‘Surrounded’: Israel’s new West Bank settlements bring chaos to Palestinians

Palestinian Amin Rahal and his three brothers haven’t gone to work in weeks, instead taking turns guarding what remains of their land atop a West Bank hill from incursions by nearby settlers.

“We never leave the place unless we have two people here,” says Rahal, a 31-year-old father of three, pointing to the roof of a settler’s newly installed prefabricated home 100 meters from his house.

“They’ve stolen hens, land with olive trees, damaged the sage bush in our backyard with their ATVs, brought their sheep into our courtyard, and more,” he tells AFP.

Last week, settlers from the newly inaugurated Israeli settlement of Emek Dotan just below his home put up a rope across his land and forbade him and his family from crossing it.

A chicken farm and many olive trees stand on the other side of the rope and are now lost to the Rahal family under threat of violence.

“Our fear is that they will attack the children, burn one of the houses, attack us at night and break into the houses,” as has happened in other West Bank villages where settlers have moved in, he says.

1. אלוף פיקוד האפרטהייד, המתנחל בלוט, התעלה על עצמו גם במושגיו. ב-8 ליולי הוא חתם בין היתר גם על 15 צווי תפיסה עבור כביש עוקף חדש שיסלל בין שתי התנחלויות חדשות/מתוכננות: עמק דותן ונעה. הכביש יסלל בעיקרו בתוך שטח A. בלוט נרתם בכל הכוח לסייע לממשלה להקריס את אוסלו. שרטוט מקורב. pic.twitter.com/zYVzYP2o2W

— Dror Etkes (@dror_etkes) July 28, 2026

Across the West Bank, such accounts have become common, with the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reporting an average of six incidents per day involving West Bank settlers in 2026.

These include theft, vandalism, arson, beatings and sometimes murder, with Palestinians complaining that most crimes against them go unpunished.