Rubio says Israeli settler violence in West Bank could undermine Gaza peace deal

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio became one of the few in the Trump administration to criticise Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank after reiterating the Israeli president's and senior military officials' condemnation of recent settler attacks.

Speaking from Hamilton International Airport in Canada on Wednesday after a G7 foreign ministers meeting, Rubio told reporters that he “thought today the comments were very strong by the president of Israel and also by the IDF commander in the area”, referring to an Israeli army official. 

Rubio was referring to Israeli officials' condemnation of an arson attack by dozens of masked Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank villages of Beit Lid and Deir Sharaf on Tuesday. The settlers then went on to attack the Israeli military and the police, who were sent in to stop the violence.

Several Palestinians were injured, and their property and land were destroyed in the attacks.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the attacks were “shocking and serious” and called for authorities to “act decisively to eradicate the phenomenon and to strengthen the IDF fighters and security forces who protect us day and night”.

Army chief Eyal Zamir and senior Israeli military official Major General Avi Bluth also condemned the attacks. 

Bluth, meanwhile, referred to the settlers as “anarchist fringe” who prevented the Israeli military from concentrating on counterterrorism and defence.

It is rare for Israeli politicians or the military to condemn Israeli settler attacks, which have increased to an almost daily basis since the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel and the war on Gaza, which has been recognised as a genocide by the United Nations. 

Condemnations are normally issued when Israeli soldiers are attacked, and the Israeli military has been accused of being "complicit" in settler violence.

While official criticisms pointed to a small fringe, the attacks are widespread. The UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs documented 264 incidents of settler violence in the occupied West Bank in October - the highest number of attacks for a month since records began in 2006.

Around 1,500 settler attacks have been recorded this year alone.

While the Biden administration imposed sanctions on a handful of Israeli settlers and settlement-related entities, the Trump administration lifted these sanctions in January. 

Undermining Gaza truce

Rubio also said the US administration would do everything in its power to prevent violence in the occupied West Bank from impacting the Gaza peace deal.

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“Certainly there’s some concern about events in the West Bank spilling over and creating an effect that could undermine what we’re doing in Gaza,” he said.  

“We don’t expect it to. We’ll do everything we can to make sure it doesn’t happen.”

His comments came in response to a reporter asking him about whether the “spate of violence in the West Bank” could potentially endanger the current peace plan underway between Israel and Gaza, after Israel’s more than two-year war on the enclave. 

G7 ministers also released a public statement on Wednesday regarding violence in the West Bank,  expressing concern for “the deteriorating security situation”, and said all parties should refrain from actions and statements that “may undermine the prospect of a two-state solution that may undermine the prospect of a two-state solution including Israeli’s expansion of settlements, legalization of settlement outposts and any annexation of the West Bank”. 

“We express our strongest condemnation for the rise in extremist settler violence committed against Palestinians, which undermines security and stability in the West Bank and threatens prospects for a lasting peace,” the statement said.

Israeli settler violence continued on Thursday with settlers setting fire to a mosque in the village of Deir Istiya in the northern occupied West Bank, as well as vandalising walls with racist graffiti. Settlers also used bulldozers to establish and expand a new settlement outpost on Jabal al-Najma in Qaryut. 

Israeli settlements are illegal under international law.