Fear is not a by product of the violence in the West Bank: it is one of its goals. Israel is systematically killing, injuring, imprisoning, torturing and forcibly displacing Palestinians on a massive scale. These are not isolated incidents or spontaneous attacks by extremist settlers, but part of a deliberate mechanism of control and oppression designed to intimidate the entire Palestinian population, disrupt their lives and drive them off their land. This is how the system is structured, and how it has operated for decades. This violence is carried out by different arms of the same system: the military, police, Shin Bet (ISA), Israel’s Prison Service, and settler militias. The military bombs residential areas, demolishes homes, kills Palestinians and forcibly displaces them. In prisons, Palestinians are subjected to torture and abuse. Meanwhile, the state supports settler militias and provides them with the necessary infrastructure to operate, while soldiers protect them and sometimes participate in their attacks on Palestinians. These are not separate actors: they are part of a single mechanism, operating with institutional backing and almost complete impunity granted by the law enforcement system. Impunity is not a failure of the system. It’s how the system works. Since October 2023, this violence has escalated dramatically. According to B’Tselem’s figures, From October 7, 2023, until September 21, 2026, Israel killed 1,116 Palestinians in the West Bank, including 245 children and teenagers The ripple effect is enormous. Any Palestinian in the West Bank who leaves home in the morning, drives along a road or works farmland is constantly calculating the risks involved. That is the goal of the mechanism of violence and intimidation: to make life impossible for Palestinians in the West Bank, drive them off their land and dismantle the conditions for their existence as a collective. It is one of the five mechanisms Israel is employing in its Elimination Project. Read more in our report >> btselem.org/the_elimination_…