Country Report on Terrorism 2021 - Chapter 1 -  The West Bank and Gaza Strip

Overview: The IDF, under the Israeli Ministry of Defense, is responsible for the West Bank, but PA security forces were granted security control of 17.5 percent (called Area A) under the 1993 Oslo Accords. The PA has administrative control over Area B (about 22 percent of the West Bank), but security control is shared with Israeli authorities. Israel maintains all administrative and security control of Area C, which comprises 61 percent of the West Bank. PA security forces and the IDF continued counterterrorism and law enforcement efforts in parts of the West Bank, where U.S.-designated FTOs such as Hamas, PIJ, and the PFLP operated. PA security forces constrained the ability of those organizations to conduct attacks, including arresting Hamas members. PA security forces continue to proactively arrest individuals planning attacks against Israeli targets or those suspected of supporting terrorist organizations, and continue to arrest Palestinians wanted for weapons smuggling or illegal weapons possession.

The United States, through the multinational office of the U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority, worked with the PA Ministry of Interior and PA security forces on reform efforts and training, including counterterrorism.

According to the Israeli Ministry of Public Security, “the West Bank saw 39 terror attacks in 2021, down from the IDF’s reported figure of 60 in 2020.” Numbers accounting for terrorist attacks in the West Bank vary slightly depending on the source — the IDF, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), or human rights groups such as B’Tselem. While this decrease was partially attributable to greater movement restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, it also reflected a general downward trend in certain violence indicators since 2016, such as deaths of Israelis, deaths of Palestinians, and terrorist attacks in the West Bank. However, these figures do not account for settler violence against Palestinians and their property, which increased over the last year.

Hamas, a U.S.-designated FTO and Specially Designated Global Terrorist, maintained de facto control over Gaza in 2021. Hamas and several militant groups, including Sunni violent extremist groups such as PIJ, launched an estimated 4,400 rocket attacks against Israel from Gaza. Hamas and its affiliates launched incendiary balloons and devices toward Israel, damaging farms and nature preserves. Hamas and PIJ tunneling activities continued. Live ammunition from Hamas’s anti-aircraft weapons struck buildings in Israel.

2021 Terrorist Incidents: Terrorist incidents during the year included the following:

• On May 2, assailants in a passing vehicle shot and injured three Israelis near Tapuach Junction/Za’tara Checkpoint south of Nablus, then fled the scene. One of the victims, Yehuda Guetta, died as a result of his injuries. Israeli authorities set up checkpoints, resulting in clashes with youths during which five were shot. Medics said the three persons injured in the attack were men in their late teens or early 20s. They were taken to Petah Tikva’s Beilinson Hospital for treatment. The perpetrator of the drive-by shooting attack was a U.S. citizen, Muntassir Shalabi, according to media reports. The Shin Bet did not believe he had any affiliation with Palestinian terror groups. He was arrested four days after the attack, and later sentenced to two life sentences.
• On August 21, a Palestinian militant from Gaza approached a border post and shot an IDF soldier at point-blank range during Hamas-organized border clashes in which several Palestinians were also killed. The soldier later succumbed to his wounds.
• On September 30, a 30-year-old Palestinian woman attempted to stab police officers at the Chain Gate entrance to HAS/TM, according to press reports. Police shot and killed her, then briefly closed one HAS/TM gate and the Damascus Gate in the aftermath of the attack.
• On November 21, a Hamas militant opened fire in Jerusalem’s Old City, killing one and wounding four others (one seriously) before Israeli police fatally shot him. Israeli officials said Eliyahu Kay, a 26-year-old immigrant from South Africa, was killed in the shooting. Police identified the attacker as a 42-year-old Palestinian, Fadi Abu Shkhaidem, a teacher at a nearby high school in East Jerusalem.
• On December 3, a 25-year-old Palestinian resident of the West Bank repeatedly stabbed a Jewish civilian outside Damascus Gate in East Jerusalem, then attacked two Border Police officers who shot and ultimately killed the attacker.
• On December 8, a Palestinian minor stabbed 26-year-old Moriah Cohen in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, as Cohen was taking her children to daycare. Although stabbed in the back, Cohen was only lightly injured. The suspect was arrested later in the day at her school.
• On December 16, near the Homesh settlement, three Palestinians in a car shot and killed Yehuda Dimentman.  They were later arrested.

