{"id":57946,"date":"2025-09-11T19:30:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T19:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/57946\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T19:30:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T19:30:17","slug":"israeli-settlers-strengthen-grip-on-west-bank-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/57946\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli settlers strengthen grip on West Bank \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the distance, the Palestinian<\/a> city of Nablus spreads out between the mountains; the Israeli<\/a> military checkpoints surrounding it are not noticeable from here. The urban grey contrasts with the deep green of the settlement vineyard in the foreground, where a Thai worker labours beside an Israeli flag. No Palestinians are employed here. <\/p>\n

Neither are Palestinians present in the Kabir Winery restaurant, where visitors can admire the view over salads and coffees. This is the settlement of Elon Moreh, which a UN report<\/a> says is set on land confiscated from three <\/b>nearby Palestinian villages. The blooming flowers around the settlement, and contrast in vineyard green versus distant grey, is a reminder of how much better water access is in Israeli-controlled areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis land is wonderful for wine, one of the best in Israel,\u201d says wine maker Eliav Hillel (67), who boasts growing more than 21 varieties of grape, including some \u201cvery rare\u201d ones. <\/p>\n

He calls this \u201cIsrael\u201d, despite it being internationally recognised as Palestinian territory, inside a settlement deemed illegal under international law. <\/p>\n

\"AA view of the Palestinian city of Nablus from the settlement of Elon Moreh. Photograph: Sally Hayden <\/p>\n

Here, he has discovered \u201cparadise\u201d, Mr Hillel says: \u201cGood people, good life, good views.\u201d <\/p>\n

His positivity persists despite warplanes audibly flying overhead, maybe towards Gaza<\/a>, where Israel is accused of carrying out a genocide<\/a>, or Syria<\/a>, where Israeli forces have carried out hundreds of airstrikes<\/a> since the fall of Bashar al-Assad\u2019s regime late last year.<\/p>\n

In 2007, Mr Hillel \u2013 a former computer programmer \u2013 and a business partner started Kabir Winery on two acres of land; now they have 50 or more, Mr Hillel says. <\/p>\n

They also have a visitors\u2019 centre, with Americans, in particular, supporting by \u201cvisiting, buying wine, eating at the restaurant\u201d. Mr Hillel says they produce 15,000 bottles of wine a year, all sold to visitors or the Israeli market. A gun hangs from a holster on his belt, which he says he carries for \u201cself-defence\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"WineWine maker and settler Eliav Hillel (67) always carries a gun in a holster for ‘self-defence’. Photograph: Sally Hayden \"AA Thai worker in a vineyard in the settlement of Elon Moreh. Photograph: Sally Hayden <\/p>\n

Settlements<\/b><\/p>\n

The Irish Times travelled around Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank<\/a> as part of a media tour organised by MediaCentral, a Jerusalem-based organisation, which describes itself as a non-profit liaison service for journalists. It is linked<\/a> with pro-Israeli media advocacy group HonestReporting, which chose interviewees and arranged most of the interviews in advance. <\/p>\n

Separately, The Irish Times also visited surrounding Palestinian towns and cities, meeting many Palestinians who said that Israel\u2019s military occupation of the West Bank affects every aspect of their existence. Their communities are divided, their territory fragmented and journeys between each area uncertain because of Israeli checkpoints. They believe their lives are deliberately being made unbearable, with the goal of forcing them to leave.<\/p>\n

Some said this tactic was working, with increasing numbers of Palestinians pushed abroad or into crowded urban areas. Yet the majority have nowhere else to go, or say they are determined to stay on land their families have lived on for generations. <\/p>\n

The Israeli settlements are deemed illegal under international law, with an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice last year ordering them to be evacuated<\/a> and saying reparations should be paid to Palestinians. Human rights organisations and experts have repeatedly denounced what they perceive as ethnic cleansing.<\/p>\n

Along with Gaza and East Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank \u2013 which has a landmass roughly the same size as Co Mayo \u2013 is the area which many Palestinians hoped would make up a future Palestinian state. But Israeli settlers \u2013 who refer to the West Bank as \u201cJudea and Samaria\u201d \u2013 want to make that impossible. <\/p>\n

