Palestinians in the occupied West Bank village of Qusra have huddled inside their homes , unable to leave because of the threat posed by Israeli settlers.
The Israeli military, which over the past three years has displayed staggering military and from Beirut , has yet to fully remove the settlers from the area of the village, about an hour’s drive from Tel Aviv.
The United States, which provides in military aid to Israel, , perhaps because one of the homeowners is a Palestinian American living in Ohio.
U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee referred to the settlers as 鈥渢errorists.鈥� Israel’s defense minister dismissed them as radical misfits 鈥� 鈥渂oys on the hills.鈥�
In reality, they are the for a much larger movement, and supercharged under Prime Minister , that is aimed at cementing Israeli rule over the territory and preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Settlements built over decades now house over 500,000
Israel captured the West Bank, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians want for a future state.
Since then, the Israeli government has built nearly 150 settlements that are home to well over 500,000 Jewish settlers. Many of the settlements resemble fully developed suburbs, with apartment blocks, shopping malls, parks and industrial zones.
Radical settlers have established without government authorization, while still enjoying protection from the Israeli military and often other public services.
Netanyahu’s government, the most nationalist and religious in Israel’s history, has boasted of establishing over 100 new settlements. On Thursday, as the army deployed in Qusra, members of his Cabinet celebrated the rebuilding of a settlement that as part of the Gaza withdrawal.
Israel’s current government and much of its political class view the West Bank as the biblical and historical homeland of the Jewish people and see the settlements as key to maintaining security.
Most of the international community views all settlements and an obstacle to peace.
Separate laws for settlers and Palestinians
The roughly 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank live under Israeli military rule, with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited autonomy in population centers. Israel’s military operates in all parts of the territory, and Palestinians suspected of militancy can be held without charge for months or years under what’s known as .
The settlers are Israeli citizens, with law enforcement typically handled by Israeli police and civilian courts.
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said in 2024 that Israelis would no longer be subject to administrative detention, which has also been used against settlers accused of violence. On Friday, he announced plans to fully transfer law enforcement among settlers to the Israeli police.
The military’s role 鈥渋s to fight Palestinian terrorism鈥� and 鈥渇ocus on protecting the borders and settlements against threats,鈥� he said in a statement. 鈥淣ot chase after boys on the hills.鈥�
That would cement the status quo of what are already largely separate legal systems for Jews and Palestinians in the West Bank, which major human rights groups say , something Israel denies.
Israel’s police and military have been reluctant to confront the settlers
The Israeli police are overseen by National Security Minister , himself a hard-line settler who has been convicted eight times for offenses that include supporting a terrorist organization. He was a defense attorney for Jewish extremists before entering politics.
The Israeli military says the settlers’ actions in Qusra are 鈥渋llegal, reprehensible and unacceptable,鈥� and that it tries to maintain law and order in the West Bank. It says it dismantled two outposts in the area of Qusra and detained one Israeli.
But rights groups say the military frequently turns a blind eye to settler violence, and that when it intervenes it often . Yesh Din, an Israeli rights group, says around 94% of investigations into settler violence since 2005 have ended without an indictment, with just 3% leading to full or partial convictions.
US pressure has had little impact, and has eased under Trump
Settler violence intensified after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, triggered the war in Gaza. The following year, the Biden administration on settlers and Israeli organizations accused of violence.
Other Western nations have against Ben Gvir and another hard-line Israeli Cabinet minister, Bezalel Smotrich, accusing them of 鈥渋nciting extremist violence鈥� toward Palestinians.
The sanctions had little impact, as the settler community .
President rescinded the U.S. sanctions and appointed Huckabee, a , as his ambassador.
During his first term, Trump had upended decades of U.S. policy by and to other territories seized in war.
Netanyahu’s opponents criticize the violence but support settlement growth
Netanyahu will need the backing of Ben Gvir, Smotrich and other settler supporters if he hopes to keep his job . He will also need to with the Trump administration.
His opponents have criticized what they characterize as the growing chaos in the West Bank. But most of Israel’s political leaders 鈥� even critics of Netanyahu 鈥� support the growth of existing settlements and are opposed to Palestinian statehood.
, a former top general seen as Netanyahu’s main opponent, criticized the government’s handling of the events in Qusra, accusing it of undermining military commanders 鈥渋n the face of anarchy and violent lawbreaking by an extremist minority.鈥� He has also come out against .
But he has also told Israeli media that he has 鈥渘ever spoken about a Palestinian state,鈥� and that he supports settlements that are 鈥渋n line with Israel鈥檚 interests.鈥�
, a staunch settlement supporter and another leading rival of Netanyahu, has condemned the violence, saying it amounts to 鈥渢errorism鈥� by a minority.
鈥淧recisely as someone who believes in our right to the land and in the settlement enterprise, we need to denounce this and eradicate the violence from within our own ranks 鈥� not wait for the Americans to tell us to do it,鈥� he said in a recent interview with Israeli media.
When Bennett was prime minister, during the only brief period in the last 17 years that Netanyahu was out of office, his national unity government of additional settler homes.
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Associated Press writers Erin Cunningham in Jerusalem and Koral Saeed in Abu Snan, Israel, contributed.
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