While the world’s eyes are on Iran and the peace negotiations between Washington and Tehran, Israeli settler activity is intensifying. International media reports speak of aggressive settlement expansion, while according to figures eight Palestinians have died and hundreds have been injured by settler attacks in 2026.
EU diplomatic missions have condemned the resurgence of Israeli settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, calling on Israel to stop these actions and bring the perpetrators to justice.
At the same time, the expansion of the Israeli army’s activities to the northern front, on the Israel-Lebanon border, marks yet another field in which settler violence is unfolding, with far-right activists calling for the occupation or annexation of the southern Lebanese territories.
Thea Satel, journalist and photographer, contributor to media such as the Israeli newspaper, the American magazine The Nation and the investigative site The Intercept, visited the two “hot” areas, as part of a journalistic mission, and spoke about her experience regarding the escalation of settler violence.
You recently visited the West Bank, reporting on settler violence. How is the situation exactly?
The life of the Palestinians in it is a real Hell because of the rapid growth of the settlements and it is deliberately designed that way, regardless of whether the settlement is led by settlers with a more secular or religious profile. After October 7, things get worse and worse if we consider the impunity that prevails for the violent actions of the settlers, which go as far as murder, and for which, as the Guardian revealed a few days ago, there has been no prosecution in recent years. Palestinians experience a daily life full of restrictions on movement and access to a range of services and goods. “With a decision by Tel Aviv, the lives of Palestinians come to an end,” an Israeli, in solidarity with the Palestinian communities that are under all this pressure, told me recently.
Are there signs of resistance to the Israeli authorities? How do West Bank Palestinians feel about Hamas?
The possibilities of the Palestinians to resist the Occupation are extremely limited. In the West Bank, in addition to the justified anger that prevails over the genocide in Gaza, there is a feeling that Hamas made things worse. This is because although it achieved its goal of derailing the extension of the Abrahamic Accords, it failed to bring the prospect of peace closer. On the contrary, any prospect of the Palestinians living somewhat more normally, with the rights they should have as theoretically equal citizens of Israel, was removed.
On the Israel-Lebanon border, which you have also been to, what is the situation?
As for the area bordering southern Lebanon, the mood among Israelis living in the communities in that zone is in favor of continuing hostilities. The prevailing view is that security is the priority and that the best solution is not simply continued occupation but the settlement of the zone up to the Litani River. There is even an ultra-nationalist movement called Uri Tzafon, founded in memory of an Israeli soldier killed in Gaza, which directly calls for the settlement of southern Lebanon. Their rationale is to exert pressure on the Tel Aviv government to move in this direction of settlement, but there is no lack of more aggressive actions, such as dropping propaganda leaflets in villages located on the other side of the border.
Are there voices of differentiation among Israelis?
Naturally. We are not talking about a single attitude, there are Israelis who see the futility of this cycle of violence, which seems to have no end and which also endangers the younger generation of Israelis. But the fear that Lebanon will become a “new Gaza”, with Hezbollah in a role similar to Hamas, has led to real fury. Fear due to the fact that most Israeli settlements on the border of the two countries are kibbutzim, which in the case of Gaza was the primary target of Hamas, precisely because we are talking about communities in strategic points along the border, contributing to the defense of the country. We must not forget that Israeli society has been radicalized to the right, there is little concern for the lives of Palestinians or for settler violence. In this sense the Israeli government is in complete agreement with popular sentiment, it represents society.
Among other things, you have covered the pro-Palestinian protests at US universities. Is there still the same interest in what is happening in Palestine?
The majority of young people in university institutions – and not only – are in favor of the Palestinian struggle for independence, and especially against the bloody Israeli intervention in Gaza. The fact that we do not see as many protests as in the previous two years is more due to the violent repression launched by the Trump administration, making it practically impossible to protest through suffocating surveillance, which is now even punishable by expulsion or even arrest. However, there is still a logic that tries to keep alive the reasoning that we should continue to be shocked, that we should not get used to the existing situation. Beyond what is true in universities, however, the shift within American society is clearly against Israel.
