Settler vigilantes are getting more violent—and Israel’s government is encouraging them

Anarrow valley separates the Israeli settlement of Shiloh and the Palestinian town of Turmus Ayya in the West Bank. On June 21st over 200 Jewish settlers crossed the valley and set Palestinian fields, homes and cars ablaze in revenge for the killing a day earlier of four Israeli civilians at a nearby settlement. “If the army won’t do what’s necessary to prevent Jews from being murdered, we will create deterrence ourselves,” said one.Only a small military force was deployed, but it protected the settlers and fired tear gas at the Palestinians, said a villager. One Palestinian was killed by an Israeli officer who said he had been fired on.