Settlements

MOSAB SHAWER/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Israeli settlers blamed for attack on Palestinian mayor as West Bank roils

The Israeli military recently laid siege to Tulkarm, a center of militant activity, as Palestinian officials report daily attacks by settlers.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez attends a press conference at the Spanish Embassy in Beijing on April 11, 2025, after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Spain recalls Israel envoy, imposes sanctions as rift over Gaza deepens: What to know

Israel accused Spain of antisemitism after Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced a package of sanctions over its Gaza war policies.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump, and Foreign Affairs Minister of the United Arab Emirates Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

UAE says Israel’s West Bank annexation push a ‘red line': What to know

There are growing indications that the Israeli government is seeking to annex the Palestinian territory, but the UAE is becoming increasingly critical of the plan.

Representatives of prominent families in Hebron attend a gathering.

Israel arrests Hebron mayor, launches West Bank crackdown: What to know

Israeli forces carried out a series of raids across the West Bank, arresting several Palestinians, including the mayor of Hebron, amid reports of the possible dissolution of the Palestinian Authority.

Latest News

UK bans Israeli officials from major defense fair: What to know

A K9A2 Self-Propelled Howitzer (SPH) from Hanwha is seen on day one of the Defense and Security Equipment International (DSEI) fair at ExCel on Sept. 12, 2023 in London, England.

Israel's Smotrich to approve E1 settlement plan that 'buries idea of Palestinian state'

MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images

At least 4 Palestinians killed in West Bank as Israeli settler violence rises: What to know

Palestinian Fawzya Ishreiteh clears burnt belongings in the living and kitchen area of her family house after a reported attack overnight by Israelis from a nearby settlement, in Susya south of Hebron city in the occupied West Bank on June 25, 2025. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and violence there has soared since the start of the Gaza war in 2023. The West Bank is home to about three million Palestinians, but also some 500,000 Israelis living in settlements that are illegal under internatio

Breaking

Last Updated: June 10, 2025, 12:11 pm

UK, Australia, Canada sanction Israel’s Ben-Gvir, Smotrich for inciting violence

(L to R) Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israeli far-right lawmaker and leader of the Otzma Yehudit (Jewish power) party, and Bezalel Smotrich, Israeli far-right lawmaker and leader of the Religious Zionist Party, attend a rally with supporters in the southern Israeli city of Sderot on Oct. 26, 2022.

(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on August 15, 2019 shows Democrat US Representatives Ilhan Abdullahi Omar (L) and Rashida Tlaib during a press conference, to address remarks made by US President Donald Trump earlier in the day, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on July 15, 2019. - Influential US pro-Israel lobby AIPAC on August 15, 2019 opposed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to bar two Muslim American members of Congress from visiting the Jewish state."We disagree with Reps. Oma

Democratic leaders blast Israel for banning Tlaib, Omar

Pro-Israel Democrats are blasting Israel’s decision to ban two pro-Palestinian lawmakers from visiting the West Bank following pressure from President Donald Trump.

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES - 2018/12/12: US Representative Lee Zeldin (R-NY) at the American Zionist Movement / AZM Washington Forum: Renewing the Bipartisan Commitment Standing with Israel and Zionism in the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, DC. (Photo by Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Intel: Why Republicans are coming under fire from Israeli right

Right-wing members of Israel’s Knesset are unhappy with recent legislation backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) because of language endorsing a two-state solution.

Work in Israeli settlements means high risks, no safety net for Palestinian laborers

Most of the 36,000 Palestinians who work in Israeli settlements across the West Bank lack basic benefits including personal protection equipment and have little to no recourse when the worst happens.

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Barria - RC1B90697DE0

Trump offers another gift to Netanyahu

The latest statement by Ambassador David Friedman on the possibility of annexing parts of the West Bank indicates that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump are tightly coordinated.

Settlers target McDonald’s over what they call boycott of West Bank

Israel no longer fears retaliating against international companies such as McDonald’s that settlers say are boycotting West Bank settlements by not opening up shop there.

An Israeli settler walks between concrete walls for protection at the Jewish West Bank settlement of Ganim. An Israeli settler walks between concrete walls for protection at the Jewish West Bank settlement of Ganim, May 24, 2005. Ganim and another three Jewish settlements, Kadim, Homesh and Sa-Nur, at the northern part of the West Bank are about to be removed as part of Israel's disengagement plan in Gaza and north Samaria. Photo taken May 24, 2005. REUTERS/Nir Elias - RP6DRNASSZAC

Netanyahu’s dilemma: settlements versus immunity

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must deal with the problematic demand that he include reversing disengagement from the northern West Bank as part of a coalition agreement.

Israel’s new housing minister – minister of West Bank settlements?

United Right member Bezalel Smotrich may receive the Israeli Cabinet's housing portfolio in order to promote construction in West Bank settlements.

Palestinians have little leverage against Israeli annexation

Amid Benjamin Netanyahu’s election victory and their deeply entrenched divisions, the Palestinians seem to have little chance to stand firm in the face of Israeli plans to annex parts of the West Bank.

Israeli forces patrol as they search for a Palestinian gunman near Nablus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank March 17, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman - RC164DE6ED80

Palestinians fear nothing will stop Israel’s annexation of West Bank

Following the Israeli prime minister's vow to annex West Bank settlements, Palestinians say moves to claim their land have long been a grim reality, even before the electoral promises.

A supporter of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party waves flags, one bearing the name of U.S. President Donald Trump, as the crowd reacts to exit polls in Israel's parliamentary election at the party headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun - RC12929E4A50

Netanyahu’s call to annex West Bank inspired by Trump support

Palestinian and international experts and politicians are convinced that the extraordinary statements made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about annexing all settlements come from the realization that he has support from US President Donald Trump for his radical call.

A general view shows the village of Ein Qiniyye in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights March 26, 2019. REUTERS/Ammar Awad - RC1E3CB87260

Trump paves way for Israel to expand settlements in Golan

Shortly after US President Donald Trump decided to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights, Israel announced a plan to build 30,000 new housing units for settlers in the area.

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin join hands in celebration of the signing of the ÒTreaty of Peace Between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of IsraelÓ at the White House in Washington, D.C., March 26, 1979. Courtesy Jimmy Carter Library/National Archives/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. PLEASE SEARCH "FROM THE FILES - 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF EGYPT-ISRAEL PEACE TRE

Why Israelis ignore 40th anniversary of peace with Egypt

Forty years after Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat signed the peace treaty, Israelis sideline this achievement and prefer to ignore that relations with an Arab nation can change.