Partners for Progressive Israel Condemns Current Settler Violence Campaign; Calls for Action

The organized program of settler violence that has plagued the West Bank for more than two years must be ignored no longer. It is long past time for Jewish Americans and their organizations to raise their voices in protest and demand that both their congressional and communal representatives address the unbearable situation.

The settler violence campaign, to which members of Israeli security forces regularly turn a blind eye and often actively support, generally includes incursions onto private land designed to intimidate and show “who’s boss”, wanton destruction of Palestinian property and agriculture, desecration of Muslim religious sites, threatening graffiti messaging (e.g., “Death to Arabs”), and frequent attacks on Palestinian noncombatants, causing serious injury and even death.

This campaign is a “feature, not a bug”, Israeli journalist, Itay Rom, explained earlier this year, citing the words of a prominent representative of the “hilltop youth” settlers and former spokesman of a far-right Knesset Member, who boasted: “Without question, we are initiating friction” on the West Bank, “and we’re also proud of that.” The ultimate goal is permanent Palestinian displacement.

The deadly results of the settler campaign were manifested again on Friday, when settlers burned two mosques in separate villages and attacked a family whose land settlers had appropriated, near the West Bank village of Tell. When family members tried to block the armed settler group, a confrontation ensued in which four family members, one Israeli soldier, and the settler invader were killed. This was used as justification by the Israeli government to launch mass security sweeps in Palestinian refugee camps, villages, towns, and cities, which are continuing. Independent journalists concur that the Palestinians are the victims, not the aggressors, as the government claims.

While we hope that Israel’s October elections will sweep away the current extremist government, the urgency of the current situation precludes such patience. Israeli civil society groups are calling for immediate international pressure on the Israeli government. Some demand creation of an international protection force for West Bank Palestinians.

While immediate measures to protect Palestinian communities and hold perpetrators accountable are essential, Partners for Progressive Israel believes that they must be accompanied by a deeper reckoning with the underlying dynamics driving this violence. Ultimately, these responses cannot be limited to cosmetic changes while ignoring the sources of hatred and mistrust between Israelis and Palestinians, including the profound asymmetries in access to resources, security, and political power that continue to shape daily life.

“As American Jews and as people who care deeply about the future of Israel and Palestine,” said Professor Paul Scham, President of Partners for Progressive Israel, “we must speak out when pogrom-like violence is happening on a daily basis and the government is openly enabling the perpetrators. We call on Jewish Americans to reach out to their elected officials to inform them and demand a response; and we call on the establishment American Jewish organizations and leadership to acknowledge honestly the extent of the problem, inform their constituents, and spur action and awareness in and by the American Jewish community.”