IN RECENT weeks, Palestinians in the West Bank have experienced a massive increase in violent attacks by armed Israeli settlers, who are driving them off their land and destroying houses and crops in an effort to displace them and seize their lands.
There is clear Israeli government support for these “invasions.”
United States Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who supports Israeli settlements, called the attacks on the Palestinians a “horrific act of terror” and called the settlers “Israeli terrorists.”
In the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV has called for an end “to the repeated acts of violence against the Palestinian population of the West Bank.” He urged the international community “to ensure that progress is made toward a two-state solution, for a just and lasting peace.”
The recent attacks and land-grabbing are furthering Israel’s expansion and takeover of the entire West Bank. Israel’s plan to build 3,400 homes on a strategic tract of land between Jerusalem and the Ma’ale Adumim settlement will effectively cut off East Jerusalem from the rest of the Palestinian territories, making a viable, independent Palestinian state almost impossible.
A broad coalition of 21 countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Australia, and Japan, has fiercely rejected Israel’s move. The European Union (EU) and individual nations are planning to impose strict industry sanctions on Israel if the construction of settlements continues. Bidders on the construction project will be included in the sanctions, and the individuals involved will face visa restrictions in the EU.
This “land-grabbing” and housing construction are Israel’s tactics to block any possibility of a “two-state solution,” which Pope Leo and 142 nations strongly support, following a vote at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2025.
Some nations, such as France, Spain, Ireland, Norway, and Belgium, have even formally recognized Palestine as a sovereign state. The pope’s position is clear and definitive: “Israel and Palestine” must make peace and one day be able to “live side by side in peace and security, within internationally recognized borders.”
The use of force extends far beyond the attacks on West Bank Palestinians; continuous Israeli rocket strikes in another Palestinian territory, Gaza, have claimed additional lives since the October 2025 ceasefire agreement.
Since the start of the Gaza war on Oct. 7, 2023, UN Women, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the Gaza Ministry of Health have said over 38,000 women and girls and over 21,000 children have been killed. Many more are buried under bombed apartment blocks, yet to be found. Overall, women and children — 70 percent — make up the total recorded casualties in Gaza.
In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that at least 1,122 Palestinians had been killed, including at least 246 children, since the start of the conflict.
The root of this violence today lies in Europe, where anti-Semitism has deep roots in the long history of Christian theological anti-Judaism, with the accusation that the Jewish people were collectively responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth at its core. For nearly two millennia, this narrative was used by various Christian figures and institutions to justify the marginalization, persecution and displacement of Jewish communities across Europe. (To be continued)/PN
