The unchecked violence of Israeli settlers and their brutal attacks on Palestinians in villages, aimed at seizing land and forcing residents to leave, echoes practices rooted in Britain’s rule over Palestine, when colonial authorities helped establish systems that strengthened Zionist settlement and facilitated the displacement of Palestinians.
Beyond the laws and regulations drafted by the British occupation authorities to entrench Zionist armed groups and settlements, violence played a central role in supporting settlers against Palestinians, enabling displacement and land seizure.
There are clear parallels with current Israeli policies. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has ordered the army to prepare a plan transferring responsibility for dealing with settlers in the occupied West Bank to the Israeli police, which falls under the Ministry of National Security headed by far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
The move resembles measures adopted by Britain during the 1930s.
The decision comes as the Israeli occupation army continues to protect settlers during attacks on Palestinians. An Israeli Army Radio correspondent warned that the step could further weaken action against settlers who commit crimes in Palestinian towns across the West Bank.
Army Radio quoted Katz as saying in a statement: “It is not the role of the Israeli army to deal with law enforcement in civilian matters in the West Bank. Therefore, the police alone must carry out all law enforcement measures against settlers, not the army.”
Katz added that the army’s role was, according to his claim, to “combat Palestinian terrorism” and focus on protecting borders and settlements from threats.
The Settler Security Network
Britain moved to strengthen Jewish settlements in Palestine and gradually transformed them into armed communities, not merely for the protection of settlers, but also to enable attacks against Palestinians.
The British established a settlement police system in which Jewish recruits received military and weapons training from British military instructors. Those trained personnel would then return to settlements and train others.
Britain supplied settlers with rifles, established weapons depots inside settlements, provided continuous military training and maintained reserve forces that could be mobilised to support them when necessary.
According to documents prepared by the British occupation administration in Palestine during the 1930s, around 20,000 settlers were armed and trained by the British army, while Palestinians were largely unarmed and subjected to repeated attacks aimed at seizing their land.
Settlers were provided with weapons considered advanced at the time, including machine guns, grenade-launching rifles and other modern firearms.
They also had infantry units equipped with weapons and armoured vehicles capable of conducting patrols and attacks against Palestinians.
The Formation of the Haganah
British policy produced a growing pool of settlers with genuine military training, weapons experience and independent communications networks that could be used to organise attacks and movements against Palestinians.
The Haganah emerged secretly from among the settler population. Its members received experience and training from the British army and benefited from having members embedded within both the settlement police and other police structures established by Britain.
Among the most prominent British officers behind armed settler units was Orde Charles Wingate, who formed the Special Night Squads from members of the Haganah and the settlement police.
These units began carrying out night raids against Palestinians and committed atrocities against them, while the continuing attacks facilitated the displacement of Palestinians from their land.
Turning a Blind Eye to Massacres
Britain also resorted to overlooking massacres committed by Zionist armed groups and settler gunmen, often claiming that it had no prior knowledge of the killings or the movements of settler forces.
Even after massacres occurred, and despite Britain being the occupying military authority with an army on the ground, British correspondence sometimes claimed that Zionist armed groups controlled the areas where atrocities had taken place, including Deir Yassin, and that British forces were unable to enter and investigate.
Authorities would instead rely on witness accounts to estimate the number of Palestinian victims, while failing to hold the armed groups accountable or halt the flow of weapons to them.
Legalising the Seizure of Palestinian Land
Britain also used legal mechanisms to facilitate the transfer of Palestinian land to Zionist settlers.
Article 6 of the Mandate called for encouraging settlement on Palestinian state lands and on uncultivated land deemed unnecessary for public purposes.
Such land could then be transferred with relative ease for the benefit of settlers, allowing the establishment of settlement outposts and colonies, the arrival of Jewish immigrants and the exclusion of Palestinians from those areas.
