How settlers are racing to reshape the West Bank ahead of Israel’s election
Aseel Mafarjeh reports in The New Arab on 6 August 2026:
In the occupied West Bank, settler attacks are taking place at a record rate ahead of Israel’s October elections, the first national poll since the war on Gaza in 2023 triggered an explosion in settler expansion.
The surge in violence isn’t random. Analysts describe it as a race to lock in facts on the ground before the upcoming vote can change the balance of power, potentially away from ultra-right-wing parties that have enabled settlers to rapidly encroach on Palestinian land.
“The settlement movement has come to treat the elections as an opportunity to accelerate the implementation of its project,” Israeli affairs researcher Muhannad Mustafa told The New Arab.
“Because the maps drawn in the field often become more durable than the decisions made in the Knesset.”
The latest wave of violence began on 24 July in Tel, southwest of Nablus. Four Palestinians and two Israeli settlers were killed during a confrontation when armed settlers backed by Israel’s military raided the village. Dozens more Palestinians have been injured in ensuing settler attacks across the West Bank.
In response, the Israeli military announced it was preparing for extensive military operations, with some Israeli politicians calling for the scorched earth destruction tactics seen in Gaza.
For Israeli affairs researcher Esmat Mansour, what the West Bank is experiencing represents a clear shift “from a phase of violence as reaction to a phase of violence as a political tool”.
The current attacks, he said, are no longer carried out in revenge following a Palestinian military operation, as was the case in previous years. Instead, they have “become part of a broader strategic project seeking to impose control over the land and create facts on the ground that make any future Israeli withdrawal more difficult”.
As Israel’s political class focuses on election maths, the map of the West Bank is shifting almost daily. Analysts link this to a deliberate strategy. They say Netanyahu’s government is using this period to expand settlements before October’s election, especially as polls currently have him losing.