500 settlers storm Al-Aqsa... “Hill Boys” escalates its violence

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About 500 settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque on Wednesday morning, on the fifth day of the Jewish Sukkot holiday, with the protection of the Israeli police. The Islamic Endowments Authority in Jerusalem reported that the raids took place amid continuing strict measures in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Old City.

Also yesterday, Israeli settlers launched an attack on the village of Jalud in the West Bank, which sparked criticism that is rarely issued by officials in Israel, who are accustomed to downplaying settler violence despite international condemnations. More than a hundred settlers attacked the village of Jalud in the northern West Bank, wounding three members of the Israeli security forces, while the army was accompanying a Palestinian family trying to return to their home after the settlers had displaced them following previous attacks.

While the escalating violence against Palestinians in recent months has been led by a loosely connected movement of extremist Israeli settlers, most of whom are young and include school dropouts who came from outside the West Bank and are known as the “Hill Boys.”

This movement derives its inspiration from a religious-nationalist ideology, and seeks to expand the Jewish presence in the occupied West Bank by establishing unauthorized settlement outposts, often in the form of temporary tents or mobile homes, on hills outside existing Israeli settlements.

Since the 1990s, there have always been groups of "anarchist" Israelis living in nature in the West Bank, but the new generation has a clear agenda to seize Palestinian lands through violent means, according to Dvir Varshavsky of the "Sons of Abraham" organization, a group of religious Jewish activists supporting Palestinian rights.

Meanwhile, a post received on a channel linked to the “Hill Boys” movement on WhatsApp recently stated that during the past 12 months, they carried out 635 attacks in 158 Palestinian villages, resulting in the injury of 409 Palestinians and the burning of 436 cars. It was not possible to verify these numbers independently, according to Agence France-Presse.

Meanwhile, Israeli human rights experts who have followed the “Hill Boys” for years confirmed that the movement gained momentum after Israel dismantled 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four settlements in the West Bank as part of the unilateral “disengagement” plan launched by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2005. The failure of the “old guard” in the settlement movement to prevent the evacuation of thousands of Israelis, coupled with dissatisfaction with the central government, led to a new phase.

Settlers appeared more stringent in their ideological orientation, challenging “the traditional strategy of the settlement movement, whose logic was to build more settlements and house more people,” Varshavsky said.

The “new generation” focused on establishing small illegal settlement outposts and agricultural projects without obtaining permits from the Israeli authorities, in accordance with a strategy whose slogan is “the least number of people on the largest area of ​​land.”

While herding herds of sheep and goats allowed the “hill boys” to significantly expand control over the rural areas under the control of the Israeli army.

With the rise of politicians who represent the ideology of these settlers, such as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, these communities have received more legitimacy and financial support in recent years, and part of this support is directed to farms and illegal settlement outposts, according to experts.

While the government cannot transfer money directly to it due to its illegal status, “it funds everything else,” explained Hagit Ofran of Peace Now, such as building and paving roads, guard cars, surveillance cameras, solar panels, and drones, in addition to the protection provided by the Israeli army.

She also added that part of the funding also comes from private donations and crowdfunding platforms. Ofran noted, "The army is not actually fighting them. They do not want to deal with them."

In contrast, some settler leaders sought to distance themselves from this movement. At the end of last year, leaders of three Israeli local councils in the West Bank issued a joint statement urging law enforcement to adopt a “zero tolerance” policy toward the “Hill Boys,” stressing that they “do not represent” the broader settlement movement.

Since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 and the outbreak of the Israeli war on Gaza, regular soldiers have been transferred away from the West Bank, and patrols around the settlements are often carried out by reserve soldiers who are themselves settlers.

In this context, experts explained that these soldiers are much less inclined than regular soldiers to dismantle illegal settlement outposts.

It is noteworthy that settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank has witnessed an escalation in recent months, after its perpetrators remained largely immune from legal prosecution by the Israeli authorities for years.

Excluding occupied East Jerusalem, about three million Palestinians live in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, in addition to more than 500,000 Israelis residing in illegal settlements under international law.

The Israeli government recognizes about 140 settlements, while the number of illegal settlement farms and outposts under Israeli law currently stands at about 400, according to the Israeli non-governmental organization “Peace Now,” which monitors settlement activity.