Israeli settlers in the West Bank see Trump’s victory as an opportunity to move forward

On a clear day, the skyscrapers of Tel Aviv are visible from the hill above Karnei Shomron, an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank.

“I feel different from Tel Aviv,” said Sondra Baras, who has lived in Karnei Shomron for almost 40 years. “I live in a place where my ancestors lived thousands of years ago. I don’t live in occupied territory; I live in biblical Judea and Samaria.”

For many settlers here, the line between the State of Israel and the territory it captured from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war has been erased from their narrative.

The audio guide for visitors at the hilltop viewing point describes the West Bank as “a region of Israel” and the Palestinian city of Nablus as the place where God promised the land to the Jews.

But the formal annexation of this territory has until now remained a dream for settlers like Sondra, even as the settlements – considered illegal by the UN top court and most other countries – have multiplied year after year.

Now many see an opportunity to go further, with the election of Donald Trump as the next president of the United States.

“I was thrilled that Trump won,” Sondra told me. “I really want to expand sovereignty in Judea and Samaria. And I think that’s something Trump could support.”

There are signs that some members of her incoming administration might agree with her.

Mike Huckabee, nominated as Trump’s new ambassador to Israel, signaled his support for Israeli claims to the West Bank in an interview last year.

“When people use the term ‘occupied,’ I say, ‘Yes, Israel is occupying the land, but it is the occupation of a land that God gave them 3,500 years ago. It is their land,'” he said.

Yisrael Gantz, head of the regional settlement council that oversees Karnei Shomron, says he has already noted a change in tone from the incoming Trump administration as a result of the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza.

“Both here in Israel and in the United States, they understand that we must apply sovereignty here,” he told me. “It’s a process. I can’t tell you it will be tomorrow. But in my opinion, the dream of a two-state solution is dead.”

US President Joe Biden has always maintained the US position of supporting a future Palestinian state alongside Israel. Asked if he was hearing anything different from the incoming Trump administration, Gantz responded, “Of course I am.”

But there are also signs that Israelis pushing for West Bank annexation – some of them in Cabinet positions – could be disappointed by Trump’s decisions.

His hopes have been fueled by memories of his first term as president, during which he broke with decades of American policy – and international consensus – by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights. , which were taken from Syria in 1967.

But supporting annexation of the West Bank would be a much bigger and thornier issue for Trump.

It would likely alienate Washington’s other key ally, Saudi Arabia, complicating Trump’s chances of achieving a broader regional deal.

It could also alienate some moderate Republicans in the US Congress, concerned about the impact on West Bank Palestinians and their future status under Israeli rule.

Settler leader Sondra Baras told me that West Bank Palestinians who did not want to live in Israel could “go wherever they want.”

Asked why they should leave their homeland, she said: “I’m not kicking them out, but things change. How many wars did they start? And they lost.”

“If sovereignty moved forward, there would be a lot of screaming and yelling, absolutely,” he continued. “But at some point, a fact is created that is irreversible.”

Shortly after Trump’s election victory last November, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich publicly called for the annexation of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

“2025 must be the year of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria,” he said.

Whether the new American president agrees or not, many Palestinians say the discussion of formal annexation misses the point: that Israel is, in practice, already annexing territory here.

One of them is Mohaib Salameh. He takes me through the rubble of his family’s home, built on private Palestinian land on the outskirts of Nablus. The building was declared illegal by an Israeli court last year and demolished.

Israel has full control over security and planning in 60% of the West Bank on an interim basis, as outlined in the Oslo peace accords three decades ago.

Although settlements are expanding, permits for Palestinian housing are almost never granted. And lawyers say demolitions like this are increasing.

“This is all part of policies to force us to leave,” Mohaib said. “It’s a policy of forced migration. What do they (Israelis) care if I build here or not? We pose no threat to them.”

Palestinians are also increasingly forced from their land by violent Israeli settlers, who have been sanctioned by the United States and the United Kingdom but have largely gone unchallenged by Israeli courts in their country.

Activists say more than 20 Palestinian communities in the West Bank have been driven out in recent years by increasingly violent attacks, and that settlers are now encroaching on new areas outside Israel’s provisional civilian control.

Mohaib told me that no American president has ever protected the Palestinians, and he doesn’t think Donald Trump will either.

The next president of the United States is widely seen as a friend of Israel.

But he is also a man who likes to close deals and avoid conflicts.