Haitham Kaabna and his family were terrified when dozens of Israeli settlers stormed their village of Tajamaa al-Murajaat in the occupied West Bank on October 13.
He says the settlers were protected by the army and carried M16 assault rifles as they attacked farmers.
For two weeks, settlers destroyed olive trees, wrecked cars and stole livestock. The violence led to the forced relocation of around 200 Palestinian families from Tajamaa al-Murajaat in the Jordan Valley.
Kaabna stayed until settlers invaded his home on October 26 and he felt he had to flee to safety with his family.
“Maybe 40 settlers came to our house and started beating women and children. They also beat my brother and my son, who was only about two years old,” Kaabna told Al Jazeera.
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), Israeli settlers have attacked and displaced 20 Palestinian communities in the West Bank since October 7.
The forced expulsions remained under the radar because of Israel’s war on Gaza, allegedly in retaliation for a Hamas-led surprise attack on southern Israel that killed more than 34,000 people and raised allegations of genocide.
Attacks have increased in recent weeks even as the U.S. government has imposed sanctions on some settlers and cut military aid to an Israeli army unit implicated in serious human rights abuses.
None of these steps go far enough to stop a state-backed attempt to “ethnic cleanse” Palestinians from their villages, experts and activists told Al Jazeera.
“We are not just talking about attacks by fanatical settlers,” said Jamal Juma, a Palestinian activist in the occupied West Bank who monitors settler attacks.
“We are talking about organized plans that were strongly and systematically pushed forward by the Israeli government on the ground.”
Legitimization of illegal settlements
Israel has expanded illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank despite signing the Oslo Accords in 1993, which launched a peace process that required Israel to freeze settlements to establish a Palestinian state.
However, the United States effectively approved Israel’s settlement expansion when President Donald Trump’s administration declared it legitimate, violating international law. According to Juma, Trump’s decision encouraged the Israeli government – and settlers – to increase the seizure of Palestinian villages.
“The settler-colonial project has always existed, but it needed legitimation, and Trump legitimized Israel’s entire colonization of historic Palestine,” he told Al Jazeera.
Under President Joe Biden, the US restored its previous position by labeling Israeli settlements illegal in February, but only after Israel approved plans to build 3,300 new homes in illegal settlements the same month.
The US is also expected to apply the Leahy Law, which prohibits US military aid from going to a foreign battalion involved in human rights abuses, to an Israeli army unit called Netzah Yehuda.
The unit is made up of ultra-Orthodox Israeli men and has committed serious crimes against Palestinians, human rights groups and observers say.
Sarah Elaine Harrison, a former US Defense Department official and expert at the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera that the Leahy Law was not the equivalent of sanctions and that Israel could still buy weapons to give to Netzah Yehuda.
She added that there was no tracking system to monitor whether Netzah Yehuda would continue to be able to purchase U.S. weapons through annual U.S. military aid to Israel.
“It’s complicated because Netzah Yehuda could still be carrying US firearms and we don’t know whether they are part of foreign military funding – the $3.3 billion Israel receives from the US every year – or with were purchased with Israeli money,” she told Al Jazeera.
Little responsibility
Netzah Yehuda could be eligible for U.S. military aid if Israel holds the unit’s soldiers accountable for human rights abuses.
However, Israeli officials have defended Netzah Yehuda and criticized the U.S. over its actions, raising doubts that Israel will begin disciplining its soldiers and commanders.
Benny Gantz, a minister in Israel’s war cabinet, tweeted that the brigade was “an inseparable part” of the Israeli army and that Israel had a “strong, independent judicial system” capable of dealing with suspected violations.
The Netzah Yehuda Battalion is an inseparable part of the Israel Defense Forces. It is subject to military law and is responsible for full compliance with international law.
The State of Israel has a strong, independent judicial system that meticulously judges…
— Benny Gantz (@gantzbe) April 20, 2024
But according to the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din, only 2 percent of complaints from Palestinians about injuries by Israeli soldiers in 2019 and 2020 resulted in the prosecution of suspects.
“The resistance of Israel is that when you criticize a soldier, you undermine the entire apparatus and even the country itself,” Harrison told Al Jazeera.
The U.S. also sanctioned four settlers for their roles in attacks and intimidation of Palestinians and Israeli activists. Human rights groups welcomed the move but called for additional sanctions against Israeli officials who authorize illegal settlements. The USA has ruled out this step for the time being.
“There are currently no plans to impose sanctions on Israeli government officials,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters in February.
Karim Ali*, a 26-year-old Palestinian activist, told Al Jazeera that two of the sanctioned settlers lived in his area near Hebron.
While they have stopped attacking Palestinians, Ali said other armed settlers still destroy his village by punching holes in water reservoirs or stealing livestock feed.
The settlers, Ali explained, are urging the approximately 100 Palestinian villagers to leave their land by sabotaging their livelihoods.
“About 90 percent of our fields – which are close to settler outposts – have not been cultivated this year, so we are struggling to get feed for our sheep. This is a community of shepherds who have no other means of survival. They have no other economic infrastructure,” he told Al Jazeera.
Cover up
While the Leahy Law and sanctions have not mitigated human rights abuses in the West Bank, Palestinians say settlers are protecting their identities to avoid potential consequences for committing human rights abuses.
Ali said his uncle was attacked because he took photos of a vehicle carrying armed settlers. The settlers beat his uncle, tied his hands and threw him in the back of their truck. They then took him to their settlement and asked him to delete the photos from his phone.
“The settler even took a knife and stabbed the camera lens [my uncle’s] called and said: ‘This will happen to anyone who picks up the phone in front of us again,'” Ali told Al Jazeera.
“[The settler] said, ‘This time I’ll let you go home.’ But not next time.'”
Kaabna, who now lives with his family on a deserted strip of land, said settlers confiscated all the phones during a raid on his home.
“They don’t want us to photograph or record their violence. They don’t want us to take photos,” he told Al Jazeera.
Kaabna and Ali stressed that US sanctions will not stop settlers from attacking Palestinian villages unless pressure is also applied to end the Israeli occupation.
“Any movements [taken] that shows the settlers that their crimes are being watched is something [useful] … but the sanctions only link a problem instead of addressing it directly,” Ali said.
Some names have been changed to protect sources from reprisal