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In the West Bank, Israeli Settlers Take Over Palestinian’s Dream Home

An Israeli settler sits on the roof of the Palestinian Salameh family house, which was taken over by Israeli settlers in the village of Jalud in the Israeli-occupied West Bank July 2, 2026. (Reuters)
An Israeli settler sits on the roof of the Palestinian Salameh family house, which was taken over by Israeli settlers in the village of Jalud in the Israeli-occupied West Bank July 2, 2026. (Reuters)
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In the West Bank, Israeli Settlers Take Over Palestinian’s Dream Home

An Israeli settler sits on the roof of the Palestinian Salameh family house, which was taken over by Israeli settlers in the village of Jalud in the Israeli-occupied West Bank July 2, 2026. (Reuters)
An Israeli settler sits on the roof of the Palestinian Salameh family house, which was taken over by Israeli settlers in the village of Jalud in the Israeli-occupied West Bank July 2, 2026. (Reuters)

Palestinian Mohammad Salameh was building a home for his family in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where his recently engaged son was meant to start married life. Instead, before construction was complete, a group of Israeli settlers seized the property.

Video filmed earlier in the week and verified by Reuters showed at least six settlers moving around on the roof of the two-storey house, which sits below a nearby hill.

Salameh said appeals to the Israeli military and police brought no help.

Now he fears his home, which like many others in the Palestinian territory is surrounded by Israeli settlements and smaller outposts, is lost forever.

Other houses in the area could suffer the same fate, ‌he said.

"Only God ‌knows, if there is law and order then they will leave," Salameh ‌said. "If ⁠they succeeded with ⁠taking one, then the rest will follow."

Reuters was unable to reach the settlers for comment. One of them could be seen walking on the house's roof on Thursday.

The Israeli military said it was checking Reuters' request for comment, but had not responded by Friday. The Israeli police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Jewish settlement of Shilo in the Israeli-occupied West Bank as seen from the Palestinian village of Jalud July 2, 2026. (Reuters)

SETTLEMENTS, SETTLER ATTACKS WIDEN UNDER NETANYAHU GOVERNMENT

The seizure of Palestinian land by settlers is a longstanding feature of life in the West Bank, where about 500,000 ⁠Israelis live among roughly 3 million Palestinians.

Palestinians have for years reported damage ‌to farmland, vandalism and attacks linked to settlement expansion.

A ‌UN inquiry reported last month that Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian villages and agricultural land had surged since 2023, ‌rising by 130%.

Residents of Jalud, Salameh's village, say this week's incident marks another troubling escalation ‌because the settlers seized a house that was still under construction.

"They have now moved down to within no more than 100 meters from the last house in Jalud, which is also a house under construction belonging to a resident," said Raed al-Haj Mohammad, head of the village council.

Jalud has faced five major settler ‌attacks, he said, including the burning of homes, damage to vehicles and the uprooting of trees.

Most countries and the United Nations regard Israeli ⁠settlements in the West Bank ⁠as illegal under international law, citing the Fourth Geneva Convention's prohibition on transferring a civilian population into occupied territory.

Israel rejects that position, saying the West Bank is disputed territory where there has been a Jewish presence for thousands of years.

Palestinians consider the West Bank, together with Gaza and East Jerusalem, as part of a Palestinian state.

Settlement building and settler violence have long been among the biggest obstacles to peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians.

Even Israel's staunchest allies, including the United States, have condemned settler actions.

Nevertheless, settlement expansion has accelerated under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, which relies on hardline pro-settlement parties to maintain its parliamentary majority.

For Salameh, the dispute is painfully personal.

Construction on the house stalled after the Gaza war erupted in 2023, when his son could not find work and the family's finances came under strain.

"The neighbor close by has built a two-story house, which they will probably take too, if we lose this house (his) they will lose theirs," he said.

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Arab World

Syria Says Arrested Hezbollah-Affiliated Cell Planning Attacks

Syrian Internal Security Forces during the security operation against the Hezbollah cell. (Syrian Internal Security Forces on X)
Syrian Internal Security Forces during the security operation against the Hezbollah cell. (Syrian Internal Security Forces on X)
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Syria Says Arrested Hezbollah-Affiliated Cell Planning Attacks

Syrian Internal Security Forces during the security operation against the Hezbollah cell. (Syrian Internal Security Forces on X)
Syrian Internal Security Forces during the security operation against the Hezbollah cell. (Syrian Internal Security Forces on X)

Syrian authorities said on Tuesday that they had arrested a Hezbollah-affiliated cell in the country's south near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, accusing it of planning attacks on unspecified targets.

