Khaberni - Settler attacks in the West Bank are no longer fleeting events or individual deviations, but have turned into a central instrument in Israeli policy aimed at imposing its formal annexation to the occupying state as a fait accompli, according to an analysis published by Haaretz newspaper.
Jack Khoury, the newspaper's Arab affairs editor, believes in his article that what is being witnessed in the West Bank is no longer seasonal waves of violence or isolated clashes, but a new reality stemming from a systematic Israeli policy aimed at cementing actual annexation of Palestinian territories.
He emphasizes that the escalation of settler attacks is no longer just random incidents or linked to specific seasons like the olive harvest, but is a reflection of a systematic governmental Israeli policy aimed at actual annexation of Palestinian territories.
Khoury refutes the official narrative that tries to confine the violence to a "minority of extremists," describing it as misleading and confirming that these aggressors operate under the cover and support, and sometimes with the participation of the security and political establishment that grants them absolute immunity from accountability while strict deterrence is practiced on the Palestinians.
He points out that the presence of the army and the police in the field does not provide protection for the Palestinians, but rather enhances the assailants' sense of security, amidst stark discrimination between those protected by the system and those left without protection.
The article cites recent incidents - such as the attack on a family in the village of Samu south of the city of Hebron, and gunfire near the town of Anata northeast of occupied Jerusalem - to clarify that settlers are now using military weapons against unarmed civilians, killing their livestock, and destroying their property as part of a strategy to intimidate Palestinians and expel them.
In contrast, the article highlights the total helplessness of the Palestinian Authority, which has become "irrelevant" and unable to protect its citizens, while local self-defense attempts fail due to Israeli military repression.
Alongside the violence, the Israeli government continues with steps it describes as legal to entrench creeping annexation, by legalizing 19 new settlement outposts and injecting huge investments in the infrastructure of the West Bank without an official declaration under the guise of security, according to the article.
As for the international community, including the United Nations, Europe, and the major powers, it appears - the writer continues - helpless or unconcerned about protecting the Palestinians.
Khoury sends a message to U.S. President Donald Trump, warning that claims of achieving "historic peace" are completely at odds with the bloody reality in the West Bank.
He says another war is brewing in the West Bank, "quieter and less noisy and no less destructive" than the one that erupted and "perhaps stopped" in the Gaza Strip.
