days later, a masked Israeli settler was filmed by an American journalist as he beat a 53-year-old Palestinian womanwith a club in the village of Turmus Aya. She was knocked unconscious, and the video clip captured her as she fell to the ground under an olive tree. On Oct. 25, video footage showed a settler and soldiers assaulting a 65-year-old Palestinian man in Nahalin, near Bethlehem, in front of his family. On Nov. 8, Palestinian harvesters in Beita once again came under attack. Israeli activists who joined them to provide a protective presence were assaulted as well, including a 77-year-old art school principal, who suffered a broken jaw and cheekbone. Two Reuters employees were injured in the incident.
Most of the assailants have not been apprehended. The United Nations reported that this October — peak olive harvest season in the West Bank — saw the highest number of settler attacks in the area since it began documenting them in 2006. Over 260 attacks were recorded, an average of eight per day.
This is a serious acceleration of violence, but it is not new or isolated. Since the attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, over 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers; one in every five dead is a child. In the same period, over 3,000 Palestinians say they have been displaced from their homes and lands largely because of Israeli settler violence. Another estimated40,000 Palestinians have been displaced in the northern West Bank by Israel Defense Force operations. In the past two years, Israel has erected nearly 1,000 barriers and makeshift checkpoints across the West Bank, suffocating Palestinians’ ability to move and work freely.
This is all part of the Israeli government’s explicit agenda of expanding and deepening its control over the West Bank. Members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition are clearly determined to formally annex the West Bank in order to preclude the establishment of a Palestinian state. (Mr. Netanyahu himself hedges on the issue.)…
Update on the West Bank…
Dozens of masked Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, injuring four Palestinians and attacking Israeli soldiers in the latest incident of rising settler violence.
The settlers attacked the Palestinian villages of Beit Lid and Deir Sharaf, setting vehicles on fire and damaging property belonging to a Bedouin community, with charred remains of cars left behind the next day.
The al-Juneidi dairy factory, a big employer in the area, was also damaged in the attacks, and four of its trucks laden with products were set alight.
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Israeli settler violence has surged since the war in Gaza started two years ago, with at least 1,001 Palestinians killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem by settlers and Israeli soldiers. According to the UN, 260 attacks took place in October, the deadliest month for settler violence since it started keeping track in 2006…
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In a rare statement on Wednesday, the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, condemned the latest attacks, saying the “shocking and serious” incident had been carried out by a “handful” of perpetrators. He called for authorities to “act decisively to eradicate the phenomenon and to strengthen the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] fighters and security forces who protect us day and night”.
His remarks were echoed by the top Israeli military official in the West Bank, Maj Gen Avi Bluth, who called the violence “unacceptable”.
More….
Zionist settlers burn a West Bank mosque:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/world/middleeast/israel-settlers-west-bank-mosque.html
At some point Metanyahu SHOULD be actually sending the IDF to maintain the piece….
It WILL be tough call
But he should be pressured to do so