How Israel uses settler-soldier terror to colonise the West Bank

What the report says

Al Jazeera published an opinion article by Palestinian American writer Mariam Barghouti, based in Ramallah, on July 27, 2026, arguing that recent violence in the occupied West Bank should be understood as part of a broader Israeli strategy of territorial control rather than as separate episodes of settler attacks. The article centers on events near Tal, a village in the northern West Bank, where it says Israeli settlers attacked the community, Palestinian men confronted them, and two settlers were killed.

According to the article, the aftermath included Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian homes and places of worship, families being forced from homes, and Israeli military raids. Barghouti notes that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged expanded military action in the West Bank against what he called “terrorist hotbeds,” while Defence Minister Israel Katz described settlement and outpost expansion as strategically important for Israeli security.

The author’s central argument is that Israeli military operations, settler activity and government administration work in sequence: army raids weaken Palestinian communities, settlers then expand pressure on the ground, and state bodies formalize territorial changes. She cites Jenin and Tulkarem as examples, referring to deadly Israeli operations in Jenin, including “Operation Iron Wall” in 2025, followed by new settlement construction nearby.

As broader context, the West Bank has been under Israeli occupation since 1967, and Israeli settlements there are widely viewed internationally as illegal, though Israel disputes that characterization. The Al Jazeera piece is commentary, not a straight news report, and its claims and framing reflect the author’s stated view that the violence is tied to colonization and land acquisition rather than security alone.