Settler bet: a West Bank flashpoint
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What is the opening overview of today’s episode and who are the hosts?
The Economist. Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist. I'm Jason Palmer.
And I'm Rosie Blore.
Today on the show, the multi-faith contradictions of India's civil codes, and our management columnist answers your letters. Sort of.
First up though.
Jared Kushner is on a diplomacy blitz in the Middle East, having sat down with Hamas over the weekend. On the table still is the Princeling's plan for peace in Gaza. But Gaza isn't the only place where Israelis, Palestinians, and violence keep coinciding.
With the ceasefire barely holding in Gaza and Donald Trump's personal envoy and son in law, Kushner arriving in Jerusalem for emergency talks with Binimin and Tanyao about Gaza, there's the risk of another flashpoint erupting nearby in the West Bank. And Shell Pfeffer is our Israel correspondent. Israeli settlers have been attacking, harassing, encroaching on Palestinians in the West Bank for many years now. І різні в семь ескалаш атак.
That's my house. That's my house. I'm in my house.
So what usually happens is settlers set up at what they call an outpost, and which is usually a couple of miles away from an existing settlement, a group of young guys will take a caravan or a couple of tents to a hilltop somewhere close to or even inside agricultural land. Of a neighboring Palestinian village. They'll establish a presence there, they'll plant some vines, or they'll bring a herd of goats and start patrolling the area with ranger utility vehicles that they've actually received from the Israeli government. And once that happened, this becomes a no-go area for Palestinians and it often causes clashes, or as the settlers call them, friction aimed at bringing in the Israeli Which usually comes in to protect the settlers and to push away
Often violent new the Palestinians. The most recent place we've seen is happening in the West Bank is between an outpost called Tel Telpiot, which is a new hilltop occupied by the settlers just a few months ago, and a village called Kusra, which is just south of Nablus. There's been a number of clashes there in the past, and just last week they tried to occupy a number of outlying houses in the village. And what happened there? What happened here in Khusra, I think, is that the residents had the presence of mind to film what was happening, to put it online very quickly, and there were a couple of added elements I'd say that made it more prominent. One was there was a video of the Israeli soldiers who had been sent there to somehow prevent the friction, but they were very clearly on the side of the setters, they were even praying with them.
Also one of the houses is owned by an American citizen, and that uh brought uh the involvement of the American Embassy in Jerusalem. Ambassador Mike Huckabee, who is usually very pro settler, put out a post on social media criticizing what he called the Israeli terrorists and saying that the embassy had urged the Israeli army to intervene.
How are Israeli settlers creating new outposts and what tactics do they use on Palestinian land?
And what's unclear is just how much the government and the IDF are complicit in all of this. Is is this a matter of looking the other way or aiding the settlers directly? You say they're driving vehicles given to them by the government?
Well, it's very much a case-by-case situation. There are places where we've seen, and the footage is very clear, that there are soldiers helping the settlers take over these lands, or when the Palestinians try and confront them, that they're pushed back sometimes with shooting. In some cases, Palestinians have been killed from the fire. So we've seen, in some cases, active help from the Israeli army to the settlers. We've seen other cases where they sort of stand by that really. Do anything. And we've also seen cases where the army has evicted settlers. And according to one officer I spoke to, there have been 150 evictions of settlers since the beginning of this year. Now, that's in the broader picture of things.
That's not much because there are many more cases in which the settlers have succeeded in taking over Palestinian land, or after being evicted by the Israeli army, they just return.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the opening overview of today’s episode and who are the hosts?
0:03–3:54
2
How are Israeli settlers creating new outposts and what tactics do they use on Palestinian land?
3:54–6:41
3
What recent clash occurred near the Tel‑Telpiot outpost and the village of Kusra?
6:41–12:26
4
How involved is the Israeli government and the IDF in supporting or restraining settlers?
12:26–18:15
5
Why is India moving toward a uniform civil code and what states are leading the change?
18:15–20:09
6
What specific legal changes will affect Muslim personal law, especially for women?
20:09–21:54