Analysis Reveals Deep State Complicity in Escalating West Bank Settler Violence

Qusra Mayor Abdulatheem Wadi points his mobile phone at Palestinian houses which were besieged by Israeli settlers in Qusra village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli settlers have marauded across the occupied West Bank for months, attacking Palestinian towns and villages with impunity.

Events in Qusra, a village south of Nablus, where Israeli settlers have laid siege to three Palestinian households since Sunday, have even led to a rare condemnation of settler behaviour by the Israeli government. Spokesperson David Mercer called the settlers’ actions “deplorable” and “unacceptable,” promising that Israeli authorities would investigate and arrest those responsible. However, analysts, campaigners, and Israeli parliamentarians who spoke to Al Jazeera reacted with disbelief and incredulity, pointing to the inability of the Israeli military to stop the siege, in which settlers cut off water and electricity to Qusra. Israeli soldiers were initially even seen mingling and praying with settlers in Qusra.

“Government attempts to distance themselves from the violence are ridiculous,” Aida Touma-Sliman, a member of the Israeli parliament representing the left-wing Hadash party, told Al Jazeera. “They can say what they want, but they’re complicit.” She added that many settlers had been allowed to carry out their military service protecting the same illegal settlements they came from, noting that the government supplies, protects, and arms them.

Yair Dvir of the Israeli rights organisation B’Tselem stated that there is nothing new in what is happening in Qusra, noting that settler violence is state violence aimed at displacing Palestinians and taking their land. The escalation comes amid increasing international criticism, a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and growing tensions ahead of Israel’s October election and the potential end of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government.

Experts like Neve Gordon, a professor of International Law at Queen Mary University, London, and author of “Israel’s Occupation,” pointed out that the violence serves as a rallying cry for the settler constituency. Meanwhile, prominent members of Netanyahu’s Likud party continue to support settlements, with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich playing key roles in expanding illegal settlements and pushing towards the impossibility of a two-state solution.