Xenophobia in the West Bank

On a Saturday in the middle of October a Palestinian from a neighboring village to Yitzhar, Asira al Qibliya, set fire to a house whose residents were away for the weekend and stabbed a 9-year old settler boy. As a result, men from Yitzhar hurled rocks and fired guns, rampaging through the Palestinian village. Several Palestinians were hospitalized from gunshot wounds. This past Wednesday night outside Zeev Sternhell’s Jerusalem residence, a pipe bomb exploded, leaving him lightly wounded and resulting in a minuscule stir in comparison to other large scale violent attacks throughout the nation. Zeev Sternhell is noted for the critiques he made about Jewish settlements in the West Bank. He claimed Palestinians should try and concentrate their struggle against the settlements. Around his home fliers made by militant Israeli settlers whom were behind the attack were found by authorities. In November of last year, pledges to reach a historic agreement for a Palestinian state in the West Bank of Gaza by the Israeli and Palestinian leaders were made. Unfortunately, few Israeli settlement outposts have been removed as promised, and at the same time extremists towards the settlement movement have grown more radical.
In my opinion, the matter of militant Israeli settlers violently resisting possible ousters from the West Bank is a core example of xenophobia. This left-wing Israeli advocacy group has an unreasonable fear and hatred towards possible ousters from the West Bank. I think that these radical militant Israeli settlers believe it is their duty to violently destroy houses in Yitzhar to residents of illegal West Bank outposts. The article in the New York Times states, “more than 250,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank among roughly 2.4 million Palestinians.” It is evident that Palestinians vastly outnumber the Jewish settler population in the West Bank and are contemptuous of those who are Jewish settling in their nation. By illustrating their xenophobia towards these possible ousters from the West bank, these Palestinians are causing many of these Jews to become refugees. Considering the geography of the West Bank, I believe these Jews are entitled to the land just as the Palestinians are. I think it is ridiculous how Israeli and Palestinian leaders have still yet to come to a conclusion on the Palestinian state in the West Bank of Gaza. These leaders are causing even more violence to a nation which has plenty to speak of already by not coming to an agreement. I put the blame squarely on their shoulders because it stems from their reluctance to coexist with each other. I believe that if they do not come to an agreement soon, this nation will continue to be stricken by violent radical settlers taking on Israel to thwart possible ousters from the West Bank.