In a tumultuous 24 hours for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, suspected Jewish settlers stormed through Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank late Monday night, torching cars and homes, just hours before the United States made two momentous policy decisions that could inflame tensions in the contested territory.
First, President Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Republican Elise Stefanik, declared at her Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday that Israel has a “biblical right” to the West Bank. Then, in a reversal of sanctions imposed nearly a year ago by the Biden administration, Trump canceled punitive measures targeting Israelis accused of violence and radicalism in the Palestinian territory.
Settler Raids Sow Fear in West Bank Villages
According to Palestinian officials and eyewitnesses, dozens of masked men believed to be Jewish settlers descended on the villages of Jinsafut and al-Funduq late Monday, attacking homes and businesses in a frenzy of vandalism and arson. At least 12 Palestinians were beaten and required treatment, the Palestinian Red Crescent reported, while charred vehicles and properties bore testament to the destruction left in the attackers’ wake.
“The settlers were masked and had incendiary materials. Their numbers were large and unprecedented.”
– Jalal Bashir, head of Jinsafut’s village council
Israel’s military said soldiers attempting to disperse the settlers came under a hail of rocks and has opened an investigation. But the shocking violence, described as a pogrom by some Palestinians, underscores the volatility in the West Bank as Israel’s far-right government, emboldened by unstinting American support, advances its agenda of entrenching control over the territory.
Trump Administration Bolsters Contentious Israeli Claims
Against this backdrop of spiraling violence, the Trump administration took two steps on Tuesday that could further embolden Israel’s maximalist aims in the West Bank, which most of the international community considers illegally occupied since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.
At her Senate hearing, presumptive UN ambassador Elise Stefanik endorsed Israel’s claims to the territory on religious grounds, asserting the Jewish state’s “biblical right” to the land—a position that overturns decades of U.S. policy viewing the West Bank as occupied and its settlement by Israelis as illegal under international law. Stefanik’s stance aligns with the Trump administration’s 2019 decision to reverse longstanding American positions and declare Israeli settlements not inherently illegal.
In a second boost for Israel’s pro-settler camp, Donald Trump rescinded sanctions that the Biden administration had placed on Israelis implicated in violence and other illicit activity in the West Bank. The sanctions, first imposed amid a surge of unrest during the May 2023 Gaza war and later expanded, had targeted radical settlers and others seen as destabilizing actors.
Trump’s “unwavering and uncompromising support for the state of Israel” proves it was a “just decision” to rescind the “severe and blatant foreign interference.”
– Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister, praising the sanctions reversal on X (formerly Twitter)
Fears of Further Unrest as Gaza Ceasefire Frays
The moves by the Trump administration come at a highly delicate moment, as a fragile ceasefire ending three days of fighting between Israel and Gaza militants is already showing signs of strain. The truce, brokered by Egypt and bolstered by Qatari and U.S. mediation, has been marred by reported violations, with Trump himself expressing doubts about its durability.
- Rocket fire and Israeli airstrikes have tested the armistice
- Delays in the planned release of Palestinian prisoners stoked tensions
- A major Israeli raid on the West Bank city of Jenin killed 9 Palestinians
With its staunch pro-Israel tilt, in rhetoric and policy, the Trump administration is signaling that it will offer few restraints on the far-right Netanyahu government’s West Bank agenda. But many fear this could prove incendiary in the polarized and violence-prone territory.
As extremist settlers lash out and Israeli security forces crack down, the twin specters of worsening bloodshed and the potential collapse of the Palestinian Authority loom large. In navigating this storm, the White House is unveiling a paradigm shift: bolstering Israel’s hand, even at the risk of further inflaming a smoldering West Bank.
