Israeli settlers in the West Bank see Trump’s win 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 in 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 border between the State of Israel and the territory it took from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war has been erased from their narrative.

The visitor’s audio guide at the hilltop observatory 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 remains a dream for settlers like Sondra so far, even as the settlements – considered illegal by the UN Supreme Court and most other countries – have proliferated year after year.

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

“I was happy that Trump won,” Sondra told me. “I really want to extend sovereignty in Judea and Samaria. And I think that’s something that Trump can help.”

There are signs in his incoming administration that some may agree with him.

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

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

Yisrael Gantz, head of the regional settlement council that oversees Karnei Shomron, said he has already noticed a change in tone from the Trump administration following the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel that triggered the Gaza war.

“Both in Israel and in the US, 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 eyes, the dream of a two-state solution is dead.”

US President Joe Biden has always maintained the US position alongside Israel in favor of a future Palestinian state. Asked if he was hearing anything different from the Trump administration, Gantz replied, “Of course, yes.”

But there are also signs that Israelis lobbying for annexation of the West Bank – some of them in cabinet positions – may be disappointed with Trump’s decisions.

Their hopes have been fueled by memories of his first term as president, when he broke with decades of US policy – and international consensus – by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and Israeli sovereignty over the Syrian-occupied Golan Heights. 1967

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

Another key Washington ally, Saudi Arabia, would likely walk away, complicating Trump’s prospects for a broader regional deal.

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

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

Questioning why they should leave their homeland, he said: “I’m not going to expel them, but things change. How many wars did they start? And they lost.”

“If sovereignty were to go ahead, there would be a lot of shouting and screaming, absolutely,” he continued. “But at some point, you create an irreversible fact.”

Shortly after Trump won the election 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 Judea and Samaria’s sovereignty,” he said.

Whether the new US president agrees or not, many Palestinians say the debate over formal annexation misses the point: Israel is, in practice, already annexing territory here.

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

Israel has full security and planning control over 60% of the West Bank temporarily, as stipulated in the Oslo peace accords three decades ago.

While the settlements are expanding, permits for Palestinian homes are almost never issued. And lawyers say demolitions like this are on the rise.

“This is all part of the policies to force them to leave,” Mohaib said. “It’s a forced migration policy. What difference does it make (to Israelis) if I build here or not? We don’t pose a threat.”

Palestinians are also increasingly being forced off their land by violent Israeli settlers – who have been punished by the US and the UK, but largely unchallenged by Israeli courts at home.

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

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

America’s next president is seen as a friend of Israel.

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