- Israeli general opposes West Bank settlement expansion
- Criticizes settler violence against Palestinians
- 340 settler attacks reported in 2024
According to Israeli media sources, an Israeli general has rejected the government’s decision to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank and criticized the region’s escalating settler violence.
Major General Yehuda Fox, the outgoing head of Israel’s central command, stated at a departure ceremony on Monday that Israeli settlers have committed “nationalist crime” by inciting violence in the occupied West Bank, which has “sowed chaos and fear in Palestinian residents who did not pose any threat.
“This is not Judaism, in my opinion. At least not the one I grew up with at my father and mother’s home. This is not the way of the Torah. “It is adopting the ways of the enemy,” Fox stated.
Israeli military and settlers had expanded raids on Palestinian cities and villages in the occupied West Bank since October, when Israel launched its war in Gaza.
According to Palestinian sources, Israeli forces and settlers in the region have killed at least 553 Palestinians since October and imprisoned 9,510 others.
Fox’s remarks came just days after Israel’s government approved 5,295 new housing units in several illegal settlements throughout the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli-occupied West Bank is home to around 3 million Palestinians, while more than 500,000 Israelis live in over 100 settlements throughout the territory. The growth of settlements remains a significant impediment to the Oslo Accords’ long-stalled intentions for the progressive handover of Israeli-controlled regions to Palestinians.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a settler himself, has overseen a significant increase in settlement expansion under Prime Minister Netanyahu’s leadership.
Fox acknowledged that it was his obligation as the command chief in charge of the occupied West Bank region “to act” and combat settler growth and violence, but he regretted that he “did not always succeed.”
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“The Central Command’s capacity to carry out its mandate is also dependent on the existence of a functional and robust Palestinian Authority and competent security measures that maintain law and order. “Proactively undermining the security reality on this front endangers the security of the State of Israel,” Fox said.
The Israeli Army Radio reported on Tuesday that 340 settler attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have occurred since the beginning of 2024.
The Israeli army claims that its actions are an attempt to disrupt the activity of Palestinian armed organizations, with whom Israeli soldiers have frequently exchanged fire during raids.
According to Fox, the Central Command has managed to keep the violence in the occupied West Bank from escalating and becoming “a main front” amid the ongoing war in Gaza.
