Daven Tamayo

Israeli settlers set sights on Trump support for full control of West Bank

Article (news)

THUMB

Reuters Wires

After a record expansion of Israeli settlement activity, some settler advocates in the occupied West Bank are looking to Donald Trump to fulfill a dream of imposing sovereignty over the area seen by Palestinians as the heart of a future state.Settlers have celebrated Trump&#x27;s nomination of a clutch of officials known for pro-Israel views, among them ambassador Mike Huckabee, an evangelical Christian who has said the West Bank is not under occupation and prefers the term &quot;communities&quot; to &quot;settlements.&quot;Yisrael Medad, an activist and writer who supports Israel absorbing the West Bank, spoke to Reuters about Trump&#x27;s victory in the house he has lived in for more than four decades in the West Bank settlement of Shilo. &quot;We have high hopes. We&#x27;re even buoyant to a certain extent,&quot; Medad said.Together with the neighboring settlement of Eli, Shilo sits near the center of the West Bank, an hour from Jerusalem along Route 60, a smooth motorway that contrasts sharply with the potholed roads that connect the area&#x27;s Palestinian cities.Many in Israel call the West Bank by the old biblical names for the area - Judea and Samaria, and for supporters of Jewish settlements, the Biblical connection is what gives them the right to be there. Most countries consider the area as occupied territory and deem the settlements illegal under international law, a position upheld by the U.N&#x27;s top court in July.<div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2024/11/23/deadly-israeli-strike-hits-central-beirut-1746">READ: Deadly Israeli strike hits central Beirut</a></div>&quot;I would hope that the American administration would have more of an understanding of our historical rights, our legal rights, &quot; said Eliana Passentin, resident of the settlement of Eli, as she toured the archeological site of &#x27;Ancient Shilo&#x27;, revered as the site of the tabernacle set up by the ancient Israelites after they returned from exile in Egypt and kept there for 300 years.Shilo has been a popular stop for visiting U.S. politicians, including both Huckabee and Pete Hegseth, Trump&#x27;s nominee for Secretary of Defense.Israel Ganz, the head of the Yesha Council, an umbrella group of West Bank Jewish municipalities, led a prayer session for a Trump victory in the ruins of an old Byzantine basilica in Shilo before the Nov. 5 election.Ganz said in an interview to Reuters that he hoped the Trump administration would &quot;let&quot; Israel&#x27;s government move ahead.A series of steps have been taken to consolidate Israel&#x27;s position in the West Bank since Netanyahu&#x27;s government came to power. Many functions relating to settlements previously handled by the military have been handed to the Settlement Administration, a civilian body answerable directly to Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, one of the most prominent pro-settler ministers in the government.Settlement construction in the West Bank reached record levels in 2023. Since the war started in Gaza last October, a spate of new roads and ground works have changed the appearance of hillsides across the area visibly.At the same time, violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank has spiraled, including around Shilo, drawing international condemnation and U.S. and European sanctions against individuals deemed to have taken a prominent part.The U.S. president-elect has not revealed his plans for the region. It is by no means certain Trump will give backing to a move that puts at risk Washington&#x27;s strategic ambition of a wider deal under the Abraham Accords to normalize Israel&#x27;s ties with Saudi Arabia, which, like most countries in the world, rejects Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank.Annexation would bury any hope of a two-state solution that creates an independent Palestine and also complicate efforts to resolve more than a year of war in Gaza that has spilled over into neighboring Lebanon.Around 750,000 Palestinians were displaced with the creation of Israel in 1948, according to U.N. estimates. The West Bank is claimed by Palestinians as the nucleus of a future independent state, along with the Mediterranean enclave of Gaza to the south.<div>(Production: Dedi Hayun, Ilan Rosenberg, Avivit Delgoshen)</div>

After a record expansion of Israeli settlement activity, some settler advocates in the occupied West Bank are looking to Donald Trump to fulfill a dream of imposing sovereignty over the area seen by Palestinians as the heart of a future state.

After a record expansion of Israeli settlement activity, some settler advocates in the occupied West Bank are looking to Donald Trump to fulfill a dream of imposing sovereignty over the area seen by Palestinians as the heart of a future state.

Israeli settlers set sights on Trump support for full control of West Bank

News

Entertainment

Lifestyle

Sports

Metro.Style

More

BINI

Sudoku

Word of the Day

Lotto

Horoscope

World

Israeli settlers set sights on Trump support for full control of West Bank

Reuters

Published November 23, 2024 09:34 PM PHT

Read More:

absnews

Israel

West Bank

Palestine

Donald Trump

ABS-CBN Newsletter

Your go-to source for the latest news, entertainment highlights, exclusive interviews, and updates on your favorite Kapamilya stars.

ABS-CBN Newsletter

Your go-to source for the latest news, entertainment highlights, exclusive interviews, and updates on your favorite Kapamilya stars.

Sign Up

I have read and agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy.

Haven't received our newsletter?

Check your inbox to verify and confirm your subscription.

ABS-CBN is the leading media and entertainment company in the Philippines, offering quality content across TV, radio, digital, and film. Committed to public service and promoting Filipino values, ABS-CBN continues to inspire and connect audiences worldwide.

Corporate

Investors

Governance

International Distribution

Corporate

Governance

Investors

International Distribution

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

AI Policy

Terms of Service

Advertise with Us

© 2026 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2026 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2026 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.