On Monday morning, Israeli police announced the arrest of ten Israeli suspects due to attacks carried out by settlers on Palestinians, journalists and European diplomats in the occupied West Bank over the past few days.
The police said that the arrests were carried out in several locations in the central West Bank, as part of a security operation dubbed “The Olive Paper,” with the participation of the Israeli General Security Service, “Shin Bet,” and with the support of the army and Border Police.
She added that the forces found in the possession of the suspects evidence linking them to the attacks, and confiscated a number of vehicles. Meanwhile, investigations and field actions continue against unauthorized settlement outposts and violations of military deportation orders.
The police had initially announced the arrest of eight suspects, before raising the number to ten in an update issued on Monday morning at 8:47 p.m.
Inspector General of the Israeli Police, Danny Levy, confirmed that the law applies to everyone in the West Bank, regardless of their identities or affiliations, stressing the police’s commitment to enforcing the law equally.
In statements that appeared to be a response to criticism from the military establishment, Levy said that a distinction must be made between the responsibility to prevent attacks on the ground, and the responsibility to investigate them and enforce the law after they occur.
These arrests come after attacks in the West Bank on Friday and Saturday, one of which targeted the American photojournalist Heidi Levin, who works for the Washington Post, while she was covering the olive harvest season near the village of Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah.
Levine suffered serious injuries, including fractures of the spinal vertebrae and other injuries, which required her to be transported to the hospital and subjected to treatment.
The next day, masked settlers attacked a delegation of European diplomats and religious representatives near the Palestinian village of Taybeh, while they were participating in an activity related to olive harvesting.
The attack included diplomats from Belgium, France, and Poland, as well as a seventy-eight-year-old French mayor, Bernard Boudeau, who said that the attackers beat him with sticks and metal bars and pushed him to the ground even though he was wearing an official scarf identifying him as mayor.
The issue that remains open is whether today's arrests will lead to the filing of indictments and broader security measures, or whether the differences between the army, police, and Shin Bet, along with the political position that rejects the return of administrative detentions, will continue to restrict dealing with these attacks.
In conjunction with the arrests, Israeli media revealed escalating tension between the army on the one hand, and the police and the Shin Bet on the other, regarding dealing with settler violence in the West Bank.
Israeli Channel 12 quoted military officials as saying that the Shin Bet and the police possess information about the identity of the main instigators of these attacks, but they did not take measures to arrest them.
According to the report, between thirty and forty percent of the military forces deployed in the field, which were previously tasked with confronting Palestinian attacks, were transferred to deal with acts of violence carried out by Jewish extremists.
The channel quoted a military official who described the groups responsible for these attacks as “gangs of Jewish criminals leading us towards disaster,” adding that the talk is about hundreds of violent activists who receive organized directions, funding, and legal assistance, and enjoy a cover that makes them not fear the consequences.
The official spoke about the dilemma facing Israeli soldiers when confronting settlers, asking whether they were required to shoot Jews, and what repercussions this might have within Israel.
In the same context, the newspaper "Israel Hayom" quoted an Israeli security official as saying that the situation has completely gotten out of control, and that more than forty percent of the army's operations in the West Bank in recent months have focused on dealing with these extremists.
Against the backdrop of these developments, Israeli Army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir is scheduled to hold a meeting on Tuesday with representatives of the police and the Shin Bet, to discuss the escalation of settler attacks and the weak coordination between the security services.
According to Channel 12, during the meeting, Zamir will raise the issue of not arresting the main instigators, despite what military officials say is information available to the police and Shin Bet about their identities.
The meeting will also discuss the redistribution of responsibilities between the three agencies, and improving mechanisms for dealing with nationally motivated crimes.
Among the measures proposed are the establishment of a joint command room, the imposition of financial penalties on those involved in the attacks, including the confiscation of property, in addition to strengthening border guard forces.
Field military commanders say that they need five dedicated border guard companies to confront settler violence, while current estimates indicate the possibility of forming only one company.
One of the most prominent points of contention is the demand to re-use administrative detention against Jewish extremists, a measure that allows suspects to be detained without criminal trial, based on security information.
Defense Minister Israel Katz decided in November 2024 to stop the use of administrative detention against Jewish settlers, while maintaining the possibility of using criminal procedures and other preventive tools.
The attacks sparked a wave of international condemnation, including the United States, the European Union, France, Belgium, and Poland.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Washington is deeply concerned about the scenes of attacks, stressing that it has asked Israel to take more resolute measures against the violence of Jewish extremists.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee also described the attack on American photographer Heidi Levin as a cowardly terrorist act, and called for a comprehensive investigation and the arrest and prosecution of those responsible.
As for the European Union, it strongly condemned the attacks targeting Palestinians and diplomats, and demanded that those responsible be held accountable and prevent their recurrence.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called on the Israeli authorities to stop the attacks and arrest their perpetrators, while Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot linked these events to Israel's settlement policy and pledged to push for additional European sanctions.
For his part, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement in English in which he called for not to rush to draw conclusions before completing investigations, and questioned some of the accounts related to the attacks.
These developments come in light of a noticeable increase in attacks related to the olive harvest season, which witnesses repeated confrontations between settlers and Palestinian farmers.
According to the Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din, at least 170 violent incidents have been recorded since late September, while human rights and media reports indicate that prosecutions in cases of settler attacks are still limited.