The new authorities in Damascus, who ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in 2024, are hostile to the Lebanese group, which is a sworn enemy of Israel and fought on Assad's side during the Syrian civil war.

Tuesday's announcement came hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there were "indications" that Israel's enemies could try to attack ahead of elections scheduled for late October.

Syrian intelligence services and security forces "thwarted a sabotage plot in the Yarmuk basin in Daraa (province) and arrested a Hezbollah-affiliated cell composed of three individuals", Syrian state television reported, quoting a statement from the internal security forces.

A suspect detained in the security operation. (Syrian Internal Security Forces on X)

The Yarmuk basin area, where state media has previously reported Israeli incursions and shelling, borders the Israeli-annexed Syrian Golan Heights, as well as Jordan.

"The operation followed careful monitoring of an attempt by the cell to prepare rocket launch platforms with the aim of carrying out attacks to destabilize security and stability," the statement said.

It did not specify the target of the alleged planned attacks and said investigations were ongoing.

Syrian authorities have previously said they dismantled several Hezbollah-linked cells preparing attacks in Syria, accusations the group has denied.

Authorities have also previously announced several seizures of weapons they said were bound for Hezbollah, which lost a key supply route from its backer Iran when Assad was toppled.

In recent weeks, Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz have issued repeated warnings to Iran and Hezbollah promising retaliation in case of any attack.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in March with rocket fire at Israel, which responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion.

Suspects detained in the security operation. (Syrian Internal Security Forces on X)

The latest war and a previous round of hostilities with Israel in 2023-2024 have weakened the group.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria since Assad's ouster and sent troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone that had separated Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan since 1974.

It has also carried out repeated incursions deeper into Syrian territory and has vowed to keep troops in a so-called "security zone" in southern Syria, where it seeks a broader demilitarized area.

Israel captured most of the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and later annexed the areas under its control, a move only recognized by the United States and Colombia.

Arab World

Settler Attack on West Bank Village Injures Israeli Forces, Drawing Rare Rebuke

A burned-out car stands outside a damaged building in the West Bank village of Jalud, south of Nablus, 29 September 2026. (EPA)
A burned-out car stands outside a damaged building in the West Bank village of Jalud, south of Nablus, 29 September 2026. (EPA)
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Settler Attack on West Bank Village Injures Israeli Forces, Drawing Rare Rebuke

A burned-out car stands outside a damaged building in the West Bank village of Jalud, south of Nablus, 29 September 2026. (EPA)
A burned-out car stands outside a damaged building in the West Bank village of Jalud, south of Nablus, 29 September 2026. (EPA)

More than 100 Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank early Tuesday, drawing condemnation from the US and from the Israeli government after they injured three members of the security forces.

The raid, and attacks on other West Bank villages on Tuesday, came amid mounting international criticism of settler violence, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu downplayed last week.

Settlers stormed the village of Jalud in the northern West Bank as the military attempted to accompany a Palestinian family back to their home after they had been displaced by settler attacks two months earlier.

The Israeli military said "more than 100 Israeli rioters" were in the area overnight and soldiers and border police tried to disperse them.

"As a result of the clashes, three Israel Border Police officers were lightly injured," it said in a statement.

One person was arrested and two minors were taken in for questioning, police said.

The military said the settlers had blocked roads, set tires on fire and thrown rocks at security forces, also setting fire to Palestinian buildings and vehicles in the village.

It added that the attack had prevented the return of the family, who had been displaced "following several incidents of (Israeli) nationalist crime against them".

- 'No justification' -

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and has been accelerating settlement expansion there. Some 500,000 Israeli settlers live among three million Palestinians.

Netanyahu condemned the attack, which he blamed on "a small group of rioters".

Their actions "cause great harm to that community and interfere with our forces as they carry out their mission", he said.

President Isaac Herzog, who holds a largely ceremonial role, called the attack "a moral stain, an assault on the rule of law and our most fundamental values". Such criticism from Israeli official is rare for attacks in which the victims are Palestinian.

