A New Generation of Radical Settlers Fuels Violence in the West Bank

A loosely structured movement of ultranationalist Israeli settlers, mostly young and also made up of school dropouts from outside the West Bank, known as the "Hilltop Youth," is behind the rise in violence against Palestinians.

Inspired by a religious-nationalist ideology, the movement seeks to expand the Jewish presence in Palestinian territory through the creation of unauthorized outposts, generally tents or mobile homes installed on hills located outside already established settlements.

Although groups of Israelis living outside the settlement network in the West Bank have existed since the 1990s, the new generation has an agenda to seize Palestinian land through violence, said Dvir Warshavsky, of Children of Abraham, an organization of practicing Jews that supports the rights of Palestinians.

In the early hours of Tuesday, more than 100 Israeli settlers attacked the village of Jalud and wounded three members of the Israeli security forces, who were escorting a Palestinian family back to their home after having been displaced by settler attacks.

The worsening violence, including attacks against mosques and churches, had already led countries such as the United Kingdom and the Netherlands to impose sanctions on products from the settlements, which provoked Israel's outrage.

"A Handful of Juvenile Delinquents"

A post recently circulated on a WhatsApp channel linked to the movement and consulted by AFP stated that, in the last 12 months, the Hilltop Youth carried out 635 attacks in 158 Palestinian villages, leaving 409 Palestinians wounded and 436 vehicles burned. AFP was unable to independently verify those figures.

Those responsible for this type of violence are rarely prosecuted by the Israeli authorities.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking last week before the UN General Assembly, downplayed settler attacks and attributed them to "a handful of juvenile delinquents, about 150 in total," while accusing the rest of the world of ignoring violence committed by Palestinians.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. More than 500,000 settlers live in that territory, where some three million Palestinians reside.

Around 140 settlements are recognized by the Israeli government, although international law considers them illegal.

However, farms and outposts that are also illegal under Israeli law now number around 400, according to the organization Peace Now.

A Well-Defined Strategy

Israeli human rights experts who have followed the Hilltop Youth for years say the movement gained momentum after Israel dismantled 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four others in the West Bank as part of its unilateral withdrawal in 2005.

The inability of the old guard of the settler movement to prevent thousands of Israelis from losing their homes during those forced evacuations, combined with resentment toward the central government, opened a new stage.

Thus emerged more ideologized settlers, who questioned "the traditional strategy of the settler movement, whose logic consisted of building more and more settlements with more and more population," according to Warshavsky.

The "new generation" focused on creating small illegal outposts and agricultural projects without permits from the Israeli authorities, a strategy known as "minimum population in maximum territory."

Herding flocks of sheep and goats has allowed them to significantly expand control over rural areas that are under Israeli military authority.

With the rise of politicians who represent their ideology, such as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, these communities have received growing legitimization and financial support, part of which has been channeled toward illegal farms and outposts, according to experts.

The government cannot make direct transfers due to their illegal status, explained Hagit Ofran, of Peace Now. But "it finances everything else": roads, surveillance vehicles, security cameras, solar panels and drones, in addition to Israeli army protection, she added.

Some settler leaders, however, have tried to distance themselves from the movement.

Late last year, the heads of three Israeli local councils in the West Bank issued a joint statement calling on law enforcement to adopt a "zero tolerance" policy toward the Hilltop Youth and stated that these groups "do not represent" the settler movement as a whole.