SINJIL, West Bank — On a cool June evening, roughly 15 Palestinian men from the West Bank town of Sinjil stood watch on a hilltop, scanning darkened valleys below for any movement that could signal an incoming settler attack.
The men are part of a community-organized volunteer group — one of several like it across the West Bank — that has taken it upon themselves to shield their town from a surge in settler violence that Palestinians say neither the Israeli military nor their own governing authority has been willing or able to stop.
“We have been left on our own. You are facing settlers supported by their government,” said volunteer Fadi Alwan. “We have nobody. So we are forced to stay here and protect this town.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government has approved hundreds of new settlements and settler outposts across the West Bank. The smaller outposts, officials note, have frequently served as launching points for violence that has driven thousands of Palestinians from their homes.
The Israeli government has stated that the strategic positioning of settlements is intended to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state centered in the West Bank — an outcome central to the two-state solution that has long been supported by major world powers.
The vast majority of the international community views Israel’s settlement activity in the West Bank as a violation of international law. Israel rejects that position. The West Bank is a territory where the Palestinian Authority holds limited self-governing powers while the Israeli military operates without restriction.
Palestinians report that when they contact Israeli police or the military for help, responders either arrive too late or intervene on behalf of the settlers carrying out the attacks. The Israeli military denies those claims.
“The army protects them and doesn’t stop them. We call the army. We call the police. It’s useless,” Alwan said.
When asked specifically about Sinjil and the pattern of attacks described by residents, the Israeli military said soldiers are deployed to break up confrontations, but that responsibility for the conduct of Israeli civilians in the West Bank falls under the jurisdiction of the Israeli police. Israeli police did not respond to a request for comment.
Searchlights and WhatsApp
On the night of June 26, as volunteers gathered around a fire on a Sinjil hilltop, one member swept a searchlight across the surrounding hills looking for settlers. Others drove patrol routes through the town, all connected through community WhatsApp groups where residents can quickly alert one another to potential danger. Similar messaging networks exist in other West Bank communities, though the organized patrols in Sinjil appear to be more structured than most.
“If they get close to the houses, we go confront them, we send (messages out) on the WhatsApp groups,” Alwan said.
Just days before that night, Alwan said he was struck by a settler armed with a spiked club during a daytime assault while he was trying to harvest wheat. He pulled up his shirt to reveal a wound that had not yet healed.
He also recalled an incident from the previous year in which settlers fired live rounds at a tent the volunteers had set up as a watch post, narrowly missing the young men inside. He said Israeli troops arrived the following day and tore the tent down.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to questions about allegations that soldiers dismantled the watch tent.
Alwan and other residents said they believe most of the settlers responsible for attacks on their town come from six outposts situated on the hills surrounding Sinjil. The Yesha Council, an organization representing settler communities, did not respond to a request for comment on the situation in Sinjil or what local regional councils are doing to address the violence.
A Town Increasingly Cut Off
Sinjil lies along the main road connecting the Palestinian population centers of Ramallah and Nablus, with settlements and outposts scattered across the hills to the north.
Local officials say the Israeli military has closed four of the town’s five entry points and erected a metal barrier around the community, cutting residents off from approximately 2,000 acres of privately owned land.
Moataz Tawafsha, the head of Sinjil’s municipality, said settler attacks intensified after the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023, forcing the town to find a way to protect itself on its own.
“We really feel as if we are living in a collective prison,” Tawafsha said. “As a result, the municipality has taken primary responsibility for providing protection.”
Since October 2023, settler violence has claimed two lives and forced more than 100 members of a Bedouin Palestinian community living on town land to flee, according to Tawafsha. An additional 20 families have been displaced from their homes within the town itself during the same period, he said.
Community Steps In
Some residents say the volunteer protection network has saved lives.
Abed Foqahaa reinforced his home with metal bars on the windows and erected a tall metal fence around his yard after settlers threw a Molotov cocktail through his window about two years ago while he and his family were inside.
“The fire broke out and we couldn’t control it. We tried to save the house, but all of us suffered from the smoke,” Foqahaa said.
He used the town’s WhatsApp group to call for help. Young men from the community — initially held back by the Israeli military — eventually reached the house and helped carry out Foqahaa’s father, who uses a wheelchair.
“God bless them, they really helped us,” Foqahaa said.
