Hooded settlers spread takeover of the West Bank
Attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank by Israeli settlers have continued since October 2023.
Over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 10,000 injured. Their houses have been burned, their flocks and crops stolen. In February, the Israeli cabinet passed a measure making it easier for Israelis to claim Palestinian land.
The whole of the West Bank – including East Jerusalem – could be swallowed up by Israel, making it impossible for Palestinians ever to have their own country. Israel is founded on 78 per cent of historic Palestine, leaving only the West Bank of the river Jordan and the Gaza Strip. In 1967 Israel invaded and occupied these areas too. Since then more than 650,000 Israelis have settled illegally in the West Bank among a population of around three million Palestinians who are being pushed out.
In the last few years, settlers have worked with the Israeli army to expel at least 50 entire Palestinian communities, while settlers have simultaneously established 152 new outposts according to Israeli publication +972 Magazine. “The settlers began grazing their flocks on land surrounding the community, damaging olive trees and crops, entering the encampment, and threatening families,” said Muhammad Ka’abneh, 85. “They did this with the backing of the military.”
The United Nations has condemned the cabinet decision to let Israelis take over Palestinian land. Human rights expert Francesca Albanese said: “They are deliberate, incremental steps toward permanent annexation, advanced piece by piece, in broad daylight, and with total impunity.” She said the annexation of occupied territory is categorically prohibited under international law. “Annexation does not produce stability,” Albanese said. “It produces systemic discrimination, dispossession, and permanent subjugation.”
