The memo notes that Biden sees the settler-violence issue as a “serious threat” to peace among Israelis and Palestinians and destabilizing throughout the Middle East.
POLITICO has not seen the memo, and the official was granted anonymity to read from a sensitive internal document.
Israeli settlers have been moving into the West Bank for years, and incidents of violence were already growing after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power nearly a year ago.
Yesh Din, an Israeli rights group, reports that 197 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by settlers or Israeli forces since Oct. 7.
About 11 Palestinian communities have been completely abandoned in 2023 alone, according to the West Bank Protection Consortium, six of them since Hamas’ assault.
“I continue to be alarmed about extremist settlers attacking Palestinians in the West Bank,” he said in October, equating the attacks to “pouring gasoline on fire.”.
On Friday, Blinken urged the Israeli government to confront “rising levels of settler extremist violence” during a call with Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz. »