They are backed by Israel\u2019s government, with Israeli media reporting that far-right Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has allocated $73 million (\u20ac63 million) to settlement projects this year alone. <\/p>\n

In July, Israel\u2019s Knesset took a symbolic vote to completely annex the West Bank. That same month, hundreds of Israelis \u2013 including Israeli communications minister Shlomo Karhi \u2013 marched towards Gaza, calling for settlements to be re-established there too. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Israeli settlement plans mark \u2018final nail in coffin of Palestinian state\u2019, says ministerOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Israel has also given formal approval to a new settlement project known as E1, which critics say is aimed at splitting the West Bank in two and isolating it from East Jerusalem; it is also considered occupied Palestinian land under international law.<\/p>\n

Many wonder where this will end. Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu<\/a> recently said he is attached to a vision of \u201cgreater Israel\u201d, which some analysts say may involve permanently occupying land in Syria and Lebanon, as well as parts of Egypt and Jordan. <\/p>\n

Citizenship<\/b><\/p>\n

In Itamar, a short drive from Elon Moreh, Moshe Goldsmith (61) explains that he was born in Brooklyn, in the US, to Zionist parents who \u201ctaught us to love Israel\u201d. Jewish people around the world are called on to \u201cmake aliyah\u201d, and move to Israel or the Palestinian land it occupies, where they can quickly receive Israeli citizenship and government support.<\/p>\n

\n

The world is against us unfortunately. When does the world like Israel? When we\u2019re in Auschwitz. That\u2019s when they like us. They can make plaques about us, museums about us … But when Israel lifts its head up and fights back for its very existence, that\u2019s when the world hates us, and that\u2019s the way it\u2019s been<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Moshe Goldsmith<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mr Goldsmith says he moved here in the 1980s, six weeks after marrying his wife, another American. \u201cA Jewish person cannot really be complete unless he\u2019s living in the land of Israel,\u201d says Mr Goldsmith, who believes they are \u201cfulfilling the words of the prophets\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t feel comfortable just living in a city … We were looking to do something in the pioneer realm,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\" Brooklyn-born Moshe Goldsmith (61) believes he is ‘fulfilling the words of the prophets’. Photograph: Sally Hayden <\/p>\n

He and his wife wanted to \u201cconnect to our biblical heroes, King David, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob … We had tremendous motivation as people that felt a calling to come back home, and that\u2019s what brought us here\u201d.<\/p>\n

The couple were among Itamar\u2019s founders; there are now around 2,000 residents from 30 families. Mr Goldsmith calls it \u201cthe Bible belt\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know why people in the world can\u2019t understand that we deserve to live a life in the land that God gave to Israel,\u201d Mr Goldsmith says.<\/p>\n

He says they could \u201ceasily\u201d have built Israel \u201cin Uganda\u201d instead, but had to take this land because it was given to them by God.<\/p>\n

He says the world\u2019s media is being \u201cfed by lies\u201d about the existence of settler violence, treating Israel as \u201calways the guilty one\u201d. While there may have been \u201csporadic incidents\u201d of settler violence, it is mostly \u201cfake news\u201d, he says.<\/p>\n

\n

Why is Ireland so anti-Semitic? It\u2019s just pure anti-Semitism and it\u2019s not going to affect us. It\u2019s unbelievable<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Moshe Goldsmith<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He says he had <\/b>not heard about a recent killing of two young Palestinian men by settlers<\/a>, which happened around 16 kilometres away, in the Palestinian town of Sinjil.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world is against us unfortunately. When does the world like Israel? When we\u2019re in Auschwitz. That\u2019s when they like us. They can make plaques about us, museums about us … But when Israel lifts its head up and fights back for its very existence, that\u2019s when the world hates us, and that\u2019s the way it\u2019s been.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the Palestinian Authority<\/a> and Israel \u2013 not Hamas \u2013 share control of the West Bank, Mr Goldsmith also refers to the Hamas-led attacks of October 7th, 2023, as a justification. \u201cWhat would you do? What would your country do if they had a similar attack?\u201d <\/p>\n

