Palestinians despair in Hebron as settlers celebrate 'miracle' West Bank expansion

Stark divisions in Hebron after Israeli government approves new settlements across occupied territory

Palestinian human rights activist Issa Amro walks through an Israeli chekpoint in Hebron. AFP

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In a high-fenced compound on top of a hill looking out over Hebron, Palestinian anti-settlement activist Mohanned Qafesha stubs out a cigarette and begins to describe how it feels to live in one of the most tense flashpoints in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

“Some people say living in Hebron is like living in jail. I disagree. In jail you’re not free, but you feel safe. As Palestinians we’re not safe and we’re not free,” he says.

He has been depressed during the past nine months, sleeping more than usual after his work dried up and day-to-day life became near intolerable since the outbreak of the Gaza War following Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel.

“Before October 7 the situation was already bad, with checkpoints and settler attacks, but after October 7, the attacks were at a different level – a crazy, crazy level. People who lived in my area could not even open their windows for fear of retribution from the military,” he says.

His colleague, Issa Amro, one of the West Bank’s most famous activists, walks in towards the end of the meeting.

“We want to be treated like human beings and as a nation that deserves equal rights, not to be treated like animals, as some Israeli leaders have described us,” Mr Amro says, mirroring his colleague’s exasperation.

The leaders Mr Amro refers to sit in the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the most right wing in Israel's history.

Shortly after the October 7 attacks, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel was “fighting human animals”, one of many statements made by government officials since the war that critics say grant licence to Israelis to dehumanise Palestinians, steal their land and attack them.

In the West Bank, support from far-right Israeli ministers appears to have emboldened settlers to increase their attacks on Palestinians.

This week signs have emerged that even some at the very top of Israel's military leadership, which oversees the draconian security regime in cities such as Hebron, are worrying that the problem of violent Israeli extremists is getting out of control.

In a final speech on Monday, the outgoing chief commander of troops in the West Bank, Maj Gen Yehuda Fuchs, condemned a new wave of “nationalist crime” in the area.

In recent months, the violence “has reared its head under the cover of war and has led to revenge and sowed calamity and fear in Palestinian residents who do not pose any threat,” he said.

“To my dismay, the local leadership and the spiritual leadership for the most part did not see the threat as we did,” he added.

For Palestinians, the increase in settler violence comes on top of years of restrictions imposed under Israel's occupation of the West Bank.

Mr Amro and Mr Qafesha, the Palestinian activists, were speaking to The National from the headquarters of Youth Against Settlements, on the outskirts of Hebron's Old City, which is now an almost deserted, militarised zone.

The tight controls on Palestinian movement put in place by Israeli forces have for years stifled the once bustling commercial and tourism centre of Hebron. Israeli forces say the measures are in place for security reasons.

“You guys, foreigners, have more rights than I do in my own city,” Mr Qafesha says, his frustration clear.

The mood among the few Israelis within the Old City could not be more different.

Music pumps out of a modern Israeli military base decked with regimental flags, where the young soldiers who guard the Old City's settlers stay.

Just outside, a large tour group of religious families led by a guide carrying a semi-automatic rifle walks from settlement to settlement, beaming and visibly engrossed in what they are being told.

Shortly before, The National saw a military 4x4 vehicle drive past, carrying three soldiers and a Palestinian, his eyes wrapped in an orange blindfold.

There is an energy in the religious crowd and all of Israel's most radical settlers in recent weeks.

The government legalised five West Bank outposts at the end of June, a new blow to Palestinians who have lost large swathes of land in the West Bank since October 7. One of them, Adorayim, is just south-west of Hebron.

Settler leaders praised God for this expansion, which they say hasten them towards a divine mission of cementing Israel's presence throughout the West Bank.

Settlement and National Projects Minister Orit Strook, on the furthest extreme in Mr Netanyahu's far-right government, said on Saturday that Israel is in a “miracle period” of settlement expansion.

Ms Strook lives a 10-minute walk from Mr Amro and Mr Qafesha's Youth Against Settlements centre, in the settlement of Avraham Avinu, tucked just behind what used to be Hebron’s spice and animal markets.

“I feel like someone standing at a traffic light, and then it turns green,” she said to a crowd of settlers gathered at one of the recently legalised outposts on Saturday.

“In my eyes, it is really a sacred task,” she added.

Ms Strook and her supporters appeared indifferent to a wave of international condemnation that followed the wave of legalisation, including from France, Canada and the UK.

Her celebratory tone also stands in stark contrast to the warnings in Maj Gen Fuchs' outgoing speech, in which he condemned settler violence as un-Jewish.

“This is not Judaism to me, at least not the one I grew up with. This is not the way of the Torah. It is about adopting the enemy's tactics and walking in his rules,” he said.

“It was my responsibility to act. And here, too, unfortunately, I didn't always succeed.”

Despite the general's striking words, there was no sense among Palestinians who The National spoke to in Hebron that Israel is capable of solving the problem from within.

“I lose hope 20 million times a day,” Mr Qafesha concluded, saying his only hope is that the situation in cities like Hebron will compel more people abroad to put pressure on Israel.

“What strengthens me in all of this is seeing countries recognise Palestine as a state, or seeing one million people march for Palestine in London,” he said.

As he says goodbye to his international visitors, they head off down the hill into the Old City, a route that Palestinians have been forbidden to take for years.