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August 14, 2026
- WEST BANK: Jenin Area Fragmentation Continues, Atara Petition, Tenders for Kochav Yaakov, More
- STATE-BACKED SETTLER TERRORISM: State Data Shows 63% Raise in Settler Attacks, Katz Wants Israel Police to Take Over West Bank Civilian Matters, Settlers Lay Siege to Qusra, IDF Is Issuing Closed Military Zone Orders on Entire Villages, More
- BONUS READS
WEST BANK
The Noose Around Jenin Tightens
The reality on the ground in the northern West Bank is rapidly changing:
- On August 2nd, settlers moved into the Emek Dotan settlement, with the IDF displacing Palestinians from their homes in a nearby town in order to do so.
- On August 13th, senior Israeli government officials joined settler leaders to mark the reestablishment of the Ganim settlement, located east of Jenin in the northern West Bank.
- On August 5th, settlers moved into the recently re-built Kedumim settlement
In total, the Israeli government has approved 19 new settlements between Jenin and Nablus, which are designed to affect the total fragmentation of the northern West Bank.
Yehuda Shaul, settlement expert and co-founder of Breaking the Silence, writes:
“By undoing the disengagement in the northern WB, the state is actualizing the settlers’ decades-long dream, fueling their political imagination, and encouraging a similar dedication to the resettlement of Gaza. In addition to reinstating these 4 settlements, Israel is establishing 15 more in the area, introducing a settlement presence greater than it was before the 2005 disengagement in a region that has barely seen permanent settler presence for 20 years. Most importantly, this brings about the implementation of the long-planned encirclement of Jenin and the fragmentation of the northern WB.”
Yesh Din Petitions Against Outpost Near Atara, Home to Violent Settler Yinon Dardik
Last month, Yesh Din assisted two Palestinian families from the village of Atara in submitting a petition with the Israeli High Court demanding the removal of settlers from their homes, and for Israeli authorities to protect Palestinians from the settlers’ escalating violence. Under IDF protection, settlers had established the Kfar Tarfon outpost near two Palestinian homes in August 2025. Over the past year, settlers have increased their violent harassment of the Palestinians homeowners culminating in the settlers expelling Palestinians from their homes and taking over the buildings. One settler, Yinon Dardik, is facing criminal charges for reportedly torturing a Paelstinian man during one such attack on Atara, stripping the man naked and putting a zip tie on his genitals. Dardik was released from house arrest this week.
The Israeli High Court ordered the State to respond by August 16th but refused a request for a more urgent hearing.
Tender for 627 New Settlement Units in the Kochav Yaakov Settlement
Al Jazeera reports Israeli authorities issued tenders for the construction of 627 new settlement units in the Kochav Yaakov settlement, located on the periphery of Jerusalem near Ramallah. Construction companies have until November 30th to submit bids on the project.
While Israeli’s Politicization of West Bank Archaeology Gains Attention, Details Are Scant
With UNESCO’s recognition of Sebastia as a World Heritage Site under threat, Israel’s use of archaeology as a tool for the dispossession of Palestinians and annexation of the West Bank has gained more international attention. At the same time, the Israeli government has been rapidly advancing that very model of annexation. However, as Emek Shaveh notes, the details of the Israeli government’s funding of annexation-via-archaeology are not being revealed, writing:
“Last Tuesday (August 4th), the inter-ministerial steering committee established under Government Resolution 786 approved projects at approximately 70 sites, at a total cost of NIS 113 million. The allocation was announced by Minister of Finance and Additional Minister within the Ministry of Defence, Bezalel Smotrich.
The full details of the plan are unknown, since the steering committee’s activities are not public. In fact, when Emek Shaveh approached the Ministry of Heritage with questions about the steering committee and its membership, we received a vague response containing general headings but no detailed explanation of who the representatives serving on the committee are. We have therefore submitted a Freedom of Information request, which has yet to receive a response.
In parallel with the committee’s approval, the Knesset Finance Committee approved (on July 29th) additional transfers of more than NIS 60 million for heritage-related activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. During the discussion, the committee was presented with a map outlining what appears to be a plan for a significant expansion of the heritage enterprise in the West Bank. No concrete plan for any specific site was presented alongside the map.
The information we have about these allocations is scant since no paper work or documentation regarding the ministries slated to finance the projects were made available. Most of what we currently know about budgets for West Bank sites are based on statements made by relevant ministers or government officials.”
Peace Now Report: “The Quiet Annexation of Areas A and B and Steps to Bring Down the Palestinian Authority”
In a new report, Peace Now details the steps the Israeli government has extended its annexation of the West Bank into Area’s A & B, undermining the Palestinian Authority and fundamentally changing the reality on the ground.
Peace Now writes in said in a statement:
“The government’s actions in Areas A and B are not isolated events. They are part of a broader policy aimed at weakening the Palestinian Authority. This approach is meant to create chaos, making it easier to expand settlements into cities and villages deep within the West Bank. The Netanyahu government is playing with fire by ignoring international commitments and putting Israel’s security in danger. All of this is being done to gain more territory in the West Bank and block any chance for peace or a solution to the conflict.”
