The Silent War of Sheep and Stones: How Settlers Use Flocks to Claim West Bank Land 

In the West Bank, a covert campaign of land seizure unfolds as Israeli settlers, often teenage shepherds, use flocks of sheep to encroach on Palestinian farmland. This seemingly pastoral act is, for many Palestinians, a form of daily siege marked by water theft, blocked access, and mounting fear. What starts as harassment frequently escalates into violence—raids, assaults, and even killings—with little accountability from Israeli authorities. Activists point to a surge in such attacks in 2025, linking them to the broader chaos of the Gaza war and a strategic push to make a Palestinian state unviable.

These actions are reinforced by state-backed support for settlement expansion and the legalization of unauthorized outposts. Victims like Salama Kaabneh describe life under this pressure as one of psychological exhaustion and systemic dispossession. The strategy is not only to steal land, but to wear down resistance through relentless intimidation and fear. This “silent war,” waged with sheep and stones, is a calculated effort to alter the map—and erase a people’s connection to their ancestral land.

The Silent War of Sheep and Stones: How Settlers Use Flocks to Claim West Bank Land 

Beyond the headlines of rockets and airstrikes, a quieter, relentless conflict grinds on in the sun-baked hills of the West Bank. Here, the weapons are flocks of sheep, the battlefields are ancestral farmsteads, and the strategy is a daily campaign of intimidation designed to empty the land of its Palestinian inhabitants. 

The Shepherd as Vanguard: 

At dawn in Al Auja, a Jordan Valley village, a scene unfolds that encapsulates this struggle: A teenage Israeli settler, flanked by his flock, grazes sheep mere meters from Salama Kaabneh’s home and farm. To the untrained eye, it’s pastoral. To Kaabneh, it’s siege warfare. “Every day he comes here to our water, [the] feed of our sheep — and he destroys it,” Kaabneh states, his voice etched with exhaustion. “He empties water, every day he makes problems, and we cannot go out.” His own sheep are penned, blocked by the settler’s flock. 

Israeli peace activist Oded Paporisch, who stays in such villages as a protective presence, calls this tactic what it is: terrorism. “He brings these sheep… to try to terrorise them,” Paporisch explains. These “shepherd settlers,” often young men placed in unauthorized outposts, use livestock as mobile tools of control and harassment, grazing deliberately on Palestinian land, contaminating water sources, and blocking access. 

From Harassment to Violence: 

The sheep are just the beginning. Palestinian villagers and international monitors report a stark escalation: 

• Stolen Livelihoods: Settlers routinely steal sheep, animal feed, and vandalize farm buildings critical to Palestinian survival. 

• Night Terrors: “Filming us and coming back at night … shooting, opening fire. Throwing stones on the residents, on the shacks,” describes Kaabneh. Masked groups of settlers, often armed, launch violent raids on villages. 

• Targeted Attacks: Rabbi Arik Ascherman, a veteran Israeli peace activist, bears the physical scars. Showing staples closing a head wound and leg bruises, he recounts being beaten by settlers while trying to protect Palestinians in Mikhmas. “I have two fractures in my neck… When the Palestinians wanted to comfort me… I said, ‘thank you, but, of course, you get much worse.'” 

• Unprecedented Surge: The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) documents a disturbing trend: 759 settler attacks in 2025 alone, averaging four per day. June 2025 saw 95 Palestinians injured by settlers – the highest monthly tally ever recorded. July witnessed 27 attacks in a single week, including three Palestinians allegedly killed by settlers. 

Exploiting Chaos, Changing Facts: 

Activists see a direct link between the war in Gaza and the intensification of settler violence in the West Bank. “That has allowed the settler movement… to do what they planned years ago… But now, there’s nothing stopping them,” states Rabbi Ascherman. The stated goal of the settler movement is unambiguous: to “change the facts on the ground” by seizing land, making a contiguous Palestinian state impossible. 

This strategy is actively supported by the Israeli state: 

• State-Backed “Rehabilitation”: Many young settler shepherds are reportedly “at-risk” youth, placed in outposts with state support. “The Israeli authorities, they don’t care. We filed a complaint many, many times,” says Paporisch. 

• Armed Escalation: Settlers call armed “security officers” from nearby settlements when challenged. These officers, like the one who arrived in Al Auja laughing off intimidation claims, operate with impunity. 

• Policy of Expansion: In May 2025, Israel announced its largest settlement expansion in decades, legalizing 22 outposts and sanctioning new settlements. This formalizes the land grab actively pursued by the shepherd settlers and their violent counterparts. “The outposts… destroy any possibility of a two-state solution, because they are popping up everywhere,” warns Ascherman. 

The Human Cost: 

For families like the Kaabnehs, life is reduced to a state of constant fear and helplessness. “We feel besieged and psychologically exhausted,” Salama Kaabneh confesses. Their ability to farm, access water, or simply live safely on their land is systematically eroded. The presence of armed settlers and the absence of effective protection from Israeli authorities create an environment of profound vulnerability. 

A System of Dispossession: 

The image of the teenage settler with his sheep is not an anomaly; it’s a calculated tactic within a broader system. It combines daily, low-level harassment designed to grind down resistance with bursts of extreme violence intended to terrorize and displace. This occurs alongside official state policies that legitimize settlement outposts and actively expand Israel’s territorial footprint in the occupied West Bank. 

The sheep are silent witnesses, but their presence is a loud declaration: this land is being taken, field by field, well by well, home by home. The international community’s inaction, as Ascherman starkly notes, only emboldens those who believe they can reshape the map with impunity. For the Palestinians trapped in this “silent war,” exhaustion is not just emotional; it’s a strategy aimed precisely at breaking their connection to their ancestral earth.