Settler Violence: An Official System, from Military Protection to Governmental Institutionalization By Marwan Sultan. Palestine 🇵🇸

Settler Violence: An Official System, from Military Protection to Governmental Institutionalization

By : Marwan Sultan. Palestine  🇵🇸

18.11.2025

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The cycle of violence carried out by settlers in the West Bank is part of an integrated doctrine, preparation, training, construction, and outfitting for those who live in West Bank settlements. This has been a long and persistent effort by successive Israeli governments since the occupation of the West Bank, building the settlement system—the stones, the trees, and the human beings—as part of a doctrine aimed at Judaising Palestinian land.

At different times, there have been clashes between settlers and Palestinians. The most intense of these occurred during the First Intifada in 1987. Palestinians bravely confronted these actions at the time, and protection committees were formed, reflecting the prevailing spirit. Most confrontations happened after midnight, and the loud chants of Allahu Akbar (God is Great) echoed through Palestinian cities and villages. Israeli leaders at the time admitted that these chants frightened them, despite the army's deployment in the area.

Today, this violence is starting to take on an institutionalized character, with ministers in the Israeli coalition government leading these acts of extremism and violence. Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is overseeing the equipping of settlers with weapons, 4x4 vehicles, drones, and other gear and organization. This is in addition to forming settler-affiliated police units and providing other facilities that support their violence against Palestinians.

The violence led by settlers today across the West Bank—burning property, seizing crops, preventing people from accessing their land, and attacking Palestinian villages and cities—is violence that has drawn disapproval from Israeli leaders and army commanders. The most recent of these was the Israeli Prime Minister, who represents the backbone of the settlement project. However, he should have been the one to rein in the settler leaders, especially those who hold high positions in the state of Israel, such as Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

Who leads the settlers in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound? Who encourages settler violence? Who is pirating the Palestinian Authority's funds? Isn't it the settler Smotrich? And who is openly, day and night, inciting the destruction of the Palestinian Authority? Isn't it the extremist settlers Ben-Gvir and Smotrich? It is ironic that they talk about settler "unruliness" when their leaders occupy high state positions and issue instructions from those very offices.

Talking about controlling settlers and limiting their violence is a political charade and utterly ridiculous given the entire system that supports them and their lawlessness. Limiting this violence must begin, first and foremost, by dismantling the settlement system that is spread like locusts across the West Bank. The issue is not just limited to "hilltop youth" whom the army complains are out of control. This is a ridiculous and repulsive claim; the Israeli army is the one providing protection and cover for the violence they carry out in the West Bank.

The continuation of settler violence in this manner does not reflect isolated individual cases or reactions. Instead, it expresses a comprehensive structure built on political encouragement, military protection, and governmental funding. Any attempt to talk about controlling this violence remains meaningless as long as the system that sponsors it is in place and as long as its leaders occupy positions of decision-making. Dismantling this settlement system is the first step toward stopping this escalating violence and restoring the Palestinian's right to their land, life, and security.