One can only wonder how many more general elections it would take for the violence inflicted by Jewish settlers on their Palestinian neighbors in the occupied West Bank — with either the active support of the Israeli security forces or their deliberate apathy — to become a major point of debate in Israel. Apparently there has not been space for such a discussion in five election campaigns over the last three and a half years and, meanwhile, I suggest you don’t hold your breath. For the vast majority of the Jewish-Israeli population, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are faraway places where they send their children to serve in the Israel Defense Forces as part of the occupying machine. Whatever happens in these occupied territories stays there and they do not want to know. With the exception of a few brave civil society organizations, journalists and politicians, who can be counted on the fingers of one hand (maybe two), there is no genuine interest either in the morality of oppressing the rights of millions of people who actually live in very close proximity to them, or in how it has torn apart Israeli society and compromised its long-term interests and democratic system. Nothing represents this willful denial and ignorance about the situation in the West Bank more than the ongoing and constantly worsening settler violence, about which almost nothing is done by the Israeli authorities. On the rare occasions that the security forces intervene, it is mainly to protect those settlers who viciously attack innocent Palestinians and members of Israel’s civil society who come to express solidarity with the victims of these violent acts and document what is actually taking place. Otherwise, what is presented to Israelis and the international audience is a distorted version according to the settlers themselves, their elected representatives, the military and the right-wing media, all of whom always portray the Palestinians as the violent party or as terrorists, and always claim that the settlers are acting in self-defense. They are largely a bunch of thugs who go about deliberately instigating friction with the Palestinian population Yossi Mekelberg Well, this is a myth that Israel has carefully crafted and the settler movement as a whole and the far-right religious-messianic elements within it have now become too powerful and influential for any Israeli government to contain. The issue has been left to fester to the point that it is now out of control and, following last week’s election, these people have even greater representation in the Israeli legislature, the Knesset. It was reported last month that Israeli security officials themselves have expressed concern at the increase in acts of violence committed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank in recent weeks. These have reached the staggering figure of more than 100 criminal acts motivated by religious-nationalist zeal in just 10 days. Palestinians are currently caught between the oppression of the “official” occupation as represented by the Israeli security forces and administration, and the settlers who are acting as a law unto themselves and harassing and intimidating their Palestinian neighbors. There is no denying that there are acts of Palestinian militancy, some of which can be classified as terrorism, while others represent legitimate resistance to occupation. No one would like to see a single extra Palestinian or Israeli lose their life to this senseless conflict, but occupation is bound to bring resistance and some of this is armed resistance. The point is, however, that what the settlers are doing has nothing to do with security, whether personal or national, or self-defense: it is about imposing their distorted versions of Zionism and Judaism. And it is about making the lives of Palestinians as unpleasant as possible in the hope that this will make them cave in and submit themselves to the whims of this group of supremacists; or, if not, just leave. These supremacist settlers are harboring a grand plan and, for now, they have been given a wild card by Israeli society to carry it out against the Palestinian population as they please. The UN’s Middle East envoy, Tor Wennesland, recently told the UN Security Council that, in his assessment, 2022 is on course to be the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since the organization started tracking fatalities in 2005. It remains to be seen whether his call for immediate action to calm “an explosive situation” and urgently resume Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations will have any impact on the international community. I doubt it. The grim figures are that, this year, at least 125 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, while a series of Palestinian attacks has killed 27 Israelis inside Israel and in the Occupied Territories. And in this violent environment, Israeli settlers or other civilians have, so far this year, committed 106 attacks on Palestinians resulting in 63 injuries and/or damage to Palestinian property with complete impunity. In recent weeks, much of the settler violence has taken place in the vicinity of Nablus, where settlers have not only attacked Palestinians, but also turned against Israeli soldiers who, on these occasions, have tried to stop their attacks. The town of Hawara has become one of their favorite targets. For a minority of settlers, although a substantial and vociferous one, the aim is for the Occupied Territories to become the “wild” West Bank, where they recognize no authority but that of their own rabbis, who are often extremists that consider it completely acceptable to burn Palestinian fields, uproot olive trees, intimidate the local population with firebombs and beat up shepherds — all in the name of what they see as their divine right to the entire country. These settlers are not the modern-day pioneers they pretend to be, who are making sacrifices for the sake of Israel’s security and character. They are anything but. They are largely a bunch of thugs who go about deliberately instigating friction with the Palestinian population, knowing that in Israel’s current political climate they are almost untouchable, and even revered by some. Israel and its people have a choice to make: Either employ the full force of the law against the perpetrators of these settler crimes and put them behind bars and ban them from the West Bank, or allow them to carry on with this behavior, in which case every Israeli is complicit in aiding and abetting, whether actively or passively, these racist crimes. This should not be a tough choice for any civilized society that believes in justice, humanity and the rule of law. Yossi Mekelberg is professor of international relations and an associate fellow of the MENA Program at Chatham House. He is a regular contributor to the international written and electronic media. Twitter: @YMekelberg