Settler occupation has been a long-standing mechanism of Israel to illegally occupy Palestine. For instance, in Fasayil, Israeli settlers diverted a spring that irrigated Palestinian fields. In Qusra, settlers surrounded numerous Palestinian homes and cut residents off from essential supplies.
These are not isolated attacks by uncontrolled extremists. They are part of the Israeli strategy to seize Palestinian resources, terrorize families, and make remaining on their land increasingly impossible.
The weapons include bulldozers, water pumps, roadblocks and an occupation system that protects the aggressor while restricting the victim.
Fasayil: A Palestinian Spring Becomes a Settler Attraction
For farmers in Fasayil, in the Jordan Valley, the spring sustained crops, jobs and household survival. Settlers captured that lifeline by diverting its water into a pool promoted as an Israeli attraction.
A pipeline belonging to Palestinian farmer Saad Nemer was also seized in June. Water that once nourished Palestinian fields was redirected towards the settler-controlled site while nearby homes and farms faced extreme shortages.
So, the sequence is deliberate. Farming becomes unviable, and families face pressure to leave. The emptied land can then be absorbed into expanding Israeli control.
Qusra: Besieged Inside Their Own Homes
In Qusra, south of Nablus, more than 15 innocent Palestinians, including two children, were trapped in three homes for nearly a week. Settlers blocked food, medicine, and other necessities while residents lost water and electricity.
The Israeli military declared a closed zone and removed a makeshift settler tent. Soldiers later withdrew, but settlers remained with chairs and blankets outside the homes. The Palestinian families were still besieged.
Palestinians were imprisoned inside houses they owned while Israeli trespassers occupied the surrounding land. Even US Ambassador Mike Huckabee, a vocal supporter of Israeli settlements, described the perpetrators as “Israeli terrorists”.
His condemnation came only after international attention. It did not challenge the occupation system that allowed the siege to happen.
The Numbers Destroy the “Few Extremists” Excuse
By July 23, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs had documented the following:
- More than 1,330 settler attacks across 250 Palestinian communities during this year.
- An average of more than six attacks per day.
- About 880 Palestinians injured, including 720 injured directly by settlers.
- More than 18 Palestinians killed in settler-related incidents.
- Approximately 160 water and sanitation structures damaged, destroyed or seized.
OCHA recorded another 38 attacks in one August week. In Tuba, Masafer Yatta, settlers injured five Palestinians and destroyed three homes, displacing 23 people, including 14 children.
Violence continues until communities become too isolated, impoverished, or frightened to remain.
Water Is Being Used to Empty the Land
Without reliable water, families cannot drink safely, cultivate crops, raise livestock, or maintain adequate sanitation. Attacking water ultimately damages an entire community at once.
Reports found average Israeli consumption at 247 litres per person daily, three times the 82.4 litres available to Palestinians in the West Bank. In Palestinian communities disconnected from the grid, daily consumption can fall to 26 litres per person.
Nature did not create this inequality. Israel controls infrastructure, drilling permissions and access to major sources. Israeli illegal settlers reinforce that control by attacking tanks, pipelines, wells and repair crews.
In January as well, settlers repeatedly attacked the Ein Samiya wells, damaging control equipment and cables. Workers attempting repairs were threatened and assaulted. The disruption affected a principal water source for about 20 villages and an estimated 100,000 Palestinians in eastern Ramallah.
Displacement Without an Expulsion Order
By June, more than 1,000 settler attacks had displaced over 2,200 Palestinians in 2026. Even Ras Ein al-Auja, one of the Jordan Valley’s largest Bedouin communities, was emptied after years of threats, livestock theft, water restrictions and violence. Moreover, about 600 residents were displaced in January.
Palestinian families may leave without receiving a formal expulsion order. They go because settlers seize grazing land, destroy water tanks, invade homes and threaten children. But then Israel portrays their departure as voluntary.
However, there is nothing voluntary about choosing between displacement and living without water, livelihood, or safety.
One Israeli Project Across Palestine
Gaza and the West Bank face different intensities of the same Israeli project. Gaza endures genocide, siege, and territorial fragmentation. Meanwhile, the West Bank confronts settlement expansion, military raids, settler terror and the steady theft of land and water.
Both aim to weaken Palestinian society and prevent a free, connected and sovereign Palestine. The International Court of Justice has concluded that Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful.
Yet foreign governments continue issuing statements while Israel changes reality on the ground.
In a nutshell, a stolen spring in Fasayil and besieged homes in Qusra tell the same story. Settlers take the resource, the occupation protects the seizure, and Palestinian families are expected to disappear completely.
