The West Bank has witnessed an alarming escalation in violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in recent weeks, reaching its highest levels in more than a decade, according to United Nations data. This surge reflects a coordinated and accelerating drive to expand settlement control and displace the indigenous population, amid an almost complete absence of accountability or protection for Palestinian civilians.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) reported that October was the most violent month since regular documentation of such violations began more than twelve years ago. The agency noted that attacks have been particularly concentrated during the olive harvest season, as Palestinian farmers were repeatedly assaulted and denied access to their lands, threatening their sole source of livelihood in many villages.
The assaults have taken multiple forms — including live fire, stone-throwing, arson targeting vehicles and property, and the expulsion of residents from their agricultural lands.
UNRWA’s report also highlighted the continued forced displacement of Palestinians, particularly in the northern West Bank, where the Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams refugee camps have faced sustained military pressure and home demolitions, resulting in the displacement of hundreds of families in recent weeks.
These practices constitute a blatant violation of international humanitarian law, especially the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits an occupying power from transferring its own population into occupied territory or expelling the indigenous inhabitants from it.
The prevailing impunity enjoyed by settlers amounts to direct complicity by the Israeli occupation authorities, who bear legal responsibility for protecting Palestinian civilians in the areas under their control.
Such violations cannot be separated from a broader systematic policy aimed at undermining Palestinians’ means of livelihood and forcing their gradual displacement — a pattern that rises to the level of systematic persecution, which may qualify as a crime against humanity under international law.
In the face of ongoing international silence and the absence of effective accountability mechanisms, the West Bank appears to be entering an even harsher phase of settler domination — one that further erodes the remaining prospects for a just peace and a secure future for Palestinians on their land.
