Extremist settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, already at unprecedented levels over the last three years, has reached a new zenith since the outbreak of war between Israel and Iran at the end of February.

Civil rights groups and activists have reported extremely high rates of Jewish extremist attacks since war broke out, with multiple incidents of assault, vandalism, theft, and harassment occurring daily.

The number of extremely severe incidents, such as fatal shootings, has also increased, with seven Palestinian civilians shot dead by extremist settlers since the war began.

And last week bore witness to further escalation, as mobs of extremist Jewish youth from the settlements and illegal outposts of the West Bank descended on rural Palestinian villages, set homes and property ablaze, and violently assaulted Palestinian residents, in “revenge” for the death of a fellow settler activist who died in unclear circumstances on March 21.

The severe spike in attacks during the course of the last month has been accompanied by extreme rhetoric by radical activists on social media networks, including explicit and proud statements in favor of ethnically cleansing Palestinians from the West Bank.

Alongside the rhetoric, extremist settler actions once limited to Area C of the West Bank where Israel has full civil and security control — and where the overwhelming majority of settlements and illegal outposts are located — have begun to widen into Areas A and B as well, where the Palestinian Authority is supposed to hold political autonomy.

This has included intensified violent settler raids into Palestinian towns and villages, as well as the establishment of Jewish settlement outposts in Areas A and B, as part of the grander plan to assert Israeli control over the entire territory from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River.

Civil rights groups such as B’Tselem and Yesh Din have alleged that the timing is not coincidental — that the radical settler activists are using the Iran war as cover for increased violence targeted at displacing Palestinians.

According to the Yesh Din organization, which tracks settler violence, there were 257 incidents of extremist settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank from the day the war with Iran began on February 28 until March 26, based on cross-referenced public statements and reports from different sources.

These incidents included the killing of six Palestinian civilians who were shot dead by settler radicals, a figure that has since risen to seven.

“Under the cover of war, settler violence is increasing with the goal of expelling Palestinians and taking control of their land,” Yesh Din alleged on March 5.

The B’Tselem human rights organization, which also tracks settler extremism, made a similar observation, noting the spread of intense violence to Areas A and B of the West Bank.

“The combination of the increasing and lethal use of live fire by Israeli militias and the expansion of attacks on large, established Palestinian communities indicates the intensification of Israel’s ethnic cleansing efforts under cover of the war with Iran,” B’Tselem charged on March 9.

In the first week of the current Iranian war, an administrator of a public WhatsApp channel dubbed “Hilltop News” spelled out the strategy of the extremists.

The channel, run by extremist settlers, is one of a number of similar outlets seen as representative of the settler movement’s most radical, and often violent, wing.

The post argued that it must be the settler radicals who first advance the goal of removing Palestinians from the West Bank, a concept they term “transfer.” Their efforts, if determined enough, will eventually be adopted by the state, similar to how the settlement movement itself started at the grassroots level before being backed by the government in the 1970s and 80s, it claimed.

“In the end, transfer will really happen due to the initiative of private individuals, and not because the government woke up,” declared the post.

It referenced the fact that many thriving settlements began life as illegal outposts before being retroactively authorized.

“Just as it happens with the settlements, first Jews move into the area, and only after a few months or years do the heads of regional councils, cabinet ministers, and members of Knesset arrive........

© The Times of Israel