West Bank Palestinians say new settlements cut them off

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank say new Israeli settlement activity around Jenin is cutting them off from land, roads and livelihoods, as families report settler incursions, demolitions and growing restrictions near newly occupied sites.

Amin Rahal, a 31-year-old father of three, said he and his brothers now take turns guarding what remains of their hilltop land near the newly inaugurated settlement of Emek Dotan. He said settlers put a rope across his land last week and barred his family from crossing it, leaving a chicken farm and olive trees beyond their reach under threat of violence.

Rahal said settlers had stolen hens, taken land with olive trees, damaged plants with all-terrain vehicles and brought sheep into the family's courtyard. He said the family feared night attacks, arson and harm to children.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has reported an average of six incidents per day involving West Bank settlers in 2026. These include theft, vandalism, arson, beatings and sometimes murder, while Palestinians say most crimes against them go unpunished.

The northern West Bank had been relatively spared from some settlement tensions after Israel evacuated Homesh, Sa-Nur, Ganim and Kadim under former prime minister Ariel Sharon's 2005 disengagement plan. Under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's current government, the abandoned sites have been reinvested one by one in 2026.

A plan approved in December legalised 17 more settlements in the northern West Bank with the stated aim of connecting them. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a settler, has repeatedly called to “cancel Oslo,” referring to the 1990s accords that divided parts of the West Bank into areas of Israeli and Palestinian control.

In August, Israeli forces demolished several shops within 30 metres of a road leading to Ganim and Kadim, where settler caravans had been connected to the electric grid and received their first occupants. Bara al-Damaj, who owned a stone products store that was demolished, said officials ordered him to evacuate the shop immediately before it was torn down.

Another resident, identified only as Mohammed for security reasons, said his son was recently detained and beaten by the army while walking in a field. He said the family could no longer reach a second field on the other side of a new settler road.

Residents said army bulldozers had blocked most agricultural roads with rubble. In Deir Abu Deif, they said losing road access meant losing access to Jenin city.

Faij Rawajbi, whose produce store near the settler road was demolished, said armed settlement security teams had begun harassing residents and checking IDs. “We're surrounded from every direction,” he said.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. Excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, about 500,000 settlers live in the West Bank among about three million Palestinians. Settlements on occupied territory are illegal under international law.