He says there is international outcry \u201cwhen Israel fights back and defends itself\u201d because \u201cthis inner hatred for the people of Israel is so ingrained in the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

The West Bank \u201cis part of our country … Right now we\u2019re living from the river to the sea, we have an Israeli country here … We are very happy with our borders that we have today. We would like to maintain them\u201d. <\/p>\n

He calls Israel the \u201conly democracy\u201d in the region, saying they have a military and a police force to deal with \u201ccrime\u201d, despite the fact that theirs has been called an apartheid system by many human rights organisations, including Israeli ones.<\/p>\n

Mr Goldsmith says the settler population is \u201cgrowing immensely\u201d, with around a 15 per cent increase each year. \u201cThere\u2019s no reversing it any more.\u201d He says they expect to reach one million settlers in the West Bank by 2030. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhy is Ireland so anti-Semitic?\u201d he responds, when asked for his view on Ireland\u2019s proposed Occupied Territories Bill<\/a>, which may see trade with Israeli settlements banned. \u201cIt\u2019s just pure anti-Semitism and it\u2019s not going to affect us. It\u2019s unbelievable.\u201d <\/p>\n

He says some settlers export, but he expects the legislation would have \u201ca reverse affect\u201d on their businesses \u201cbecause those who love Israel, support Israel, are going to strengthen and want to buy precisely products that are made here\u201d.<\/p>\n

Occupied land<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cThey need to understand that we\u2019re going to be here and we\u2019re not going to a different place,\u201d says Davidi Ben Zion, the deputy governor of Shomron Regional Council, during an interview in the Barkan Industrial Park, also on occupied land. \u201cNo one can destroy more than 150 settlements.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DavidiDavidi Ben Zion, the deputy governor of Shomron Regional Council in the occupied West Bank. Photograph: Sally Hayden <\/p>\n

His council has an annual budget of roughly 400 million shekels (\u20ac104 million), he says, overseeing roughly 55,000 people across around 35 settlements, which he says makes it responsible for \u201c12 per cent of [what he calls] the state of Israel\u201d. <\/p>\n

Mr Zion says Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories are believed to provide an economic benefit of \u201ctens of billions of shekels annually, with major sectors including high-tech, industry, agriculture, tourism, and services\u201d. <\/p>\n

He says the industrial zones and businesses overseen by the Shomron regional council \u201care a significant growth engine for the region and for Israel as a whole\u201d.<\/p>\n

While the majority of entrepreneurs and companies are Israeli, he says there are international investors too who \u201crecognise the growth potential of the Shomron economy and want to take part in it\u201d.<\/p>\n

\n

Everyone knows that Netanyahu and Trump support the settlement movement<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Davidi Ben Zion<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement has had no impact on industrial work in the settlements, he says. \u201cWe have a waiting list of businessmen who want land for factories.\u201d <\/p>\n

Likewise, he says the Occupied Territories Bill would be a mistake, harming \u201cboth Israelis and Palestinians who work together daily in our businesses and factories\u201d.<\/p>\n

Last year, Yair Chetboun, the mayor of Ariel \u2013 a settlement city of more than 20,000 people nearby, which Palestinians were barred from entering \u2013 told The Irish Times that the impact of BDS had been \u201chard\u201d but the availability of Palestinian labour for designated industrial areas was drawing investors back. \u201cWe have a lot of workers here … everyone wants that,\u201d he said. \u201cIn the end, everyone wants to work with industry that gives … money.\u201d <\/p>\n

A Palestinian living in Nablus compared this system to factories in \u201cbantustans\u201d during apartheid South Africa, where black people were segregated but exploited for cheap labour.<\/p>\n

