The violence of settlers who beat, burn and kill is difficult to understand outside of Israel. In the last 72 hours alone, six Palestinians were injured, three of them seriously, in hospital with bullet wounds. Similarly, the police and army often protect not the victims, but the aggressors, as in the case of Abu Jihad. Every morning, photos of attacks appear in the chat rooms of journalists and activists, mainly by teenagers, who are called “the youth of the hills.”
Two months ago, on the hill opposite the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the occupied Palestinian territories, there was one house. Now there are three. Another, also new, is located on the opposite hill, next to an Israeli flag. Around the bend, where the family of Abu Omar, a Palestinian Bedouin, lived, the ruins of the houses and the livestock yards remain: The people fled a month ago towards Jericho, the nearest Palestinian city, after a recent nighttime attack by settlers living on the hill.
“Every day something happens. They throw stones at us, they cut off our water pipes, they block our pastures. It’s not easy to stay here. But this is our land. We have nowhere else to go,” says Abu Jihad, 53, the head of the last family left in the area. Abu Jihad returned home only a few days ago. On the night of the attack, while they were waiting for the police, he went to help his neighbors, but when the agents arrived, they arrested him, not the settlers. He was accused of throwing stones at those who wanted to burn down the houses. He spent 17 days in prison, then returned to Hathrura. With the help of some Israeli volunteers, he set up cameras around his house and his livestock garden, hoping that this would help him protect his property, his children and his grandchildren. “The children are my biggest concern,” he admits.
He asks not to be photographed, so as not to attract the attention of the settlers. As he spoke, it was impossible not to notice a sign next to him with the logos of the largest European cooperation agencies, including the Italian one. Previously, they supported him with prefabricated structures and solar panels, but today they can do nothing to protect him from the violence that is destroying his life.
This place is one of the hottest spots in the West Bank. A few meters away runs Route 1, which connects Jerusalem to the Dead Sea. Here passes the infamous “E1” project, the chain of settlements that far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich has announced he will use to surround Jerusalem, thus interrupting the territorial continuity of what, according to international agreements, should be the future Palestinian state. But violence and land grabbing are not isolated cases. According to UN data, so far in 2025, settler attacks on Palestinians have been 1.680, an average of five per day. 33 people have died since October 7, 2023, and in 2024 alone, more land has been taken from Palestinians than in the entire period after the Oslo Accords. Since 2022, when the current far-right-backed government came to power, the number of Israeli settlements and farms in the West Bank has increased by 50%. From 141 in 2022 to 210 today, including 19 recently approved. All are illegal under international law.
This trend worries Europe and the US. Diplomatic protests have increased, but on the ground nothing changes.
“In recent weeks, the speed with which settlers are taking Palestinian land has increased. They know that elections are coming up and if the result were different, they would no longer have the support of the government. They need to hurry,” said Israeli activist Dror Etkes. The process follows a familiar pattern. “First a caravan with a flag. Then the animals and someone sleeping there. Then the pasture roads are blocked and the attacks begin. The Bedouins have nothing to feed their livestock; their economy is destroyed and they live under threat. Of course, they don’t resist for long.”
This situation affects the poorest and most vulnerable municipalities, such as agricultural villages. Even international awareness and attention are not enough to protect them, as the case of Masafer Yatta, made famous by the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land,” showed, where land and homes were plundered day after day.
Al-Khan Al Akhmar is the Masafer Yatta of the Oslo Accords generation: The symbolic case. To protect the community of this village living near Route 1, 25 years ago, the most prominent Israeli intellectuals, including Amos Oz, Abraham Yeshoshua and David Grossman, followed by European diplomacy, intervened. Together, they managed to keep the Bedouins. Today, 32 families are again under siege, with the nearest settlement, Kfar Adumim, just 500 meters away. “Since ’67 they have been trying to drive us out, then again in the 2000s. Now MPs and government officials live on our lands and threaten us,” said the community leader, Eid Abu Khamis.
The violence of settlers who beat, burn and kill is difficult to understand outside of Israel. In the last 72 hours alone, six Palestinians were injured, three of them seriously, in hospital with bullet wounds. Similarly, the police and army often protect not the victims, but the aggressors, as in the case of Abu Jihad. Every morning, photos of attacks appear in the chat rooms of journalists and activists, mainly by teenagers, who are called “the youth of the hills.”
“When I see these young people, I feel a strong sense of failure,” David Grossman reflects with concern. “They speak a language that is not mine: Of violence and brutality. They represent chaos. They are Israelis, but it seems as if there is nothing in common between them and us. It is as if someone is saying to me: ‘You did not protect them like we did. Look where we have come from.’ Everyone’s security and stability are being destroyed every day under their pressure,” he said.
A few days ago, a group of settlers celebrated the 50th anniversary of their settlement in what they call biblical Samaria, recalling that while the government once opposed them, it now supports them. For Grossman and parts of Israeli society, what is happening in the West Bank is a reflection of an identity crisis, with an extremist government that is undermining any chance of peace and, with measure after measure, weakening the rule of law. Thousands of young Israelis are trying to react: across the West Bank, advocacy groups organized by the groups “Standing Together” and “Rabbi for Human Rights” have grown, trying to stop what B’Tselem calls “ethnic cleansing.” But it is not enough.
“We do what we can, but we can’t be here 24 hours a day. And in recent weeks, the increase in violence has been very noticeable,” says Dotan Vaisman, a member of the protective presence group. He accompanied us to Abu Jihad, and together we raise an unanswered question: Will this family be here when we next return? (La Repubblica)