West Bank attacks rose from 1,291 in 2023 to 1,835 in 2025, with 761 recorded in early 2026
Levy told Anadolu that the attacks are aimed at gradually pushing Palestinians out of the West Bank. PHOTO: ANADOLU AGENCY
Israeli journalist and writer Gideon Levy said escalating attacks by Israeli occupiers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are part of a systematic campaign backed by the Israeli army and government to displace Palestinians.
“You see, there is a whole thinking behind it. Sure, that’s an attempt for an ethnic cleansing of the West Bank, and it is systematic, and it is backed by the Israeli authorities, no doubt,” Levy told Anadolu in an interview.
The number of attacks by Israeli occupiers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank rose from 1,291 in 2023 to 1,449 in 2024 and 1,835 in 2025. A further 761 attacks were recorded in the first four months of 2026.
More than 90% of cases opened by Israeli police against occupiers are closed without indictments, while conviction rates remain at about 3%, contributing to what critics describe as de facto impunity.
Levy told Anadolu that the attacks are aimed at gradually pushing Palestinians out of the West Bank, beginning with shepherds and small communities before expanding to villages and buildings.
“It’s very clear, I mean, it’s systematic, it is backed by the army and the government, and it has a very clear goal to try to push the Palestinians away from the West Bank.
“Now, they cannot push away three million people, so they try to do it with the weakest points, with, first of all, they started with the shepherds, with small communities, then they go to villages, so they start to take the first row of buildings.”
Israeli army accused of collaborating with occupiers
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Levy said the Israeli army and government support the campaign and that soldiers sometimes cooperate directly with occupiers.
“It is a plan, there is a plan, there is a program, it is very systematic, and it has very clear goals. It’s much more than this, the army takes part in part of the pogroms. It’s not that they try to avoid and don’t succeed, they have no intention to avoid it.”
“On the contrary, in many cases, you see soldiers collaborating with the settlers. But in any case, the army is not doing anything to protect the only role in the West Bank is to protect the settlers, no matter what the settlers are doing. And the Palestinians remain totally helpless.”
Levy said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich plays a particularly important role in supporting the settlement movement through government funding and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also bears responsibility.
“It’s extremely influential. And together with a few other ministers, they enable all this project. First of all, in really sending them enormous sums of money.”
“I mean, the budgets that go to them are unbelievable. And there’s no one to stop them, because the government supports it.
“So all together, sure, Smotrivich has a very important role, but you cannot release from accountability Netanyahu, who enables all this, because Netanyahu could have stopped it.”
Levy attributed the lack of accountability for attacks by Israeli occupiers to what he described as an apartheid system.
“The settlers will not happen to them nothing. First of all, to answer you why, because it is an apartheid system. As simple as this, Jews and Palestinians are not equal in the West Bank in accountability.”
No major policy change expected after elections
Levy said international criticism has failed to deter Israel, noting that the country has not faced what he considers effective sanctions.
“It’s all condemnations and talking, but the world didn’t take any real serious measures against Israel. Your country did, Türkiye did, obviously, but the West, I mean, the EU, the US, they didn’t take any measures against Israel. So Israelis are not afraid of it at all.”
He said the upcoming elections are also influencing developments in the West Bank, while Netanyahu is seeking to escalate tensions on several fronts.
“Why only the West Bank? Why not Gaza? Why not Lebanon? Why not Iran? I mean, he’s trying, and this government is trying to heat up all the fronts.”
Levy said the government is seeking to seize as much territory as possible before the elections because it believes it could lose power.
“In the West Bank, it is another aspect, and this is also the fact that they feel that they might lose the elections, and therefore they try to achieve as much as possible until the elections, because all those territories, all those fields that they can take over, one million dunam already, they will never be returned to the Palestinians.
“They try to catch as much as they can until the election, and to build as many new outposts as they can, because they understand that after the elections it will be much harder, because there will be a new government. So there is a direct connection between this and the elections.”
Levy said he does not expect a major change in Israeli policy even if Netanyahu’s government is replaced.
“Unfortunately, the good news is that this government will end its role. It will step down, but I don’t think that there will be a major change, neither toward the Palestinians, nor toward Gaza, nor toward southern Lebanon.”
“None of them criticized the genocide in Gaza. None of them seems to be very troubled by what’s happening in the West Bank. I think in the West Bank, they will stop a little bit the settlers, yes, but strategically, the Palestinian state, any kind of solution, end of occupation, end of apartheid, all those things don’t interest them at all, and they will continue the same policy, which is, as you rightly say, it’s Israel’s policy.”
“It’s not the policy of one government or another,” he concluded.
