Settlement expert to "Palestine Online": Settler attacks are a systematic policy to impose sovereignty over the West Bank
Suhail Khaliliyeh, director of the Settlement Monitoring Unit at the Applied Research Institute "Arij", confirmed that settler attacks in the occupied West Bank are no longer random but have become a systematic policy adopted by the occupation system to impose sovereignty. He explained that settlers have transformed from a tool of field violence into a tool of governance and control through three tracks: control of the civil administration, legalization of outposts, and field control through land confiscation.
Suhail Khaliliyeh, director of the Settlement Monitoring Unit at the Applied Research Institute "Arij", stated in an interview with "Palestine Online" that the escalating settler attacks in the occupied West Bank are no longer mere "transient escalation" or random individual acts, but have risen to the level of a systematic and organized policy adopted by the official occupation system to impose a new reality. Khaliliyeh explained that what is happening is a practical translation of an integrated settlement project aimed at consolidating settler control over the land and expelling Palestinians from it. He pointed to three parallel tracks pursued by the occupation government: control of the civil administration, where settlers now manage land, planning, and construction files; legalization of random outposts, which number over 180; and field control through the construction of bypass roads and confiscation of thousands of dunams. The statements come amid a dangerous escalation, with the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission documenting over 1,500 attacks since the beginning of this year, concentrated in the villages of Nablus, Ramallah, Hebron, and Masafer Yatta. Khaliliyeh confirmed that these attacks are carried out under the direct protection of the occupation army and political support from ministers in Netanyahu's government, led by Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir. He warned that what is happening in the West Bank is no less dangerous than what is happening in Gaza, and that the occupation seeks to exploit the world's preoccupation with the war on Gaza to push forward the creeping annexation plan.