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| Palestinians inspect the damage to a house set on fire by Israeli settlers in the Hallet al-Fara area of Yatta, in the southern West Bank city of Hebron. Photograph: Wisam Hashlamoun/Anadolu/Getty Images |
Fri 21 Aug 2026 02.00 EDT
Violent Israeli settler attacks in the two areas of the occupied West Bank under direct Palestinian rule have almost doubled since 2025, as settlers pursue a self-proclaimed “great settlement revolution” in the very heart of the territory earmarked for a Palestinian state.
According to a report by the Israeli human rights organisation Yesh Din, shared with the Guardian, data shows that almost two-thirds of incidents of settler violence so far in 2026 have taken place in the so-called Areas A and B – placed under Palestinian Authority governance in the 1995 Oslo accords.
The report, The Next Frontier, Violence by Israeli Civilians in Areas A and B, describes the “rapid shift” in “violence and pressure exerted by the government, military and settlers on Palestinians … from Area C into Areas B and even A”.
While all three designated administrative areas on the West Bank were intended under the Oslo peace deal to encompass the shape of a future Palestinian state, successive Israeli governments, driven by the settler movement, have pursued a long-term policy of undermining Palestinian claims.... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/21/israeli-settler-attacks-shift-to-heart-of-territory-earmarked-for-palestinian-state