A Decade of Impunity: The Tenfold Rise of Settler Violence

Over the past decade, documented settler attacks across the West Bank have increased nearly tenfold, transforming from a persistent but contained problem into what can only be described as a systematic, government-coordinated campaign of violence with the intent to erase Palestinian communities.

Between 2015 and 2017, annual attacks averaged around 510, with 2016 and 2017 representing relative lows of 299 and 284. The years that followed saw a gradual climb, crossing 1,000 annual incidents for the first time in 2021, then reaching nearly 1,200 in 2022. But nothing prepared communities for what came next.

In 2023, documented attacks more than doubled to 2,410. The following year pushed even higher to 2,971, the worst year on record. This explosion in violence correlates directly with the period following October 7, 2023, during which settler militias mobilized openly and Israeli authorities largely suspended enforcement against settler violence in the West Bank.

The geographic pattern reveals deliberate, persistent targeting. The Nablus governorate bears the heaviest burden, absorbing more than a quarter of all attacks over the past three years — 2,044 documented incidents. Hebron and Ramallah follow closely, each recording over 1,400 attacks during the same period. Together, these three governorates account for roughly two-thirds of all settler violence, corresponding to the concentration of settlement outposts and bypass roads fragmenting Palestinian communities in the northern West Bank.

Perhaps most striking is the transformation of the Jordan Valley. The Jericho governorate recorded just one attack in 2017. By 2024, that number had climbed to 140 — a staggering increase that reflects intensified pressure on Palestinian herding communities and Bedouin villages in Area C, where annexation efforts have accelerated.

The 2025 data, already showing 2,153 attacks, suggests this year will likely match or exceed the previous record. What the numbers cannot capture is the cumulative toll: the families driven from agricultural land, the children afraid to walk to school, the communities slowly strangled by violence that operates with near-total impunity. The trajectory is clear, and without intervention, it will only continue.