Uptick in violence in occupied West Bank blamed on 'wild settlers'

A former Israeli army general has blamed the rising wave of violence in the occupied West Bank on Jewish settlers who "go very wild in terms of provocating the local population, doing terrible acts of vandalism, sometimes terrorism against Palestinian families". 

The former Head of the Israeli Army's operations directorate, Israel Ziv, said during a brief that settlers of the hilltop youth movement take cues from what they perceive as government policy. 

"They're definitely encouraged by what they think is the policy of the Israeli government and the coalition today", he said. 

Ziv, currently in the army reserves, mentioned that the intelligence units receive as many as 200 daily alerts concerning various threats. 

Following the recent shooting attack that killed a female Jewish settler near al-Khalil (Hebron) in the southern West Bank, the Israeli PM pointed to Iran as being behind the increase in the number of attacks against Israelis. 

"We are in the midst of a terrorist assault encouraged, directed and financed by Iran and its proxies", Netanyahu said. 

"We are using means, and we will use yet more, both offensive and defensive, to settle accounts with the murderers and those who dispatch them, near and far", the Israeli PM added. 

Israeli intelligence ascertains that the huge amounts of weapons smuggled into the West Bank originate from the Beka'a Valley in Lebanon, facilitated by the Lebanese armed group, Hezbollah. The arms are destined for Hamas and the Islamic Jihad but often make way to young Palestinians not affiliated with either of the organisations. 

Still, the view in Israel is that Hezbollah is not pushing for war. 

"I think what they see in Israel, [are] the demonstrations, the arguments. For Nasrallah [Hezbollah's leader], it's a very satisfying view...Israel is falling apart by itself, so why would he open any direct war tomorrow morning?" Israel Ziv rationalised. 

According to Israeli officials, a weak Palestinian Authority, an ageing leader - Mahmoud Abbas - and "corrupt" officials who are not governing the cities and preventing attacks also allow the spike in violence. 

"The Palestinian Authority at this time is very weak for many reasons one is ofcourse that they don't get enough support from the Israeli side", Ziv added. 

The uptick in violence in the occupied West Bank is happening against the backdrop of turmoil within Israel over judicial changes, settlement expansion, tensions with Hezbollah, an informal deal between Iran and the US on uranium enrichment and talk of normalisation between Israel and Saudi Arabia. 

According to Palestinian sources, 228 Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza died in violence-related incidents or inside Israeli prisons in 2023. Nearly 30 Israelis have been killed in the same period.