Mr Zion says Palestinian workers employed in settlements are treated equally, though, in separate interviews, Palestinians who have worked in settlements say they face exploitation, harassment, can be fired for complaining about conditions, and are often encouraged to work illegally. They described travelling long hours every day because of lengthy waits at Israeli checkpoints, sometimes leaving home at 1am or 2am and returning home late at night. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018We have no choice\u2019: Palestinian women reveal exploitation working in Israeli settlementsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

They say they are forced to take the work because Israel has a stranglehold on their economy. Most also say they support a boycott on the settlements and are desperate for other options. Last March, Oxfam said around 29,000 Palestinians work in Israeli settlements \u2013 a small percentage of the roughly 3 million Palestinians believed to live in the West Bank.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, settlers are turning control of land and resources into income, which some use to gain more land. <\/p>\n

Mr Zion is a member of the board of Keren Kayemet LeYisrael, a Zionist organisation which Human Rights Watch describes as having an \u201cexplicit mandate … to develop and lease land for Jews and not any other segment of the population\u201d. <\/p>\n

Founded more than a century ago, its annual budget of around 2 billion shekels (\u20ac517 million) supports projects including \u201cforestry, environmental development, water reservoirs, land reclamation, education and Zionist heritage\u201d, Mr Zion says. This money comes from both Jewish supporters around the world and income from the land the organisation owns or controls.<\/p>\n

Mr Zion, a father of seven, says he is a major and paratrooper in the IDF and has fought \u201cmore than 300 days\u201d in Gaza and Lebanon over the past two years. He compares Hamas leaders to \u201cNazis\u201d and says he believes US president Donald Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. \u201cEveryone knows that [Israeli prime minister Binyamin ] Netanyahu and Trump support the settlement movement,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He calls US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee a \u201cbrave partner of Judea and Samaria\u201d and says Europeans bear responsibility for selling a false reality of a two-state solution.<\/p>\n

Mr Zion also dismisses reports of settler violence, saying that in the West Bank \u201cmaybe 40 or 50 teenagers … unfortunately, make these violent activities\u201d.<\/p>\n

Yet Mr Zion himself has been accused of inciting violence against Palestinians. In 2023, Dawn, the non-profit founded by slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi<\/a>, called for the US government to arrest Mr Zion, \u201cin relation to an act of incitement to genocide\u201d, while he was on a visit to the US where it believed he was fundraising. This came after Mr Zion tweeted that the Palestinian town of Huwara should be \u201cerased\u201d. <\/p>\n

Afterwards, hundreds of armed Israeli settlers stormed Huwara and surrounding villages, burning or vandalising at least 200 buildings and killing one Palestinian, in an assault described as the worst settler attack in decades.<\/p>\n

Mr Zion says he had expressed himself in a \u201cway that was inappropriate\u201d and now regrets, while reacting to the killing of two Israelis by a Palestinian gunman. \u201cI clarified very shortly afterwards that my intention was not directed at harming civilians, but rather at calling for a strong response by the government against terrorism and its infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Enemies<\/b><\/p>\n

Back in the settlement of Elon Moreh, two women are eating pecan pie. Both their husbands are soldiers \u2013 fighting in Gaza, Syria and Lebanon, they say. <\/p>\n

\"AA view from a restaurant in the settlement of Elon Moreh, with the Palestinian city of Nablus in the distance. Photograph: Sally Hayden <\/p>\n

Galia Ach (41) was born in Russia and came to Israel aged nine. She moved to the settlement of Eli two decades ago, after her wedding. <\/p>\n

She says that settlers \u201cknow … Arabs are against us and look at us like enemies\u201d but it is not something they \u201cfeel every day\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Arabs, they work in our homes … we know them like private people and they don\u2019t let us feel that they hate us.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says Palestinians do work which Jewish people are unwilling to do, including building homes or fixing cars. She believes settlements are beneficial for Palestinians and should not be boycotted \u201cbecause we Jewish people … have a lot of money\u201d whereas Palestinians \u201cneed it … Their financial [situation] is not so good. They tell us they are afraid that they won\u2019t have work\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ms Ach, a speech and language therapist, says she has heard complaints that Jewish people are stealing land from Palestinians but \u201cI don\u2019t know … my children don\u2019t do it\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just living my life and I don\u2019t really ask any questions or I almost don\u2019t see news,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

