A few days ago, the village of Kafr Malik, northeast of Ramallah, witnessed yet another wave of brutal attacks by illegal Israeli settlers against unarmed Palestinians, all under the protection of the Israeli military.

Settler mobs attacked homes, set fire to vehicles and private property, and killed three Palestinians - a dangerous escalation in settler violence that many are describing as the “Palestinian Kristallnacht,” referring to the 1938 Nazi pogrom against Jews when synagogues were burned, businesses destroyed, and civilians terrorised.

For Palestinians, however, such violence is not new. Settler attacks and army-backed assaults have been part of daily life for decades, but they have ramped up dramatically since October 7, 2023, when the latest war on Gaza began and settler violence surged across the occupied West Bank. 

Human rights groups and UN agencies have reported an unprecedented spike in armed settler attacks, land seizures, and killings in the months since, under the cover of wartime distraction.

The attack coincided with alarming remarks by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on June 26 regarding the Al-Aqsa Mosque. He advocated imposing an Israeli-controlled "status quo" that includes the possibility of Jewish ritual prayer - a symbolic attack aimed at undermining the legal framework of the holy site. 

The manoeuvre is much more than a religious statement; it signals that the Palestinian presence in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa is under review, just as Israeli settlements challenge Palestinian land rights.

These violations, backed by the military, reflect the government's clear intention to expand aggressively in defiance of international law and the Oslo Accords, regardless of the consequences. They flagrantly violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The army-backed settler violence shows that these surges are neither random nor rogue, they are state-directed.

Creeping annexation

Strategically, the simultaneous escalation of symbolic pressure on Al-Aqsa and overt settler violence aims, over time, to erase Palestinian identity on the ground and replace it with that of Jewish settlers.

This is the essence of "creeping annexation", the methodical expansion of settlements and displacement of Palestinians without formally annexing land, thereby avoiding international legal backlash and shielding Israeli leaders from accountability.

Under this policy, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has been granted sweeping authority over the occupied West Bank, treating it as an integral part of Israel - an alarming move with serious implications for Palestinians. Each new settlement or outpost deepens Palestinian land loss and escalates human suffering.

Recently, Smotrich announced the establishment of 22 new settler outposts throughout the occupied West Bank, including along the Jordanian border. He described them as a "protective shield" for Israeli population centres, while Defence Minister Israel Katz stated that these outposts "prevent the emergence of a Palestinian state".

These illegal steps are gradually legitimising themselves, creating irreversible settlement enclaves that will irrevocably shape the future map.

Opportunistic expansion

The Kafr Malik attack revealed how the occupation seizes the moment – amid regional tensions with Iran and global focus on Gaza – to unleash settler violence unchecked by international scrutiny. Under army protection, these feral settlers devastate Palestinian demographics and reshape geography without the intervention of world institutions.

This continued expansion and the army's shielding of extremist settlers show a consistent pattern: the Israeli state protects violent settlers in exchange for permanent colonisation and ethnic cleansing.

Confiscated land becomes negotiable territory in future political deals, and life becomes more burdensome and insecure for Palestinians - forcing some to consider leaving their ancestral homes.

The government's legitimisation of these extremist factions is emblematic of its ultranationalist identity, pursuing a foot-dragging strategy to reclaim land lost under previous Palestinian agreements. It is the most right-wing Israeli government in history, largely indifferent to legal or international constraints, emboldened by impunity to escalate further in Gaza and the occupied  West Bank.

The effects of this ideology reverberate deeply throughout Palestinian society. Ordinary Palestinians remain under constant threat, exposed to settler violence with no recourse. New settler outposts stifle movement and daily life.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority lacks both the security resources and the jurisdiction to protect people, constrained by a stark power imbalance. As long as the settlers act with impunity, Palestinian suffering will continue.

The Palestinian ‘kristallnacht’

A similar atrocity occurred in March 2023 in the village of Huwara, near Nablus, where hundreds of settlers-backed by the army-launched a revenge attack aimed at burning the village to the ground and killing its residents.

The army used force against Palestinians who tried to defend their property, effectively shielding the attackers. At the time, Smotrich openly called for Huwara to be "wiped off the map," exposing the extremism and genocidal intent within the Israeli leadership.

Using the term “kristallnacht” in this context underscores that these are not isolated attacks but a systematic, state-enabled campaign to erase Palestinian communities through terror and destruction.

Using such a loaded comparison highlights the moral gravity of these tactics and how history tragically repeats itself.

From the standpoint of international law, these settler attacks — rampant, state-sponsored, and unpunished — seriously threaten legal norms and undermine accountability. Persistent global silence and lack of meaningful response suggest a tacit acceptance of Israel's behaviour, or at least a reluctance to shift geopolitical balances.

This complacency emboldens further brutality, creating legal precedents that weaken the framework of international justice. As long as the Israeli army and settlers remain shielded by impunity, they set a bad example, empowering others to commit similar transgressions against global peace and security.