Iran war a five-star opportunity for West Bank settlers - Article by Chris Doyle in Arab News, 23 March 2026
Back in November 1989, Benjamin Netanyahu made a speech at Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv. He argued that the Israeli government had failed to exploit internationally favorable situations, such as the Tiananmen Square massacre in June of that year, when the world’s attention was focused on China, to carry out “large-scale expulsions … I still believe that there are opportunities to expel many people.”
Fast track to 2026 and Netanyahu’s acolytes and fanbase in the West Bank have clearly heeded the lesson. The US-Israeli war on Iran has furnished them another cast-iron, five-star opportunity to turbocharge their efforts to forcibly dispossess Palestinian communities, in the full knowledge that few in the wider world will have the time, energy or focus to make any fuss. On Saturday, settlers attacked 20 Palestinian villages and communities, torching homes, properties and cars.
Not that international fuss has been holding them back. Since October 2023, and even before, the settler movement has been on a very well-orchestrated rampage. The difference since 2001, 25 years ago, is that the number of settlers has almost doubled to more than 750,000. They also have settler ministers and a government that believes it has a sacred duty to make the West Bank a part of the sovereign state of Israel.
Settler violence does not adequately describe the process. It may have applied to settler violence a decade ago, but not the pre-planned state-backed assault on Palestinian communities of today. The Israeli army is a willing ally to these settlers. These are not revenge attacks or thugs up to mischief. This is ethnic cleansing. Whole Palestinian communities are forced from their homes and land to make way for this empowered movement. According to the UN, since Oct. 7, 2023, 21 Palestinian communities have been forcibly displaced. UN reports also show a 54 percent increase in injuries to Palestinians so far this year compared with the same period in 2025.
Little reported is the increase in sexual violence used by settlers. Settlers who last weekend raided Khirbet Humsa, a Palestinian community in the northern Jordan Valley, severely sexually assaulted at least one man in front of his family, according to witnesses.
The ethnic cleansing is partnered with a settlement construction bonanza. Israeli authorities are establishing new settlements and outposts, all illegal under international law, as well as expanding existing colonies. From 2023 to 2025, the Israeli government approved nearly 70 settlements. The number of outposts — settlements yet to be given authorization under Israeli law — is now above 300.
The final step will be annexation. At the moment, it is de facto annexation, but outright de jure annexation is on the cards. Last September, Bezalel Smotrich, who doubles as the Israeli finance minister and deputy defense minister, produced a detailed plan on how to annex 82 percent of the West Bank.
Settlers also have their eyes on other areas. They salivate over the prospect of a return to Gaza, which various ministers openly support and no doubt all do in private.
But there are also the settler groups that push for settling southern Lebanon all the way up to the Litani River. An extremist group, Uri Tzafon (meaning “awaken, O north”) was founded in Israel last March with the goal of establishing Israeli civilian settlements in southern Lebanon. The Iran war and the associated war on Lebanon is just the opportunity they have been waiting for to expand Israel’s borders north and colonize the land of yet another country.
This is more mainstream in Israel than some may think. An editorial in one major Israeli newspaper argued for a “a civilian presence in southern Lebanon to prevent Hezbollah’s return.” A civilian presence is a euphemism for more colonial settlements.
What are the international powers doing about this? They barely even have time to issue a press release to express concern. There was an EU statement on March 11, but without action it means nothing. In the last month, a British Foreign Office minister has twice referred to the UK taking “concrete measures” against the settlement industry. But it appears unlikely that Prime Minister Keir Starmer will impose any sanctions while Israel is at war with Iran.
As it stands, the Israeli settlers will prevail in their war for the West Bank. What or who will stop them? Some might think the Israeli public might be fed up with their settler comrades. After all, despite all the costs of Israel’s wars, an additional $160 million of government funding was found for settlements in January. There are some protests but nothing on the scale that would ever make Netanyahu think twice.
The one person who can certainly end this, like so many things in the region right now, is US President Donald Trump. The best he has said so far is that he will prevent Israel from carrying out annexation. Yet the settlers and the government do not need to do this right now. As long as there are zero consequences or costs for this colonial settler free-for-all, the settlers will set themselves up as the new kings of the West Bank and declare their kingdom later.
