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A
Palestinian man sits next to his family’s belongings after their house
was demolished by Israeli security forces in the village of Nahalin,
southwest of Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on July 22,
2026.Photograph by John Wessels / AFP / Getty |
Violent attacks by Israeli settlers have accelerated across the West Bank in recent weeks, adding to what has already been a horrifying year for Palestinian communities in the territory. (The United Nations found that, as of early August, Palestinians in the West Bank had faced more than fourteen hundred attacks from Israeli settlers that resulted in casualties or property damage in 2026.) And now, in the lead-up to October’s elections, the Israeli Defense Minister, Israel Katz, has suggested that the country’s police forces take control of the area. (The police are overseen by Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right minister of national security, who is himself a settler and is famous for celebrating and encouraging deadly attacks on Palestinians.)
Some Israeli organizations have tried to prevent violence against Palestinian communities. Doron Meinert, a retired colonel in the Israel Defense Forces, was arrested earlier this month while trying to protect a Palestinian community in the West Bank that was under attack from settlers. I recently spoke with Meinert about his work with the group Looking the Occupation in the Eye, and about how the situation in the West Bank has deteriorated so rapidly. Our conversation, edited for length and clarity, is below.
Can you tell me about your background and career?
I’m sixty-six years old. I was in the army for about twenty-five years. I’ve been a colonel in the army. I’ve been a brigade commander, and then a staff officer. But, about fifteen years ago, I retired. And then I started work as a volunteer protecting Palestinians in the West Bank.
How did you decide to do this work that you’re doing now? What caused you to make this decision?
All my life I believed that the Palestinian problem and the occupation problem were the deepest and most serious problems Israel had... READ MORE https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/why-israeli-authorities-are-encouraging-settler-violence-against-palestinians