The High Command – Settlers’ influence on IDF conduct in the West Bank

Blog Post

February 28, 2017 Kristin McCarthy

In an extensive collection of testimonies from former Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers, Breaking the Silence reveals 6 ways that illegal Israeli settlers in the West Bank have a problematic influence on IDF operations in the occupied Palestinian territories:

Settler involvement in operational activities
Failure to enforce the law on settlers harming Palestinians or their property
Settler violence against IDF soldiers
IDF soldiers guarding settlers’ events and recreational activities
Proximity and close personal ties between settlers and soldiers
Integrating settlers and their political ideologies into IDF educational activities

These testimonies show how settlers wield power over IDF operations and soldiers – a power that comes at the decided expense of Palestinian livelihood. In the words of one former soldier “There’s no doubt that we worked for the settlers.” (Page 36)

Click here to read the full report, including the IDF Chief of Staff’s response to the collected testimonies.

Two weeks ago saw the latest blow to the on-again-but-mostly-off-again reconciliation between the two leading Palestinian political factions, Hamas and Fatah. A Fatah delegation from the West Bank entered Gaza for what was planned as a weeklong visit to address the sticky issue of payment to some 40,000 Hamas government employees, which was one of the main drivers of Hamas’ decision to accept a reconciliation agreement in April 2014, largely on Fatah’s terms. Instead, the Fatah delegation stayed only one day, departing after claiming that Hamas had prohibited it from traveling from their beachfront hotel to their offices. Hamas, for its part, responded that the makeup of the delegation had not been appropriately cleared in advance.

A few days later, as Israelis celebrated their Independence Day, the first rocket was fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip in four months. An Israeli tank barrage into Gaza followed shortly after. Read more at Tablet Magazine.