Israeli attacks in West Bank at 'unprecedented' level, PNI leader Barghouti says

In an interview with FRANCE 24, the secretary general of the Palestinian National Initiative (PNI) party Mustafa Barghouti said the level of Israeli attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank had become "totally unprecedented". With tensions escalating, activists accuse settlers of operating with total impunity. "Their goal is clear: it is ethnic cleansing," Barghouti stated, calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's reaction to the attacks hypocritical. Speaking to FRANCE 24 from Ramallah, Barghouti said the settlers' attacks in the occupied West Bank are "becoming usual", but have "reached a point which is totally unprecedented". Incidents in the West Bank have been on the rise lately, with Israeli forces demolishing Palestinian homes and even trying to set fire to a mosque in the northern West Bank. "The settlers are attacking houses, burning houses, burning mosques, burning cars and shooting people", Barghouti warned. "Their goal is clear: it is ethnic cleansing [...] And we, the Palestinians in the occupied territories who are under Israeli occupation, feel completely unprotected and without any kind of ability to guarantee our safety." The secretary general of the Palestinian National Initiative went on to dismiss Benjamin Netanyahu's response to the violence. The Israeli prime minister condemned recent attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, but described the violence as the actions of a "handful of rioters". Read moreNetanyahu condemns 'criminal acts of violence' by settlers in West Bank villages For Barghouti, Netanyahu "is not only a hypocrite, he's a liar because he said that the settlers who are attacking in Qusra will be taken to courts. But not a single settler in Qusra was arrested." Asked about the E1 settlement project in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli authorities have opened bidding for more than 1,200 homes, Barghouti said the project "would mean cutting off the West Bank in two completely separate pieces, which means preventing any potential or possibility for the creation of a unified Palestinian state. [...] It would [also] mean displacing tens of other Palestinian communities who live in the area, who have been targets for a very long time for Israeli settlers and the Israeli army. And that means enhancing the ethnic cleansing in the West Bank in a more dangerous way." Finally, on the situation in Gaza, Barghouti said that Palestinian factions, including Hamas, are ready to "completely" abide by the plan proposed by US President Donald Trump at the end of July – including handing over weapons to a civilian authority. However, "Israel is rejecting and refusing the plan," Barghouti said. He added that Israel has violated the October 2025 ceasefire "3,000 times" and regretted that "the international community is not taking any measures." Israeli operations in Gaza have killed at least 1,334 people since the ceasefire came into effect, according to the Palestinian territory's health ministry.