Stark divisions in Hebron after Israeli government approves new settlements across occupied territory
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In a high-fenced compound on top of a hill looking out over Hebron, Palestinian anti-settlement activist Mohanned Qafesha stubs out a cigarette and begins to describe how it feels to live in one of the most tense flashpoints in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
“Some people say living in Hebron is like living in jail. I disagree. In jail you’re not free, but you feel safe. As Palestinians we’re not safe and we’re not free,” he says.
He has been depressed during the past nine months, sleeping more than usual after his work dried up and day-to-day life became near intolerable since the outbreak of the Gaza War following Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
“Before October 7 the situation was already bad, with checkpoints and settler attacks, but after October 7, the attacks were at a different level – a crazy, crazy level. People who lived in my area could not even open their windows for fear of retribution from the military,” he says.
His colleague, Issa Amro, one of the West Bank’s most famous activists, walks in towards the end of the meeting.
“We want to be treated like human beings and as a nation that deserves equal rights, not to be treated like animals, as some Israeli leaders have described us,” Mr Amro says, mirroring his colleague’s exasperation.
The leaders Mr Amro refer to sit in the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the most right wing in Israel’s history.
Shortly after the October 7 attacks, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel was “fighting human animals”, one of many statements made by government officials since the war that critics say grant licence to Israelis to dehumanise Palestinians, steal their land and attack them.
In the West Bank, support from far-right Israeli ministers appears to have emboldened settlers to increase their attacks on Palestinians.
This week signs have emerged that even some at the very top of Israel’s military leadership, which oversees the draconian security regime in cities such as Hebron, are worrying that the problem of violent Israeli extremists is getting out of control.
In a final speech on Monday, the outgoing chief commander of troops in the West Bank, Maj Gen Yehuda Fuchs, condemned a new wave of “nationalist crime” in the area.
In recent months, the violence “has reared its head under the cover of war and has led to revenge and sowed calamity and fear in Palestinian residents who do not pose any threat,” he said.
“To my dismay, the local leadership and the spiritual leadership for the most part did not see the threat as we did,” he added.
For Palestinians, the increase in settler violence comes on top of years of restrictions imposed under Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.
Mr Amro and Mr Qafesha, the Palestinian activists, were speaking to media from the headquarters of Youth Against Settlements, on the outskirts of Hebron’s Old City, which is now an almost deserted, militarised zone.
The tight controls on Palestinian movement put in place by Israeli forces have for years stifled the once bustling commercial and tourism centre of Hebron. Israeli forces say the measures are in place for security reasons.
“You guys, foreigners, have more rights than I do in my own city,” Mr Qafesha says, his frustration clear.
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