1st 2 months of war saw 54% jump in settler attacks, but cases declining more recently — Shin Bet figures

The first two months of the war saw a 54 percent increase in attacks by settlers in the West Bank, internal figures from the Shin Bet security service reveal.

From October 7 to December 3, the Shin Bet recorded 201 attacks by settlers, figures published by Army Radio reveal.

136 of the incidents were defined as “violent confrontations or stone throwing,” against Palestinians. Many of these incidents included violence from both Israelis and Palestinians, Army Radio says.

Thirty-five of the incidents saw settlers target Palestinian agriculture.

Twenty-one of the incidents were defined as “attempts to initiate,” such as attempts to set Palestinian homes or vehicles ablaze or attempts to physically injure Palestinians.

Nine of the incidents were attacks on Israeli security forces, including instances where Israeli troops came to break up a confrontation between settlers and Palestinians only to see the settlers turn on them.

Speaking to Army Radio, an Israeli security official says “most of the difficult cases occurred in the first month of the war and there has been a certain degree of decline in cases since.”

“The army is doing everything to protect the area, and in such extreme incidents, it often finds itself protecting the Palestinian side as well. These are hundreds of extremist activists who are causing tremendous damage to the settlement movement as a whole,” the official says.