Israeli settlers living in the West Bank committed a variety of physical attacks, property damage, and “nationalistic” crimes against Palestinians, some of which caused serious injury, according to Israeli human rights organizations and media reports. Multiple sources reported a substantial rise in such attacks during 2021. UN monitors documented 496 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians, including 370 attacks that resulted in property damage, and 126 attacks that resulted in casualties, three of which were fatal. This is an increase from the 358 settler attacks UN OCHA documented in 2020, 84 of which resulted in casualties. According to the UN, Israeli settlers cut down more than 12,300 trees and vandalized over 330 Palestinian-owned vehicles. The Shin Bet registered 397 settler attacks, an increase from the 272 violent incidents in 2020, according to Israeli press reports.

Human rights groups and West Bank residents reported settler attacks over the last year were also expanded in severity and scale. Whereas in prior years groups of four to five settlers typically carried out sporadic attacks, the UN documented attacks by groups of 20 or more settlers during the year, indicating that attacks were likely preplanned. Attacks were also more destructive and expanded into parts of the West Bank, such as Area A, that were previously not sullied by settler violence. In one high-profile attack in September, dozens of settlers attacked the village of Um Faggarah in the middle of the day, targeting women and children, and resulted in a four-year old Palestinian boy’s skull being fractured by a large rock, which settlers reportedly threw onto him while he was sleeping.

Such incidents generated significant concern among parts of the Israeli security establishment and a series of public condemnations from government officials, including the Israeli Defense Minister Gantz and the Minister for Public Safety Bar Lev, who labeled settler violence as terrorism. In response, Israeli National Police and the Ministry of Defense announced a series of measures, including reform of the police unit responsible for handing far-right violent extremism in the West Bank to enable a faster response to violence by targeting hotspots. Despite these efforts, Israeli security personnel often did not prevent settler attacks and rarely detained or charged perpetrators of settler violence. Only one settler was convicted (and sentenced to 20 months in prison) in 2021, for throwing a stun grenade at a Palestinian home, injuring two and causing significant damage. Some Israeli NGOs allege IDF presence during some attacks and accuse the IDF of enabling a permissive environment by its lack of enforcement.

Legislation, Law Enforcement, and Border Security: There were no changes in 2021.

Countering the Financing of Terrorism: The Palestinian Authority is a member of MENAFATF. Its financial intelligence unit, the Palestinian Financial Follow-Up Unit, is a member of the Egmont Group. The PA’s MENAFATF mutual evaluation was postponed from 2020 to 2022-23 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Countering Violent Extremism: Despite a PA policy of prohibiting content that incites violence, the PA has been inconsistent in enforcement. Official PA traditional and social media accounts, affiliated with the ruling political faction Fatah, featured content praising or condoning acts of terrorism. For example, the Fatah Youth movement at An-Najah National University praised the December killing of Yehuda Dimentman as a “heroic operation.” In another instance during the year, Fatah’s Facebook page referred to a Palestinian man who had stabbed and injured an Orthodox Jewish man in Jerusalem as a “martyr” after the attacker was shot by police. Problems continued with misleading textbooks, some with maps not depicting Israel, and public ceremonies celebrating Palestinian “martyrs.”

Palestinian authorities pledged to reform Palestinian textbooks, but an EU report issued in February showed that instances of antisemitism and incitement to violence continued to appear in textbooks. Palestinian President Abbas continued to state a commitment to nonviolence, a two-state solution, and previous Palestine Liberation Organization commitments, but others in the Palestinian leadership have avoided making such commitments. The Palestinian leadership continued to offer prisoner and “martyr” payments to families of Palestinians who were wounded or died while committing terrorist acts or in connection with terrorism.

International and Regional Cooperation: Palestinian Authority justice, security leaders, and PA security force personnel continued to participate in regional conferences and meetings to combat terrorism, though in 2021 COVID-19 pandemic restrictions limited these opportunities.

Associated documents