West Bank23 August, 20263 min read
Israeli Settlers Attack Bedouin Family In Taybeh, West Bank, After IDF Declares Closed Military Zone
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Israeli settlers attacked a Bedouin family in Taybeh, leading to a closed military zone. The Taybeh incident reflects broader West Bank settler violence, with homes besieged in Qasra.
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Taybeh under attack
In Taybeh, described by The Telegraph as the West Bank’s last entirely Christian town close to Ramallah, Israeli settlers arrived at sunset and carried out an attack that pinned down a local Bedouin family for more than an hour last week.
The Telegraph said the town has been declared a “closed military zone” by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) after months of settler attacks, and it reported that despite this order, attacks continued “unabated” while the town was increasingly surrounded by illegal outposts built by Israeli settlers.
Naif al-Kaabneh, pointing to newly installed coils of razor wire that surround his small compound near Taybeh, said, “Last week, we had a weaker fence and they got in,” and added, “There is no justice. If there was justice, we wouldn’t be living through this.”
The Telegraph also quoted Arik Ascherman, an Israeli rabbi and leader of Torat Tzedek-Torah, saying, “What’s new now, what I’ve never seen before in 31 years of doing this, is state support not just for settlers, but for settler violence, to help them take over,” as he stood on the hill above the al-Kaabneh home before the attack.
Kusra and policy fight
In the Israeli political debate over enforcement in the West Bank, The Jerusalem Post reported that Defense Minister Israel Katz proposed shifting responsibility for enforcing law and order among Israeli residents from the IDF to the Israel Police after extremist settler violence in Kusra and south of Hebron. The Jerusalem Post said the proposal drew praise from National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who called it a crucial step toward asserting Israel’s sovereignty over the West Bank, while it noted that implementation remains uncertain and may never come to fruition.
The Jerusalem Post framed the issue as more than policing, warning that “Settler violence is a national security threat to the State of Israel,” and it argued that the IDF has not done enough to control extremist violence unfolding in Palestinian villages. In parallel, the West Asian outlet Al-Jazeera Net described a wave of anger after videos surfaced showing brutal assaults by Israeli settlers, including a heavily armed settler striking Palestinian elder Saeed al-‘Amoor in the village of al-Rukayz in the southern Yatta area near Hebron.
Escalation, siege, and warnings
In Qasra, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, the West Asian outlet ال الشرق للأخبار said Israeli settlers besieged three Palestinian homes for the fifteenth consecutive day while Israeli forces prevented Palestinians from entering or leaving the area, leaving families suffering water shortages.
The report said the siege began when settlers blocked the road to the three homes on August 9, erected a tent in the front yards, and refused to allow anyone to enter or exit, and it added that earlier settlers cut electricity and water to those homes.
It also cited a UN briefing that about 15 Palestinians, including two children, were trapped inside their homes in a state of fear, unable to meet their basic needs, and without water or electricity, while the Israeli army said it was trying to keep settlers away and taking disciplinary measures against individuals proven to be involved.
Meanwhile, The Telegraph reported that in Taybeh the sound of an approaching settler incursion is “the sound of fear,” and it quoted Naif al-Kaabneh saying, “It’s the constant stress, they come three times a day,” as he said, “We don’t sleep at night. There is always someone on watch.”