The US State Department told AFP that "we condemn criminal violence by any party in the West Bank and support appropriate investigations, legal accountability, and judicial processes for those responsible".

Settler attacks against Palestinians including beatings, vandalism and arson averaged six a day in the first half of the year, according to the United Nations.

Recent weeks have also seen high-profile attacks against Israelis in the West Bank, including the shooting dead of a settler by a Palestinian.

Israel has voiced outrage and imposed diplomatic repercussions on several Western countries that imposed sanctions against products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law.

- Rising settler ambitions -

Mahmoud al-Toubasi, a member of the family seeking to return to Jalud, told AFP that he and his relatives had left the house more than two months ago, and that it had been occupied by settlers until the attack on Tuesday.

"My wife, my son and I went to the house in the car, accompanied by an army vehicle in front of us and another behind us," he said.

Settlers attacked the group upon their arrival at the house and were pushed back by soldiers with pepper spray, he added.

"We were not physically injured, but we suffered some choking from the pepper spray," Toubasi said.

In a separate attack on Tuesday, dozens of settlers from hilltop outposts raided the Palestinian village of Al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, residents told AFP.

An AFP journalist saw at least five burnt-out cars as a result.

In a separate incident in the town of Beitunia near Ramallah, dozens of settlers came to hold a prayer for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot using loudspeakers, Mayor Ribhi Dawla told AFP.

"This gathering is a dangerous precedent," he said. "There are ambitions for settlements in the area, they placed a caravan in the western part of the town and installed an iron gate."

In another incident on Tuesday evening, the Palestinian Red Crescent reported that its crews were "treating three people who were assaulted and beaten by settlers in the Jamala area near Ramallah" and taking them to hospital.

Violence has increased in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, with Israeli soldiers or settlers killing at least 1,111 Palestinians in that period, including both gunmen and civilians, per an AFP tally based on data from the Palestinian health ministry.

Israeli figures show at least 49 Israelis, including civilians and security personnel, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations during the same period.

Arab World

Morocco’s King Names El Mansouri First Woman Head of Gov’t

Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, Morocco’s newly appointed head of government. (AFP)
Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, Morocco’s newly appointed head of government. (AFP)
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Morocco’s King Names El Mansouri First Woman Head of Gov’t

Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, Morocco’s newly appointed head of government. (AFP)
Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, Morocco’s newly appointed head of government. (AFP)

King Mohammed VI has appointed Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, a leader of the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), as Morocco’s head of government, making her the first woman named to the post. She has been tasked with forming a government.

The appointment places El Mansouri at the center of a demanding political period. Her government will face expectations over social policy and regional inequality as Morocco prepares to co-host the 2030 World Cup.

Early life and political background

El Mansouri was born in Marrakech on Jan. 3, 1976, and is 50. Her family comes from the Rehamna region near the city.

Her late father, Abderrahmane El Mansouri, served as pasha of Marrakech for three decades and was Morocco’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.

Growing up close to public administration, politics and diplomacy shaped her early interest in law and public service.

Education

El Mansouri attended French schools in Marrakech and earned her baccalaureate at Lycée Victor Hugo. She later studied law in France, obtaining a postgraduate diploma in business contract law from the University of Montpellier.

She also earned a diploma in Anglo-American business law from New York University and a degree in private law from Mohammed V University in Rabat, according to the supplied account.

From law to politics

After completing her studies, El Mansouri established a law practice in Marrakech specializing in property and commercial transactions.

She joined PAM when it was founded in 2008. A year later, at 33, she was elected mayor of Marrakech, becoming the first woman to lead the city’s municipal council. The supplied account describes her as the second woman to become a mayor in Morocco.

Government and party leadership

El Mansouri went on to serve in parliament. She returned to the Marrakech mayoralty in September 2021 and was appointed minister of national territory planning, urban planning, housing and city policy the following month.

In February 2024, she became coordinator of PAM’s collective leadership, strengthening her position within the party before her appointment to form a government.

The challenges ahead

El Mansouri’s appointment is a milestone for women in Moroccan politics.

Her government will also be judged on its response to demands for improved living standards, efforts to narrow the gap between cities and less-developed areas, and preparations for the 2030 World Cup.