NNA – The Government of Israel last year ratcheted up settlement of the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, transferring its own population into the territory and unlawfully demolishing Palestinian homes, while settler violence increased in a climate of continuing impunity, a report by the UN Human Rights Office has found.
"Israel's settlement policy, its acts of annexation, and related discriminatory legislation and measures are in breach of international law, as the International Court of Justice has confirmed, and violate Palestinians' right to self-determination," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said.
"Israel must immediately and completely cease all settlement activities and evacuate all settlers, stop the forcible transfer of the Palestinian population, and prevent and punish attacks by its security forces and settlers."
The ongoing transfer of Government powers over the Occupied Palestinian Territory from the Israeli military to the Israeli Government is facilitating the advancement of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the steady integration of the occupied West Bank into the State of Israel, the report says.
Covering the period from 1 November 2023 to 31 October 2024, the report details significant expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Steps have been taken towards implementing plans to construct over 20,000 housing units in new or existing Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem alone, according to Israeli non-governmental organisations, while 214 Palestinian properties and structures have been demolished in East Jerusalem. Over 10,300 units within existing Israeli settlements in the rest of the West Bank are in the pipeline and an unprecedented 49 new Israeli outposts have been established.
"Dozens of unauthorised roads have been paved by settlers and the army around settlements and outposts, helping to connect them while blocking Palestinians' movement and enabling further seizure of their land," the report says.
Plans to ramp up the provision of Israeli Government services in settlements "further institutionalise[s] long-standing patterns of systematic discrimination, segregation, oppression, domination, violence and other inhumane acts against the Palestinian people", the report adds.
It also points to "a climate of revenge" and violence across the West Bank. During the reporting period, a total of 612 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, by Israeli security forces and settlers. Twenty-four Israelis were also killed in alleged attacks or clashes with Palestinians. The current climate has further empowered Israeli settlers to attack Palestinians, force them from their homes and seize their land, the report says.
"The line between settler and State violence [has] blurred to a vanishing point, further enabling an increase in violence and impunity," it says, pointing to steps taken by Israel to further militarise the settler movement. This includes the enlistment of thousands of settlers into Israeli security forces operating in the West Bank. The report documents a monthly average of 118 incidents of settler violence, up from 108 in 2023 – which was already a record-breaking year.
A total of 1,779 Palestinian structures were demolished in the West Bank for "lack of building permits", which are almost impossible to obtain for Palestinians, resulting in the forcible displacement of 4,527 people. The number of Palestinians forcibly displaced by demolitions rose by nearly 200 per cent on the previous reporting period.
"The transfer by Israel of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies amounts to a war crime," the High Commissioner said, urging the international community to take meaningful action on Israel's advancing settlement of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
"Israel must abide by the International Court of Justice's ruling and cease immediately all new settlement activities, evacuate all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory and make reparations for the damage caused by decades of illegal settlement," Türk said.
==========R.H.
