In Israel, the lines between the civilian and military spheres are always blurry – an outcome of the enmeshment of the country’s citizenry and military. In the West Bank, however, where a regime of control and oppression of one national group over another is in place, the lines are blurred as a matter of policy, deliberately and consistently, and for Palestinians, the result is devastating.
In the early years of Israeli independence, residents of border communities were relied upon to join military forces in times of war and help them repel an invasion by enemy forces. After the capture of the West Bank, the military applied the security concept known as regional defense to the occupied territory as well.
As part of this concept, reserve battalions known as regional defense units and made up mainly of settlers, are stationed in the West Bank. Alongside them, civilian security coordinators and emergency response teams operate inside the settlements with funding, training, equipment, firearms and powers provided or delegated by the Ministry of Defense and the military.
However, circumstances in the OPT and inside Israel are fundamentally different. Stationing settler-soldiers in the vicinity of Palestinian communities creates an inherent conflict of interest. One way in which the Israeli settlement enterprise in the West Bank pursues expansion and prosperity is through seizing Palestinian land. The interests guiding a military force composed entirely of settlers are, therefore, at odds with the military’s duty to protect the Palestinian population and uphold their rights.
Power, uniforms, firearms
Once the war in Gaza began, thousands of settlers were called up for reserve duty in the regional defense units and in West Bank settlement emergency response teams, and some 8,000 firearms were distributed to Israeli civilians living in the West Bank.
On the face of it, the argument could be made that this is a legitimate step dictated by urgent security needs. Yet giving settlement residents the role of law enforcers in areas where they are in constant territorial conflict with local Palestinian residents creates conditions and circumstances that foreseeably lead to abuse of power, uniforms and firearms.
The violence was not long in coming. In the two and a half years since then, West Bank Palestinians have fallen victim to hundreds of acts of violence by Israeli settlers dressed in military uniforms. These incidents have included shootings, physical assaults, trespassing, theft and property damage. The perpetrators were settler-soldiers on military duty who were abusing their authority, settler-soldiers on leave acting outside any official capacity, or settlers who are not soldiers but wore military uniforms.
The settler went to the Palestinian family’s land, in uniform, and fired 18 bullets, wounding two Palestinian olive harvesters. He did not stop until all the family members had fled their land
So, for instance, on October 29, 2024, a family from the village of Immatin went to harvest olives in the family’s private plot. The harvest was only possible after the army coordinated work on the land for that day. Three settlers from the outpost of Havat Gilad noticed the Palestinian family harvesting and decided to drive them off their land.
A rare indictment filed by the Central District Attorney’s Office over the incident stated that one of the settlers went home, “changed into an army uniform, even though he was not on reserve duty at the time, and took a gun with him.” The settler went to the Palestinian family’s land, in uniform, and fired 18 bullets, wounding two Palestinian olive harvesters. He did not stop until all the family members had fled their land (CrimC 15026-02-25 State of Israel v. Shmuel Zafran).
This indictment is exceptional not only because it is the only known case in the past two years in which a settler in uniform who harmed Palestinians has been prosecuted, but also because it is an official Israeli document that lays bare the criminal modus operandi that has taken root in the West Bank since the war began.
Settlers-in-uniform is multifaceted, and the range of incidents in which settlers harmed Palestinians behind the shield of military uniforms is vast, including: a soldier on leave who decided to put on a uniform and use a firearm; a civilian security coordinator who used violence outside his assigned area; regional defense soldiers who acted without authority; and settlers who impersonated soldiers.
The principle of distinction
Military uniforms are meant to serve as a means of identification and to clarify that the person wearing them belongs to the armed forces of a particular state. Members of security forces wear uniforms in order to identify themselves and provide visual confirmation that they hold authority, and they are expected to act in the name of the law and in accordance with the military commander’s obligations under the law of occupation.
