This expansion stands in clear violation of international law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the transfer of an occupying power’s civilian population into occupied territory.
Palestinian displacement is not a byproduct but a deliberate aim of Israel’s settler-colonial project. In communities like Al-Mughayyir, settler violence is not random—it is organized, militarized, and strategically deployed. These acts occur within a legal-political framework that enables Israeli expansion while actively suppressing Palestinian life. Violence is embedded in state planning, law enforcement, and security structures, sustaining a continuous process of erasure and domination.
In response to escalating settler violence, several Western governments have implemented targeted sanctions. On February 1, 2024, U.S. President Joe Biden issued Executive Order 14115, sanctioning extremist settlers and groups that undermine peace in the West Bank (Federal Register, 2024). The European Union followed in April 2024, imposing sanctions on individuals and entities responsible for serious human rights abuses (Council of the European Union, 2024). In August, the U.S. further sanctioned Hashomer Yosh and an official from the Yitzhar settlement (Reuters, 2024). Most recently, in May 2025, the United Kingdom froze trade negotiations with Israel and imposed sanctions on Daniella Weiss and others linked to violent settlement expansion (Jerusalem Post, 2025).
While these actions are notable, they fall short of addressing the broader system that enables settler impunity.
Israeli control over Palestinian land is not only enforced by soldiers and settlers but designed through architecture, law, and planning. As architect Eyal Weizman argues in “Hollow Land”, spatial organization in the occupied territories becomes a mode of domination—one that weaponizes terrain, infrastructure, and zoning to facilitate control and fragmentation. ¹
Settler violence manifests not only through physical attacks but also through a complex matrix of legal and bureaucratic mechanisms. Military orders restrict construction, authorize land seizures, and criminalize Palestinian presence—particularly in Area C, which constitutes about 60% of the West Bank and remains under full Israeli civil and military control. In this area, Palestinians are routinely denied building permits, even as nearby settlements continue to expand with full state support. According to Yesh Din, over 93% of police investigations into settler violence end without indictment.² This impunity is not incidental—it is a core feature of a system that embeds settler-colonial rule in everyday governance.
Nowhere is this system more visible than in Al-Mughayyir, a Palestinian village in the central West Bank near Ramallah, which has long been a flashpoint for settler violence due to its proximity to several illegal Israeli outposts. For example, in April 2024, settlers launched a large-scale attack on the village, killing a Palestinian civilian, burning vehicles, and damaging homes. Israeli soldiers were present but did not intervene; some reportedly participated.³ In Masafer Yatta, residents face ongoing threats of expulsion through coordinated settler harassment and military eviction orders.⁴ These incidents are not anomalies—they reflect a sustained strategy to empty Palestinian land and entrench a regime of spatial apartheid.
Despite growing documentation, many international responses continue to frame settler violence as a series of isolated incidents rather than as part of a broader pattern linked to state policies. UN resolutions and diplomatic statements often emphasize the need for “de-escalation” and “restraint,” while largely sidestepping the systemic dimensions of the violence. By not addressing the underlying structures that sustain these dynamics, international actors risk reinforcing a cycle of impunity. Sanctions targeting individual settlers or specific organizations are a step in the right direction, but remain limited in impact. Without addressing the wider context of occupation, such measures risk being largely symbolic.
Settler violence is not a breakdown of the system—it is the system. It serves as a mechanism of displacement, domination, and demographic engineering, legitimized through laws and enforced through arms. Recognizing this reality demands more than humanitarian concern; it requires political courage, historical clarity, and an end to false equivalence. For Palestinians, resistance is not only a response to immediate violence—it is a refusal to be erased. And for the international community, complicity ends where accountability begins.
References
- Eyal Weizman, *Hollow Land: Israel’s Architecture of Occupation* (London: Verso, 2007).
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Yesh Din, “Law Enforcement on Israeli Civilians in the West Bank,” Annual Data Sheet 2023, https://www.yesh-din.org/en/law-enforcement-on-israeli-civilians-in-the-west-bank-2023/.
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“Settlers Kill Palestinian Man, Burn Homes in West Bank Village,” *Al Jazeera*, April 12, 2024, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/12/settlers-kill-palestinian-man-burn-homes-in-west-bank-village.
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B’Tselem, “Expulsion of Communities in Masafer Yatta,” 2024, https://www.btselem.org/masafer_yatta.
Rawan Yousef is a Palestinian human rights advocate. She has a PhD in Public Policy and an M.A in Political Economy/Development. Rawan has worked in a number of international organizations and United Nations agencies in the past 15 years.