The lifetime of 32-year-old Abdul Rahman Jabr modified greater than a yr in the past when his dwelling within the village of al-Mughayyir, east of Ramallah, within the occupied West Financial institution was focused by Israeli settlers. After the assault, he put up barbed wire in an try to fend off future settler pogroms.
The home, constructed by Abdul Rahman in early 2023 earlier than his marriage, is positioned on the outskirts of the village in an space with a protracted historical past of settler violence. He now lives there together with his spouse and their two-year-old daughter, however settler assaults on his dwelling and his neighbours have intensified over the previous yr.
Beneficial Tales
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His automobile was set on hearth by settlers in April 2024, and his dwelling’s home windows have been smashed with stones. He can not rely the variety of occasions his dwelling has been focused. Up to now week alone, settlers reached his property seven occasions, which compelled him to overlook work to remain at dwelling to guard his spouse and baby.
“I considered my spouse and baby. How may I defend them from the settlers when there is no such thing as a safety for us? I started surrounding the home with barbed wire and an iron fence. This isn’t a ample measure, nevertheless it’s the one factor I can do by myself,” he instructed Al Jazeera.
“All of the neighbouring households have needed to set up these fences to guard themselves. We’ve made numerous appeals, however nobody listens, so we needed to take this step. On the very least, it has helped maintain their livestock away from our yards.”
Night time guard
Abdul Rahman’s experiences aren’t distinctive. They’re a part of a fast rise in settler exercise throughout the West Financial institution since Israel’s genocidal battle on Gaza started in October 2023.
Settlers carried out 14,742 assaults in opposition to Palestinians, their land or properties from October 7, 2023, to October 4, 2026, in response to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Fee, which is a part of the PLO.
Within the first seven months of 2026 alone, the fee recorded 4,113 assaults, starting from assaults on individuals to vandalism of orchards. This was a 63 p.c improve in contrast with the identical interval in 2025, and this month noticed a spate of assaults on Palestinian farmers as they harvested olives.
Palestinians at the moment are starting to organise to guard their households and houses from settler assaults.
Within the city of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, a bunch of younger Palestinian males have repelled a number of settler assaults in latest months. Basel Awad, a pseudonym used for safety causes, instructed Al Jazeera that the village’s guard committee, which he’s a member of, is unofficial and supposed to guard the houses of residents.
Every evening, 20 to 30 unarmed individuals collect at key areas that settlers have used as staging posts for his or her raids into Sinjil.
They’ve paid a excessive worth for his or her efforts. The Israeli military has arrested six members of the guard and at the least 10 have been injured in an obvious bid by Israel to dismantle this neighbourhood watch.
“We had arrange a tent within the Jabal al-Batin space, which is incessantly focused by assaults. Troopers arrived final winter and fired tear gasoline canisters inside. All of us suffered from suffocation, after which they demolished the tent and confiscated it,” Basel instructed Al Jazeera.
Defending communities
Regardless of the hazards, Palestinians are refusing to go away their houses and have their land seized by settlers.
Nasr Radwan, 53, is likely one of the landowners within the village of Beitillu, west of Ramallah, whose property is incessantly raided by settlers. The land owned by Nasr, his brothers and their family members spans 1,500 dunums (1,000sq metres or 1 / 4 of an acre) and accommodates greater than 100 springs.
He has been crushed by settlers on a number of events, however he and his brothers insist on being current on the land each single day.
In June, settlers established an outpost close to his land, which is getting used as a base to assault his crops and assault his household, he stated.
“The latest assault passed off final Saturday. We have been on our land harvesting olives when settlers attacked us, smashed the home windows of our automobiles and beat my brother. Even so, we proceed to go there every single day,” he added.
For the previous three years, settlers have tried to grab the household’s land, blocking an entry highway to stop Nasr and his family members from reaching it by automobile. Relations persist, travelling 5km (3 miles) on foot to succeed in their land.
“We all know that being on our land means dealing with fixed assaults. It may even value us our lives. However we additionally know that if we abandon it, it will likely be misplaced eternally,” he stated.
“This isn’t simply land or a supply of livelihood; it’s our soul, our reminiscence and our very life.”
![Palestinians in the West Bank use barbed wire and other fencing to protect their houses from settler attacks [Courtesy of Motasem Abu Alia]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Palestinians-in-the-West-Bank-are-forced-to-protect-their-houses-from-settlers-attacks-by-iron-wires-Photo-by-Motasem-Abu-Alia-1792329884.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C433&quality=80)
Violation of worldwide legislation
With the settler raids sanctioned by Israeli authorities, Palestinian residents don’t have any actual safety or recourse for authorized motion when they’re attacked. This has left West Financial institution villages uncovered to continuous assault with no penalties for settlers who destroy, assault or typically kill.
Human Rights Watch in August reported that Israeli authorities have didn’t prosecute settlers for acts of violence dedicated in opposition to Palestinians. By the top of 2025, the Israeli human rights organisation Yesh Din reported that out of a whole lot of instances it has documented since 2005, solely 3 p.c have resulted in convictions. The village watch scheme is an try by Palestinians to mitigate these dangers.
Omar Rahhal, director of the Ramallah-based SHAMS Heart for Human Rights, instructed Al Jazeera that the truth that Palestinians resort to self-protection measures in opposition to settler assaults doesn’t absolve Israel as an occupying energy of its obligation below the Fourth Geneva Conference to guard civilians.
He stated such measures are merely a stopgap resolution to the settler dilemma for Palestinians, who’re confronted with a profound energy imbalance. An illustration of that is the presence of Israeli troopers as settlers assault their households and raze their lands.
“Impunity, the arming of settlers, the allocation of funds to settlements and insurance policies adopted by ministers within the Israeli authorities are elements that contribute to the continuation of assaults and the ensuing improve within the variety of victims,” he stated.