STATE BACKED SETTLER TERROR
Data Shows 63% Increase in Settler Terror So Far in 2026
Israeli government data reportedly shows a 63% increase in crimes committed by settlers through the first half of 2026 as compared to the same period last year. According to the report, there have been:
- 606 settler attacks on Palestinians or their property (a 63% increase)
- 45 settler attacks on Israeli security forces (a 50% increase)
Defense Minister Katz Wants to Bring Civilian Policing to the West Bank
Haaretz reports Defense Minister Israel Katz has ordered the military to prepare a plan that would transfer all civilian law enforcement powers with regard to Israeli settlers from the domain of the Civil Administration to the Israeli police. If implemented, the move would further cement the dismantling of the Oslo framework – under which Israel has maintained an ostensibly temporary military occupation of the West Bank – and the entrenchment of Israeli sovereignty and Israeli apartheid in the West Bank.
The plan is apparently aimed at add bringing settler terrorism under tighter control, as international attention to the magnitude and severity of settler terrorism have gained increasing attention. Speaking on his vision, Katz said:
“The IDF’s role is to fight Palestinian terrorism and focus on defending the borders and communities against threats. Full responsibility for enforcing civilian matters and maintaining law and order will be transferred to the Israel Police.”
In trying to understand Katz’s true intent with this order, it’s worth recalling that just a week ago, Katz fired Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth from his post as head of the IDF’s Central Command for refusing to release a violent settler – who is accused of grotesque torture of a Palestinian man – to house arrest at an illegal outpost. Israel Courts subsequently overruled Bluth, allowing the settler to return to his illegal outpost Kfar Tarfun, and Katz walked back his attempt to fire Bluth.
It’s also worth reading Haaretz’s recent expose on how settlers are dictating the IDF’s posture in the West Bank in order to actively fuel friction with Palestinians.
Peace Now has offered their own five-step plan to bring settler terrorism under control.
Settlers Lay Siege to Qusra
On August 9th, a mob of violent Israeli settlers laid siege on the Palestinian village of Qusra, cutting off power and water to three of the village’s homes as they trapped the Palestinians inside by blocking roads to their land and building an outpost in their yard. Initially, the IDF refused to intervene even as the settlers blocked journalists and an ambulance from reaching the trapped Palestinians.
On August 12th, the Israeli military tried to remove the settlers, but ultimately failed to do so and had to withdraw from the area under attack by the settlers.The IDF tried again to remove the settlers on August 13th, this time succeeding. Ahead of the operation, the IDF ordered the Palestinian residents of Qusra to evacuate their homes in order to use them as military posts, stoking fears that the Israeli government will permanently displace Palestinians while asserting they are trying to “protect” them. On August 14th, the settlers were filmed rebuilding the outpost outside of the besieged homes, and the IDF once again arrived to dismantle the camp.
CNN reports:
“What’s happening in Qusra isn’t an isolated incident. And Qusai and the others living on the besieged hilltop have good reason to fear they will never be allowed back into their homes if they leave.
The same group of settlers who have surrounded that hilltop did the same to another Palestinian family in a neighboring village last month. And there, they were successful.
For over two weeks, they surrounded Mahmoud Tubasi’s home in Jalud, eventually forcing him and his family to leave. CNN visited the home and witnessed settlers going in and out of the home, standing on the rooftop where a messianic flag had been planted.
The flag is brandished by settlers and frequently flown atop seized Palestinian property. It symbolizes a religious-nationalist claim to the land, viewed by extremist settlers as part of a divinely ordained Jewish return.
Tubasi’s neighbors said the settlers have threatened them as well, telling them they are next.”
IDF Claims It is Trying to Protect Palestinians from Settler By Closing Off Their Towns
Drop Site News reports that “Israel has found a new way to enable settler attacks on a Christian-majority Palestinian village while pretending to stop them,” namely, by declaring entire Palestinian towns as closed military zones like what transpired in Qusra as detailed above. The IDF has now come to use these tool several times.
On August 9th, following months of settler terrorism, the IDF declared the village of Taybeh and surrounding areas a closed military zone – an order which prohibits Israelis, foreigners, press, and activists from reaching the area. The military order has failed to stop settlers from attacking Taybeh, and residents fear the actual intent of the order is to isolate Taybeh from the outside world. Taybeh is a well-known Palestinian Christian town that has come under siege by Israeli settlers since October 6, 2023 and the years of lawlessness in the West Bank that have followed.
On August 11th, the military similarly issued orders to declare the villages of Kufr Qalil and Jalud as closed military zones, following repeated settler raids on the towns.
These orders, while perhaps an attempt to stop violent settlers from entering the towns, are not only failing to protect Palestinians but are in fact punishing Palestinians further, and obfuscating the need to hold settlers criminally accountable for their violent, illegal behavior.
BONUS READ
- “IDF to Demolish Home of Palestinian Involved in Deadly West Bank Car Collision” (Haaetz, 8/9/2026)
- “Israeli efforts to seize more Palestinian land have reached a frenzied pitch” (NPR, 8/7/20260)
- “Explaining the West Bank Map: What Are Areas A, B and C?” (Haaretz, 8/10/2026)