When civilians wear uniforms without authorization or exceed their authority, they are, literally, taking the law into their own hands, creating the false appearance of belonging to the military and abusing the power that comes with the uniform.
The military clothing, which identifies the settlers as part of the security forces, creates the false appearance that the settler is an agent of the law whom Palestinians must obey
Organized armed groups composed of people who are not soldiers, in other words, militias, sometimes use military-style uniforms for purposes of identification, obedience, comradeship and a display of power, among others. Sometimes, militias imitate the official armed forces and wear military uniforms in order to command authority and gain legitimacy.
The principle of distinction is a fundamental principle of International Humanitarian Law, and it is enshrined in Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions. Commentary on the principle of distinction refers to two major aspects: first, in a situation of hostilities, the parties must distinguish between civilians and civilian objects on the one hand, and soldiers and military objectives on the other, and refrain from directly attacking civilian objectives. Second, the parties to the hostilities must avoid actions that may blur the distinction between civilians and combatants.
Israeli civil and military law likewise prohibit unauthorized persons from wearing full or partial military or police uniforms. When settlers wear military uniforms without authorization, they deliberately blur the distinction between civilians and soldiers, an act that is part of a criminal pattern. The military clothing, which identifies the settlers as part of the security forces, creates the false appearance that the settler is an agent of the law whom Palestinians must obey.
Settlers in uniform
The term “settlers in uniform” describes a pervasive pattern in the West Bank, in which the basic, substantive distinction between civilians and members of security forces is obscured. That is, there is no clear differentiation between private individuals who are subject to the rule of law and personnel authorized to use force in the context of law enforcement.
In practice, it is difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish between a regional defense soldier, a member of an emergency response team or a settler who independently decided to put on a uniform. It is certainly impossible to know whether the person is a soldier on active reserve duty or a civilian who put on a uniform and decided to take the law into their own hands. As far as Palestinian victims know, their assailants are Israelis in uniform, representing the law in the occupied territory.
Under an occupation regime in which official powers and military force serve as a tool of control and repression, settlers-in-uniform violence is a direct extension of the state’s institutional violence.
Israeli authorities, for their part, encourage ‘settler in uniform’ violence against Palestinians not only by distributing uniforms and firearms, but also by failing to enforce the law on offenders. When complaints are filed against these assailants, law enforcement authorities usually attempt to evade their responsibility to investigate the incident. The Military Advocate General’s Corps claims that “No military activity was carried out at the site,” and, therefore, the incident does not fall under its jurisdiction.
When complaints are filed against these assailants, law enforcement authorities usually attempt to evade their responsibility to investigate the incident
The Israel Police, on the other hand, closes investigation files or claims it has no jurisdiction to investigate because the acts were perpetrated by people in military uniform. As a result, acts of violence committed by Israeli civilians against Palestinians are left without effective investigation, the offenders are not prosecuted, and they replicate their actions.
Although many of the settlers who were mobilized at the beginning of the war into emergency response teams and regional defense battalions are no longer on active reserve duty, the military has allowed them to retain the firearms and uniforms without any real supervision, advancing two outcomes Israel seeks.
In addition to the original goal of regional defense, whereby these settlers serve as auxiliary forces assisting security personnel in protecting Israeli civilians living in West Bank settlements, the settlers’ criminal use of military-issued firearms and uniforms to harm Palestinians and drive them off their land contributes to Israel’s broader objective of seizing more land in the West Bank and annexing the territory without its Palestinian residents. In other words, Israel uses settlers in uniform not only under the banner of “regional defense,” but also as an unofficial military arm of the state for deploying organized violence against Palestinians in order to expand its territorial control in the West Bank.
In practice, Israel applies a policy that deliberately blurs the line between settlers and military forces and promotes violent actions by civilian militias serving settlement interests against the Palestinian civilian population in the West Bank. These practices run counter to Israel’s obligations under international law as the occupying power in the West Bank and gravely violate the human rights of Palestinians living there.
