Everyone's Ignoring the West Bank

Since October 7th, Palestinians in the West Bank face pressure from every direction, settlers pushing from the rural hills, the military pressing in the cities, their own leadership offering no protection.

That's the lived reality of a coordinated campaign that has killed 1,000 Palestinians, reportedly detained over 13,500 and completely emptied 14 villages in just two years. The numbers tell only a part of the story, since the Hamas attack Israel's government has distributed approximately 7,000 firearms to settlers through regional defense units.

At least eight Palestinians were shot dead by settlers in the month following October 7th, deaths that would have been far less likely when the weapons were stones and clubs. The nearly 2,000 cases of complaints Palestinians filed about settler violence between 2005 and 2024, 94% were closed without indictment. The message could not have been clearer.