Solidarity delegations with victims of Jewish terror, which set out this morning (Friday, May 8) across the West Bank, were detained by the occupation forces. The delegations to Bethlehem and the Jordan Valley, were stopped by soldiers and police officers, and activists held protests on the scene. In other areas, activities proceeded as planned. “While settler terror gangs operated across the West Bank unhindered, the police and army blocked hundreds of activists this morning who came to demonstrate solidarity with the victims,” one of the participants told Zo Haderekh.
Hundreds of activists from a wide range of organizations took part in the protest, including Partnership for Peace, Rabbis for Human Rights, Peace Now, Hadash, Zazim, The Parents Circle-Families Forum, Standing Together, Jordan Valley Activists, Looking the Occupation in the Eye, Women Wage Peace, A Land for All, Combatants for Peace, Breaking the Silence, and Mothers Against Violence.
Partnership for Peace stated: “Hundreds of Israelis who set out to oppose terror and demand the state enforce the law in the occupied territories were detained at all checkpoints. It was proven that when the army wants to, it can act efficiently. We expect authorities to show the same determination in protecting innocent people who undergo daily violent pogrom attacks. We will not stop striving for peace, justice, and equality for all residents of the region.” “We will continue the struggle against the occupation and ethnic cleansing! They will not succeed in stopping us!” they emphasized.
A police officer presents a “closed military zone” order to protesters against Jewish terror in the occupied Palestinian West Bank, Friday, May 8, 2026 (Photo: Zazim)
On last Tuesday, the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission published a monthly report, revealing that occupation forces and settlers carried out 1,637 attacks during this past April. The report described these as “part of the ongoing systematic policy of terror employed by the occupation state against the Palestinian people, their lands, and their property.”
The head of the Commission, Palestinian Minister Moayyad Sha’ban, added that occupation forces carried out 1,097 attacks, while settlers carried out 540. According to him, the attacks were primarily concentrated in the Nablus Governorate (402 attacks), Hebron (340), Ramallah and Al-Bireh (312), and Bethlehem (171). These figures, he said, indicate the intensity of the systematic targeting in these areas. Sha’ban noted that the attacks were numerous and varied, including direct physical violence, uprooting trees, setting fire to fields, preventing farmers from accessing their lands, seizing property, and demolishing homes and agricultural structures. He emphasized that these measures are carried out alongside the closure of vast areas of Palestinian land under security pretexts, while settlers receive protection and support that allow them to expand their presence within those same areas. He added that since the beginning of 2026, the number of settler attacks has reached 2,016.
According to Sha’ban, settlers carried out 124 cases of property vandalism and 20 cases of seizure and theft of Palestinian property. Their attacks also affected large areas of Palestinian land and, with the assistance of occupation forces, resulted in the uprooting, destruction, and poisoning of 4,414 trees—all of them olive trees. In the Hebron Governorate, 2,169 trees were damaged; in Ramallah and Al-Bireh, 1,170; in Nablus, 740; in Jerusalem, 200; and in Bethlehem, 135.
The report published last week further indicates that since the beginning of April, settlers have attempted to establish 21 new settlements, most of them agricultural in nature. Seven attempts were recorded in the Hebron Governorate, three in Bethlehem, four in Ramallah and Al-Bireh, five in Nablus, and one each in Jenin and Tubas. “The surge in attempts to establish settlements recently could only occur under clear directives from the government of the occupation state, with the aim of creating facts on the ground and deepening the fragmentation of Palestinian geographic contiguity,” Sha’ban stated.
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=33422
