Standing on the outskirts of a West Bank town, looking out over the rocky hills that stretch to the Dead Sea, where Palestinians have long farmed and grazed their livestock, the mayor pointed out the land’s new features.
Israeli soldiers set up new checkpoints. Israeli settlers patrolled new roads. Most notably, a new metal gate blocked the town's only road leading to these areas, installed and locked by Israeli troops to keep Palestinians out.
“Anyone who breaks through the gate, they either arrest him or kill him,” said Moussa al-Shaer, the mayor of the town of Tuku.
On the other side of the gate, atop a bare hill in the distance, stood one of the area’s newest residents, the Jewish settler Abeer Izraeli.
“With God’s help, we will be here for a long time,” Mr. Izraeli said.
The incident involving the two men on either side of the gate is a particularly stark example of the changing dynamics in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. While the world's attention is focused on the war in Gaza, Jewish settlers miles away in the West Bank have accelerated their seizure of land previously used by Palestinians, human rights groups say.
Dror Etkes is Kerem NavotIsraeli monitoring groups estimate that settlers have seized more than 37,000 acres of Palestinian land in the West Bank since the Hamas-led assault on Israel on Oct. 7 that sparked the Gaza war. More than 550 acres of that is in the Tuku neighborhood, the largest expansion of a single Israeli settlement.
The gate looks unremarkable — an orange fence similar to what you’d see on a farm. But Hebrew graffiti on the concrete blocks supporting it references Genesis 21:10, a verse about expelling people.
Since its installation last October, the gate has served as a strong dividing line between the Palestinian Arab residents of Tuqu and the Israeli Jews of the newly expanded Tekoa settlement.
Both communities are named after the traditional birthplace of the biblical prophet Amos. In some places, the houses in one community are 500 yards away from those in the other. When the Muslim call to prayer is heard in Tuku, the Jews in Tekoa can hear it too.
Mr. Etx said the trigger for these recent seizures was the October 7 attack on southern Israel, which led Israel to tighten security measures in the West Bank, making it easier for settlers to take control of territory.
“There is a connection between violence and settler expansion,” he said. “They are taking revenge on the Palestinians by occupying more and more land.”
Israel has increased its military presence in the West Bank because of concerns that it could face widespread unrest or more attacks on its troops and settlers during a war in Gaza. The rise of new radical groupsone Weapons inflow Supplies smuggled by Iran and opinion polls show support for Hamas rising while that for the more moderate Palestinian Authority has fallen.
The Israeli military said in a statement that on January 29, a Palestinian from Tuku, 19-year-old Rani Shaar, tried to stab an Israeli soldier and was shot dead by the soldier. Shaar's brother Nizar said the military took Shaar's body and has not returned it to his family.
Israel's military and the branch of the Defense Ministry responsible for civilian affairs in the West Bank did not respond to requests for comment on the changes near the gallery.
The United Nations says 2023 is The deadliest year Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have been experiencing increasing levels of violence since tracking began in 2005. The rise in violence was particularly pronounced following the outbreak of the Gaza war and has continued into this year. 489 Palestinians killed From October 7 to May 22. During the same period, 10 Israelis have been killed, including 4 civilians.
Since Israel occupied the West Bank (previously controlled by Jordan) in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, the Israeli government has encouraged Jewish settlement in the region, providing land, military protection, electricity, water and roads. There are now more than 500,000 settlers among the 2.7 million Palestinians in the region, which is larger than Delaware but smaller than Puerto Rico.
Some Israeli Jews defend the settlements on religious grounds, others on history — both ancient and modern. Many Israelis believe control of the territory is necessary to prevent Palestinian attacks on Israel.
Still, most countries consider the settlements illegal. Criticism of settlements Because it undermines the U.S. goal of resolving the conflict through a two-state solution that would include the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Tekoa is known in Israeli eyes for its hippie vibe, with a mixed community of secular and religious Jews, including artists and activists, and few of the town's residents believe their presence is a hindrance to peace.
“God gave us this land,” said Shira Chernoble, 75, who moved to the West Bank from New Mexico nearly four decades ago and works as a masseuse and spiritual counselor in Tekoa. “I believe in the Torah. It's not just a book for then. It's a book for now.”
Before the Gaza war, the two communities had limited interaction, mostly through Palestinian laborers doing construction work in Jewish towns. For decades, settlers have seized land to expand their communities — a process that took another step forward after the October 7 attack.
The Israeli military has mobilized thousands of reservist settlers to protect the settlements and has imposed extensive restrictions on Palestinians, blocking exits from Palestinian communities and prohibiting Palestinian workers from entering Israel or the settlements.
The mayor, Mr. Shaar, said this cut off Tuku residents' main source of employment. In addition, the gate prevented Palestinian farmers from harvesting olives and herders from grazing their livestock.
“They closed all the shops and took everything,” said Hassan al-Shaer, a 24-year-old electrician who has no close relationship with the mayor and used to work in Tekoa. “There are no jobs and no money.”
In October, after the gates were erected, residents gathered and tried to break through the barriers, and the army opened fire on them, killing Eissa Jibril, a 26-year-old car mechanic, his brother Murad said.
He said Israeli police had questioned him about what happened, but nothing came of it.
“Who can I complain to?” he said. “Will the settlers who killed him arrest him?”
In a statement, the Israeli military described the rally as “a violent riot” in which “terrorists burned tires, threw rocks and fired fireworks at soldiers,” threatening their lives. The Israeli military said soldiers returned fire, adding that they had received “accounts” that “Palestinians had been killed.”
Since then, Palestinians have avoided the gate for fear of being shot.
A New York Times reporter driving through the area recently saw new roads built into the hillside, four new security posts and three plots of land where settlers are cultivating fields or growing grapes. The settler tent camp now has 10 prefabricated houses with electricity, paved roads and street lights.
High on a hilltop, Mr. Izraeli and his friends sleep in a tent next to a makeshift house where a couple and two children live. They raise ducks and chickens and herd 150 sheep in the same mountains where Palestinian shepherds once roamed before the war.
Izraeli, 16, said he came to the West Bank after dropping out of a religious school in central Israel. He and his friends lived in a nearby tent camp before moving to the top of the mountain a few months ago after the Israeli army banned Palestinians from entering the area.
He hoped the army would not allow them to return.
“With God’s help, they’ll do the right thing and keep them out,” he said.
In response to written questions, Aaron Rosenthal, mayor of the Gush Etzion regional council, which includes Tekoa, said the Arabs of Tuku had never legally owned the land. He said the settlers had rectified the situation.
“This is not their land,” he added.
Mayor Shayir said Palestinians have no choice. Most complaints to Israeli authorities have come to nothing. He and other residents plan to take the case to Israeli courts, a lengthy process that may not restore their rights to the land or stop settlers from building homes there.
“The settlers are working on the ground to create a new reality,” he said.
Rami Nazar Reporting from Tuqu in the West Bank, Gabrielle Sobelman From Tekoa on the West Coast.
