The night watch: Palestinians protecting their homes from settler pogroms

The life of 32-year-old Abdul Rahman Jabr changed more than a year ago when his home in the village of al-Mughayyir, east of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank was targeted by Israeli settlers. After the attack, he put up barbed wire in an attempt to fend off future settler pogroms.

The house, built by Abdul Rahman in early 2023 before his marriage, is located on the outskirts of the village in an area with a long history of settler violence. He now lives there with his wife and their two-year-old daughter, but settler attacks on his home and his neighbours have intensified over the past year.

His vehicle was set on fire by settlers in April 2024, and his home’s windows were smashed with stones. He cannot count the number of times his home has been targeted. In the past week alone, settlers reached his property seven times, which forced him to miss work to stay at home to protect his wife and child.

“I thought about my wife and child. How could I protect them from the settlers when there is no protection for us? I began surrounding the house with barbed wire and an iron fence. This isn’t a sufficient measure, but it’s the only thing I can do on my own,” he told Al Jazeera.

“All the neighbouring households have had to install these fences to protect themselves. We’ve made countless appeals, but no one listens, so we had to take this step. At the very least, it has helped keep their livestock away from our yards.”

Night guard

Abdul Rahman’s experiences are not unique. They are part of a rapid rise in settler activity across the West Bank since Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023.

Settlers carried out 14,742 attacks against Palestinians, their land or properties from October 7, 2023, to October 4, 2026, according to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, which is part of the PLO.

In the first seven months of 2026 alone, the commission recorded 4,113 attacks, ranging from assaults on people to vandalism of orchards. This was a 63 percent increase compared with the same period in 2025, and this month saw a spate of attacks on Palestinian farmers as they harvested olives.

Palestinians are now beginning to organise to protect their families and homes from settler attacks.

In the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, a group of young Palestinian men have repelled several settler attacks in recent months. Basel Awad, a pseudonym used for security reasons, told Al Jazeera that the village’s guard committee, which he is a member of, is unofficial and intended to protect the homes of residents.

Each night, 20 to 30 unarmed people gather at key locations that settlers have used as staging posts for their raids into Sinjil.

They have paid a high price for their efforts. The Israeli army has arrested six members of the guard and at least 10 have been injured in an apparent bid by Israel to dismantle this neighbourhood watch.

“We had set up a tent in the Jabal al-Batin area, which is frequently targeted by attacks. Soldiers arrived last winter and fired tear gas canisters inside. We all suffered from suffocation, and then they demolished the tent and confiscated it,” Basel told Al Jazeera.

Protecting communities

Despite the dangers, Palestinians are refusing to leave their homes and have their land seized by settlers.

Nasr Radwan, 53, is one of the landowners in the village of Beitillu, west of Ramallah, whose property is frequently raided by settlers. The land owned by Nasr, his brothers and their relatives spans 1,500 dunums (1,000sq metres or a quarter of an acre) and contains more than 100 springs.

He has been beaten by settlers on several occasions, but he and his brothers insist on being present on the land every single day.

In June, settlers established an outpost near his land, which is being used as a base to attack his crops and assault his family, he said.

“The most recent attack took place last Saturday. We were on our land harvesting olives when settlers attacked us, smashed the windows of our vehicles and beat my brother. Even so, we continue to go there every day,” he added.

For the past three years, settlers have tried to seize the family’s land, blocking an access road to prevent Nasr and his relatives from reaching it by car. Family members persist, travelling 5km (3 miles) on foot to reach their land.

“We know that being on our land means facing constant attacks. It could even cost us our lives. But we also know that if we abandon it, it will be lost forever,” he said.

“This is not just land or a source of livelihood; it is our soul, our memory and our very life.”

Violation of international law

With the settler raids sanctioned by Israeli authorities, Palestinian residents have no real protection or recourse for legal action when they are attacked. This has left West Bank villages exposed to continual assault with no penalties for settlers who destroy, assault or sometimes kill.

Human Rights Watch in August reported that Israeli authorities have failed to prosecute settlers for acts of violence committed against Palestinians. By the end of 2025, the Israeli human rights organisation Yesh Din reported that out of hundreds of cases it has documented since 2005, only 3 percent have resulted in convictions. The village watch scheme is an attempt by Palestinians to mitigate these risks.

Omar Rahhal, director of the Ramallah-based SHAMS Center for Human Rights, told Al Jazeera that the fact that Palestinians resort to self-protection measures against settler attacks doesn’t absolve Israel as an occupying power of its legal responsibility under the Fourth Geneva Convention to protect civilians.

He said such measures are merely a stopgap solution to the settler dilemma for Palestinians, who are faced with a profound power imbalance. An illustration of this is the presence of Israeli soldiers as settlers attack their families and raze their lands.

“Impunity, the arming of settlers, the allocation of funds to settlements and policies adopted by ministers in the Israeli government are factors that contribute to the continuation of attacks and the resulting increase in the number of victims,” he said.