Some Israeli settlers use sheep as tool to push Palestinians from their West Bank homes

October 11, 2026 / 7:00 PM EDT / CBS News

The arid hilltops of the West Bank have seen shepherds come and go for thousands of years, and now some of these shepherds are behind settler violence against Palestinians.

The struggle for the West Bank is a biblical story. There are two populations – Jewish and Arab, the descendants of Abraham's sons, Isaac and Ishmael – fighting over ancestral land. The West Bank, located on the west bank of the Jordan River, is home to more than 3 million Palestinians who hope to make it the heart of their future state. It is also home to over 500,000 Jews who call the area Judea and Samaria, their biblical homeland.

The area has been under Israeli military occupation for nearly six decades. Jewish settlers have built communities in the West Bank in hopes of making the land part of Israel.

With Israeli elections two weeks away, and midterms in the U.S. next month, how settler violence is handled could soon change.

Mordehai Minster, who cofounded a sheep farm in the West Bank, is a new type of Israeli settler. His herd is driven deeper and deeper into surrounding Palestinian communities.

"When…

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