Israeli settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank is now so severe that even the ultranationalist government that oversaw the surge in attacks has been forced to acknowledge it as a problem.
During a US media blitz this week in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lobbied Israel’s case on issues from Iran to F-35 jets for Turkey, a CNN host asked him about the surge in settler violence.
Mr Netanyahu said the problem was caused by only “150, or so, what you would call juvenile delinquents” but admitted that “this has blown up beyond belief and caused us a lot of damage”.
Shortly after the comments, Israel’s police, often accused of not doing enough to stop such attacks, published data that showed an increase of more than 560 per cent in investigations into settler violence since 2019, although only 6.6 per cent ended in indictment.
The police are controlled by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who lives in a radical settlement, routinely dismisses the problem of Israeli violence against Palestinians, and calls for Israel to seize all of Gaza and the West Bank.
A new report by two leading Israeli anti-settlement groups highlights how, far from being the actions of “delinquents” as Mr Netanyahu claimed, the settler attacks are part of a wider plan to seize the West Bank under his right-wing government, which took office in December 2022.
The report by Peace Now and Kerem Navot says that between 2023 and 2025, there was a “systematic government policy aiming to deepen Israeli control over the West Bank and advance de facto annexation”.
Violence is a part of that strategy, with the report documenting 118 Palestinian shepherding communities expelled from their land since 2024. Expulsions and attacks surged after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on southern Israel.
Other strategies for the de facto annexation include changes to laws, new outposts that are initially illegal under even Israeli law (although encouraged by some in the government), expansion of existing settlements, and infrastructure projects, the report argues.
It is not just Israel's tiny peace movement making such an argument; Israel's ministers, many of them settlers themselves, say something similar.
"I've got news for you: We've only just begun the revolution in settlement. We'll get to the Negev and the Galilee too," Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said in a post on X on July 6, referring to his secondary goal of putting more Jews inside areas within Israel that have high Palestinian-Israeli populations.
The West Bank, home to almost 3 million Palestinians, comprises the main territory of a separate state that Palestinians are seeking to create, along with Gaza and East Jerusalem, under the two-state solution to end the conflict with Israel.
Although many Israeli politicians have called publicly for annexation, it remains a complex goal. Despite breaking precedents in the Israel-Palestine conflict like no American leader before him, President Donald Trump, now in his second term, remains adamant in his opposition to Israel taking the West Bank in full.
Mr Trump recognised the entire city of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, as well its sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights, which is Syrian territory, in his first term. But he appears to be drawing the line at the West Bank, according to his most recent statements, even though it is the prize for Israel’s growing and governing messianic elite.
“We have enough things to think about now. We don't need to be dealing with the West Bank,” Mr Trump told Axios in February, repeating his stance against annexation.
Peace Now and Kerem Navot say it is not enough, as “annexation is a process already unfolding”.
“It [has become] clear that within just three years, the Israeli government has fundamentally transformed the system of control in the West Bank in ways that could severely undermine the possibility of reaching any future political agreement,” they said.
The report also found that 185 new outposts were established in the period it covered. More than 40,000 new housing units were advanced in settlements and farming outposts, a newer type of outpost that allows settlers to control large areas of land with minimal manpower, now “effectively control more than 1.1 million dunams [110,000 hectares], about 18 per cent of the entire West Bank, including approximately 750,000 dunams seized since the current government took office”.
Israel's military also plays a crucial role, the report says, particularly through the placement of hundreds of barriers and checkpoints, which are a major disruption to daily and economic life for Palestinians.
Israeli elections are due by October and the Knesset is expected to dissolve next week. The report says Israel's cabinet, even in its final months, still has unfinished business that it could yet pass, inflicting an even bigger blow on the region. These include restarting land registration and changing the laws to make it easier for Israelis to buy land in the occupied territory.