Her friend, Sheila Klein (44), accuses Palestinians of \u201cburning the farms of Jewish people\u201d, saying the settlers only act in \u201cself-defence\u201d. She says she supports the assault on Gaza, where local authorities say the death toll has topped 64,000. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have a choice [but] to fight the Gaza people … On 7 October [2023] they committed terrible abuses against our people, so our people hate them.\u201d <\/p>\n

Airbnb<\/b><\/p>\n

Another short drive away, David Stern (44) points to the metal skeleton beside his home that will become a new house: he will probably turn it into an Airbnb, he says. <\/p>\n

Airbnb\u2019s Middle East headquarters, however, is in Ireland. This means that, if services are included in the final version of Ireland\u2019s Occupied Territories Bill and it comes into force, the multinational may no longer be able to host listings in the occupied Palestinian territories. <\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer US marine David Stern (44) says he feels a ‘deep sense of purpose’ as a settler in the occupied West Bank. Photograph: Sally Hayden \"AA potential future Airbnb in the Alumot outpost in the occupied West Bank. Photograph: Sally Hayden <\/p>\n

Mr Stern is a former US marine, originally from New York. He has done several \u201ctours\u201d with the Israeli military in Gaza, where he insists a genocide is not taking place. <\/p>\n

When he is not there, he lives with his Canadian-Israeli wife Rachel in the West Bank, where his bookshelf includes titles like Accuracy and Precision for Long-Range Shooting; Deep Survival \u2013 Who Lives, Who Dies and Why; and Emergency War Surgery. <\/p>\n

Mr Stern moved to Israel in 2002 and has lived the past 16 years in the Alumot outpost, close to a settlement called Itamar. He says the couple love the \u201ctight-knit\u201d settler communities and feel they are \u201ccontributing in a meaningful way\u201d, with a \u201cvery deep sense of purpose in day to day life\u201d and a \u201cdeep connection in a biblical sense\u201d to the land.<\/p>\n

Yet living there is dangerous, he says. In early 2023, he says he was driving in the Palestinian town of Huwara when he saw a Palestinian man \u201chiding one of his hands in a little bit of a suspicious manner\u201d. Mr Stern reached for his own pistol before the man shot at the car, he says \u2013 hitting Mr Stern with four bullets \u2013 two in his arm, one in his chest and one in his head. He remembers shooting back and wounding the other man. He calls his survival \u201cmiraculous\u201d.<\/p>\n

While there are cases of Israelis being killed by Palestinians in the West Bank, there is vast disparity in terms of who the most common victims are. Over the past three years, at least 1,260 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, including at least 257 children, according to UN figures. This compares to 69 Israelis who have been killed, of whom at least 29 were Israeli forces and 36 were settlers; at least 10 were children.<\/p>\n

When Mr Stern says Israeli settlers are necessary for safety, it is clear whose safety he is referring to. \u201cWe are a security belt for the centre of the country,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

When asked whether Israel will annex the whole of the West Bank or expand their territory even further, he responds: \u201cI don\u2019t determine national policy.\u201d But he would \u201cabsolutely\u201d like to see settlers return to Gaza too, even if he feels a \u201clittle old\u201d to move there himself. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the distance, the Palestinian city of Nablus spreads out between the mountains; the Israeli military checkpoints surrounding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[6222,9,10,13,14,3761,6,4453,71,3857,11,12,15,16,5,7826,72,7825,7,8,1918,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-57946","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-binyamin-netanyahu","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-breakingnews","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-gaza-strip","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-international-court-of-justice","16":"tag-israel","17":"tag-israel-hamas-conflict","18":"tag-latest-news","19":"tag-latestnews","20":"tag-main-news","21":"tag-mainnews","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-occupied-territories-bill","24":"tag-palestine","25":"tag-palestinian-authority","26":"tag-top-stories","27":"tag-topstories","28":"tag-west-bank","29":"tag-world","30":"tag-world-news","31":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}