Palestinian analyst warns of intensified settler movements in the West Bank

According to a report by the Shehab News Agency, as carried by IRNA, Palestinian political analyst Naaman Amro warned of intensified settler movements in the occupied West Bank, connecting them to the main aim of preventing the formation of an independent Palestinian state. He cited planned settlement construction in the West Bank, alongside continuing repercussions from the ongoing aggression against Gaza, as part of this strategy. Amro highlighted the assault on the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron—emphasizing the longstanding prohibition on the call to prayer (adhan) for more than three months, the longest since the 1994 mosque massacre—as a focal point of what he calls a colonial approach. He argued that the West Bank developments are part of a broader, ongoing campaign to displace Palestinians and seize religious and historic sites and areas labeled as B and C, with the aim of reshaping control in favor of settlement interests. He described these actions as a “quiet and de facto annexation” intended to fragment Palestinian land and prevent any future Palestinian state. The analyst said the assaults are carried out with the armed violence of settlers, under the direction and support of Itamar Ben-Gvir, the so-called internal security minister in the occupying government.