(Photo credit: OREN ZIV | Credit: AFP)The Cradle
JUL 20, 2026
Israeli Jewish settlers have expanded their attacks on Palestinians in recent months in a bid to drive them from their own homes and lands
A senior Israeli general has warned of the growing danger of attacks by Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, describing them as “Jewish terrorism,” Israel’s Public Broadcaster (KAN) reported on 19 July.
Speaking during a closed conference last week, Major General Avi Bluth strongly criticized the expansion of illegal settlement outposts and violence by Jewish settler youth against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, warning that they represent “a dangerous phenomenon that threatens the security of all.”
Bluth is the commander of the Israeli army’s Central Command, making him responsible for military and security operations across the occupied West Bank, occupied East Jerusalem, and the Jordanian border.
Speaking about Jewish settler attacks against Palestinians, Bluth said some were young people “who do not respect the law,” while others “take the law into their own hands.”
He expressed concern about settlers establishing outposts in areas of the occupied West Bank classified as Area A and Area B.
Under the Oslo Accords, an agreement signed between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Israel in 1993, Area A is under full Palestinian control, while Area B is under Palestinian civil control and Israeli security control.
Area C, which comprises 60 percent of the West Bank, is under full Israeli control.
Jewish settlers regularly use the outposts to stage attacks on Palestinian farmers and shepherds, hoping such attacks will force Palestinians to abandon their homes and lands.
Yedioth Ahronoth on 15 June reported that the Israeli government approved 5.5 million shekels ($1.89 million) in state funds to provide daily stipends to the extremist settler movement “Hilltop Youth.”
Founded in 1998, the group consists largely of settlers aged 16 to 26 living in illegal outposts across the occupied West Bank and acts as a state-backed vanguard of the Israeli campaign of ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of Palestinians.
On Sunday, more than two dozen Jewish settlers, some masked, attacked the the village of Tuwani in the occupied West Bank. The attackers set Al-Taqwa
Mosque on fire, injuring four people, and burned two houses and a dairy factory.
On Saturday, a 17-year-old Palestinian died of his injuries a week after Israeli soldiers shot him during a Jewish settler attack on his village. Fadi Hamdallah al-Nassan was a member of the Palestinian youth national football team.
The outposts are illegal under Israeli law but are regularly legalized after the fact by the Israeli judiciary, allowing them to grow into larger Jewish settlements.
Under international law, all outposts and settlements in the West Bank are illegal, as they are built on occupied land seized from Palestinians.
The settlers say they want to forcibly expel indigenous Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and Gaza to build Jewish settlements on the ruins of destroyed Palestinian cities and towns.
Bluth said he did not oppose the establishment of illegal outposts but said they should be limited to Area C.
He also referred to the difficulty of confronting “Jewish terrorism,” following Defense Minister Israel Katz’s decision to halt the use of administrative detention against Israeli Jews.
The military uses administrative detention to detain Palestinians without trial for periods up to six months, which can be renewed indefinitely.
Bluth further warned that Jewish settler violence damages Israel’s international legitimacy, while placing a burden on Israeli soldiers and commanders, including reserve soldiers and officers.
Israeli forces and settlers have killed 1,181 Palestinians and wounded nearly 13,000 in the occupied West Bank since October 2023, while about 24,000 Palestinians have been arrested, according to official Palestinian figures.
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