Settler outposts spread among West Bank villages, fuel fear of more attacks

During October, settlers across the territory launched an average of eight attacks daily

- 

The fear is palpable in this Palestinian village. It’s clear how farmers gather their harvests quickly, how they scan the valley for movement, how they dare not stray past certain roads. At any time, they say, armed Israeli settlers could descend.

“In a matter of minutes, they get on their phones. ‘They gather themselves, and they surprise you.” said Yasser Alkam, a Palestinian-American lawyer and farmer from the village of Turmus Ayya. “They hide between the trees. They ambush people and beat them up severely”

In recent months, Alkam says Turmus Ayya has weathered near-daily attacks by settlers, especially after they set up an outpost that the anti-settlement watchdog group Peace Now says is on his village's land.