Violence grows between Israeli settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank

ITV News Global Security Editor Rohit Kachroo heard the views of Jewish Israelis at one settlement in the West Bank

Warning: Extreme views are expressed by some of the contributors in this video and article


Rising tension in the occupied West Bank is a major barrier to any hopes of peace. In the last month alone, more than 160 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli settler violence and Israeli raids.

The occupied West Bank is a Palestinian territory that has been under Israeli occupation since the 1960s.

There are thought to be more than 700,000 Israeli settlers living in the West Bank, in nearly three hundred settlements.

And, despite being considered illegal under international law, the Israeli government plans to build even more settlements there. It's an enduring flashpoint that threatens hopes of reconciliation.

Credit: ITV News

The road can be measured in miles or in centuries, either way it's a long way to the settlement to which ITV News was invited.

Arabic words have been removed from signs, but a few of the residents admit they don't want to stop there.

ITV News met Benjamin at the gate, who finds the time around his full-time job to guard the community of a few dozen families.

When he takes us to his home, he shares the story of what happened to his wife Esther - who was murdered three years ago by a Palestinian man in an antisemtic attack.

Benjamin believes that the communities need to protect themselves.

Speaking to ITV News, Benjamin said: "The postmortem checks that were done showed that all of her ribs were broken, her arms were broken and finally he killed her with a big rock that smashed her head in. It is very difficult."

From the settlements they can see the villages and the walls of the West Bank.

But from the West Bank, this is an estate which shouldn't exist - with many countries believing settlements like this are illegal under international law.

One of the settlers speaking to ITV News said: "I don't have any pity for them."

When asked if this extended to the children of Gaza who have been injured, he said: "What is this kid? If he has a father, his father was killing us. All the civilian population in Gaza support Hamas, elect them."


'I don't have any pity for them': One of the settlers told Rohit Kachroo that the images coming out of Gaza don't upset him


Last week, over the course of an afternoon, ITV News witnessed as a Palestinian community in the West Bank was dismantled.

The residents said they were forced out by the vigilante violence of Israeli settlers, who turned up and gave them a deadline to leave their land.

At the settlement, resident's told Rohit Kachroo that so-called 'settler violence' is a myth.

The settler speaking to ITV News added: "They want to immigrate, I encourage that because this is not their land. This is our land."

They have created a sense of quiet suburbia - but there is no sense of peace.


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