The European Union is planning to launch a program to support Palestinian victims of settler violence in the West Bank, a measure that manages the symptoms of state-backed dispossession while the expansion of Israeli presence continues unabated. The Palestinian Authority confirmed the plan on Monday, May 05 2026.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa stated that, “In coordination with the government, the European Union will launch a program to support victims of settler terrorism.” This coordination highlights the role of the Palestinian Authority in navigating the existing power structures, even as its people face ongoing violence.
A source in the office of the EU representative in the Palestinian territories informed Agence France-Presse that the EU would support civil society organizations with "protective equipment, such as fences for Palestinian communities facing attacks from settlers," and a "protective presence." These provisions offer temporary relief but do not challenge the structural forces enabling the violence.
The office of the EU representative in the Palestinian territories also stated that the project is being developed "with local and international NGOs, with the aim of documenting attacks on Palestinians by violent Israeli settlers, and to support the communities that are victims of such attacks." The focus on documentation and support, while necessary, functions as a liberal solution that addresses the consequences rather than the root causes of the conflict.
The source indicated that the EU would spend approximately €6 million on this project. This financial commitment represents an investment in managing the humanitarian fallout of ongoing occupation and dispossession, rather than confronting the mechanisms of capital accumulation and territorial expansion.
State-Backed Dispossession
Last week, the European External Action Service condemned both the increasing number of settler attacks witnessed in the West Bank in recent months and “Israel’s unilateral actions aiming to expand its presence in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion of 19 July 2024 declared to be unlawful” in its second year. This condemnation acknowledges the illegality of the expansion but has not halted the process of land appropriation.
Figures presented by the IDF in January revealed that attacks by extremist Jewish settlers against both Palestinians and Israeli security forces in the West Bank rose by 27% in 2025. This increase in violence directly facilitates the expansion of Israeli presence and the dispossession of Palestinian communities.
Of the attacks recorded by the Israeli NGO Yesh Din, the group claimed that only three percent resulted in prosecutions. This low prosecution rate demonstrates the state's failure to protect Palestinian lives and property, effectively granting impunity to those who engage in violence for territorial gain.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stated in March that there have been more than six settler attacks daily since the latest Iran war started, displacing 1,700 Palestinians. This ongoing displacement represents a direct human cost of the systematic underpayment of labor and privatization of collective resources, as Palestinian land is seized and communities are uprooted.
Managing the Contradictions
The EU's program, while providing some support, functions within the existing framework of power, offering symbolic concessions that prevent deeper structural challenges. By funding protective measures and documentation, the program manages the contradictions of the system without addressing the fundamental issues of occupation, land theft, and state-backed violence. Such reform efforts extend the life of the current economic order by mitigating its most visible harms, rather than challenging its foundations.
The focus on supporting victims, while critical for those suffering, does not confront the underlying economic and political drivers that fuel settler violence and territorial expansion. The facts reveal that while international bodies condemn actions and offer aid, the structural mechanics of power continue to concentrate wealth and land upward through the systematic dispossession of the Palestinian people.