A British newspaper report stated that while a ceasefire was declared in Gaza, aggression by settlers and the occupation army is escalating in the West Bank.
The London-based Observer newspaper reported that settler attacks in Turmus Ayya, near Ramallah, are a daily occurrence. The fragile ceasefire that Washington is struggling to maintain in Gaza is of no use in the West Bank, where violence erupts daily and yellow bulldozers patrol every slope, threatening new settlement expansion.
The newspaper reported that the Trump administration is encouraging settlers in their attacks, providing $3.8 billion in annual military aid to Israel. This year, it has also provided unprecedented levels of support to settlements, such as Gilo near neighboring Turmus’aba.
The Gilo settlement is home to attackers from the Hilltop Youth faction – a group involved in “murder, arson, assault, and intimidation aimed at expelling Palestinian communities from the West Bank.”
The newspaper reports that Trump administration officials continue to flock to Israel, insisting on their role as peacemakers, in defiance of many Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza who live under the yoke of Washington’s policies.
Calm of any kind seems a distant prospect in the West Bank, was not mentioned in the Trump administration’s ceasefire plan, and appears to be absent from any long-term effort to consider what a true end to Israel’s longest war, which lasted two years.
The newspaper quoted residents of the village of Turmus Ayya as saying that when they heard the news of the ceasefire in Gaza, they were happy because it meant the killing there had stopped. But their joy ended there, as they knew that settler attacks on them and their homes would continue.
They said: They want to terrorize us as much as possible so that we will not return to these lands.
Yasser Alqam, a resident of Turmus Ayya, said, “The war they started here in the West Bank two years ago is still ongoing. It’s true that everyone thinks there’s a ceasefire in Gaza, but we don’t have one in the West Bank. The attacks continue daily.”
The newspaper, citing village residents, reported that once settlers take control of an area, they establish outposts that are regularly legalized by the Israeli government—with the help of far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is also a settler—allowing the settlement to expand.
“The bottom line is, they want our land. They want to scare and terrorize us as much as possible so we won’t return,” Alqam said. “We are doing everything we can to preserve our ownership of these lands.”
He added: Their ultimate goal is to seize territory, and they are succeeding in that little by little because no one is doing anything about it, saying: “I mean, we cannot respond – our only tools are our bare hands, and they have machine guns and an army to support them, so they are succeeding.”
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