Intelligence sources say Israel seeks to counter information sent privately to the U.S. by the PA, fearing actions against violent West Bank settlers.
Israel has been surveilling information provided to the United States by the Palestinian Authority regarding settler violence in the occupied West Bank in recent months, +972 Magazine and Local Call have learned.
Sources in Israeli intelligence told both sites that they have been tracking materials passed through private channels by the PA to the Office of U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority (USSC) in Jerusalem in order to “understand what the U.S. knows about settler violence.” The intention, they explained, is not to act against the perpetrators but to prevent the collected information from “developing into sanctions.”
U.S. officials, who confirmed that PA officials have been sending a great deal of information to the USSC on incidents of settler violence, told +972 and Local Call that this information contributed in part to President Joe Biden’s decision earlier this month to impose sanctions against four settlers known to have attacked Palestinians and left-wing Israeli activists. The officials added that the information led in recent months to the inclusion of dozens of other settlers on a “blacklist” prohibiting their entry into the United States.
The USSC was established in 2005 and is responsible for the relationship between the United States and the PA’s security forces, as well as dealing with security coordination between Israel and the PA. Since November 2021, the office has been headed by Lieutenant General Michael R. Fenzel, who sources say is working vigorously to prevent settler violence, with the understanding that it undermines regional stability and weakens the PA’s status in the eyes of the Palestinian public.
“We want to know what the Americans know,” one Israeli source told +972 and Local Call. “The goal is to know what is going to hit us when Fenzel comes and demands answers about these cases. It’s not for going after the settlers and arresting them — that’s why a lot of people here felt uncomfortable doing it.
“The preoccupation with what the Americans know stems from [the understanding] that they intend to do something with this information,” the source continued. “Everyone here knows the name Fenzel. The Americans are demanding accountability from Israel, and the Israelis are finding themselves embarrassed. The fact that we are being asked to look for the materials indicates that Israel has no good answers.”
U.S. President Joe Biden meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, October 18, 2023. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
According to another Israeli source who spoke to +972 and Local Call, the political-diplomatic echelon in Israel views the increasing international preoccupation with settler violence as “political pressure,” and is therefore trying to prove that the scope of the phenomenon is not as broad as the Americans claim. That’s why, the source said, “we’re working to help refute these allegations, or prevent them from developing into sanctions. The political echelon is concerned that all kinds of international moves will be taken that will force Israel to deal with this issue.”
More sanctions likely
+972 and Local Call obtained copies of the materials that PA officials had collected and sent to the USSC. These materials, which are not publicly available and were transmitted through private channels, include reports with a brief description of hundreds of violent incidents that have taken place in the West Bank since October 7.
This information is useful to the United States because it sheds light on the breadth of the phenomenon of settler violence. Unlike the information collected by the UN, for example, which focuses mainly on cases where people are killed or wounded, or where there is damage to property, the PA also systematically documents cases of threats and expulsions from grazing areas.
In total, PA officials have provided the USSC with details of hundreds of incidents of settler violence since October 7. These include expulsions of small Palestinian villages and hamlets; arson attacks; shootings that killed eight Palestinians; around 100 cases in which settlers opened live fire at Palestinians or their homes; and hundreds of attacks on Palestinian shepherds, including threats and vandalism.
Most of the incidents occurred in Area C — which constitutes two thirds of the West Bank, and is under full Israeli military and civil control — where at least 16 Palestinian communities have been displaced since the beginning of the war as a result of settler violence.
A fire burns following an Israeli settler attack that killed four Palestinians in Qusra village, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, October 11, 2023. (Wahaj Bani Moufleh/Activestills)
The USSC does not rely exclusively on information transmitted by the PA, but rather collects testimonies of settler violence from various sources, including the UN, and then shares these cases with Israeli security agencies to demand that they take steps to stop the violence. Biden’s decision to impose sanctions, according to U.S. officials, is the result of the lack of effective Israeli action on this front.
A source with direct knowledge of the process behind the recent U.S. sanctions told +972 and Local Call that another announcement of economic sanctions by the White House is likely, which could also include high-level Israeli settlers and senior civil servants with a background of violence against Palestinians. According to the source, the “blacklist” of settlers subjected to a travel ban is also expected to expand, and the final number could reach “hundreds of settlers.”
According to another source, a senior U.S. official, the economic sanctions imposed against four settlers through Biden’s Feb. 1 executive order were formulated after a comprehensive investigation that included the collection of information from various sources, and did not rely solely on the USSC. The file on each of these settlers, the source said, contains unequivocal evidence of involvement in violence that proves the allegations attributed to them.
In his executive order, Biden wrote that “the situation in the West Bank — in particular high levels of extremist settler violence, forced displacement of people and villages, and property destruction — has reached intolerable levels and constitutes a serious threat to the peace, security, and stability of the West Bank and Gaza, Israel, and the broader Middle East region.” The statement also included details about the offenses committed by the four settlers: David Chai Hasdai, Einan Tanjil, Shalom Zicherman, and Yinon Levi.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in response to these sanctions that “Israel acts against lawbreakers everywhere, so there is no need for exceptional steps in this matter.” But according to an investigation conducted by the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din, 97 percent of the 1,664 Israeli police files opened between 2005 and 2023 regarding settler violence were closed without convicting any settler. In around 81 percent of these cases, the files were closed because of the police’s failure to identify evidence or culprits.
In December last year, Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared that the United States had begun blacklisting “extremist settlers” who would be banned from entering the country. This announcement triggered a chain reaction, with several Europeanstates following suit, and the European Union is reportedly considering imposing its own sanctions to prevent “extremist settlers” from entering EU territory. Earlier this week, the United Kingdom announced its own sanctions against four settlers (only one of whom was among the four targeted by Biden’s order), and France imposed a travel ban on 28 settlers whom it did not name.
+972 and Local Call reached out to the U.S. Embassy Spokesperson for comment, who responded: “As a matter of policy, we do not comment on intelligence matters and refer you to the Government of Israel.” The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office refused to comment.
A version of this article was co-published in Hebrew on Local Call. Read it here.