Israeli military plans to arm Jewish settlers

Israel’s military has announced plans to arm Jewish settlers as part of a broader plan to permanently bolster its forces in the Occupied West Bank’s north, according to Asharq Al-Awsat and agencies on January 5th.

Reportedly, the war on Gaza has led to the military being required to protect the ever-increasing West Bank Jewish population amid the establishment of dozens of settlement outposts in the last three years.

Military officials estimated that additional security battalions are required in the West Bank because the 2005 settler disengagement plan under then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon effectively dismantled the units.

Although Sharon ordered four settlements, Homesh, Sa-Nur, Ganim, and Kadim, to be dismantled in 2005, the Netanyahu government plans to rebuild these outposts.

Settlement expansion is illegal under international law, yet the Israeli government announced plans to establish 11 new West Bank settlements on December 22nd.

An estimated 700,000 Israelis currently reside in Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank and Occupied East Jerusalem, with the number expected to increase amid the government’s approval of plans to build 3,400 housing units under the “E1” settlement plan.

Plans to increase the Jewish population of the occupied Palestinian territories are part of a broader initiative by the Israeli government to maintain a Jewish demographic majority in Israel.

Jewish settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank has escalated since October 2023, with concerns being raised that the perpetrators of the attacks frequently go unpunished by the Israeli legal system.

Some Israeli politicians have actively enabled violent settlers, such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose department illegally distributed weapons licenses to settlers.

Under the guise of protecting Jewish settlers from Palestinian attacks, the army has established emergency response squads, where Jewish residents receive military training and weapons supplies, which include machine guns, anti-tank missiles, anti-armour weapons and communication gear.

By receiving military equipment and training, the army appears to legitimise the anti-Palestinian violence committed by Jewish-Israelis, and could be seen as an endorsement of Jewish supremacist violence and apartheid.

The Israeli government has also displayed an increasingly blatant disregard for Palestinian life through its open discussions about executing Palestinians for “terrorism“, which some have defined as Palestinians burning waste.

Asharq Al-Awsat and agencies, Maghrebi.org