Overview

In the 59th year of the occupation, the Israeli government continued to aggressively advance its policy of annexation in the West Bank, in defiance of international law and amid grave, systemic violations of Palestinians’ human rights. Settler violence, which has become unprecedented in its scale and severity, has imposed a reign of terror and fear on Palestinians and forced dozens of communities from their lands, thereby helping to realize the vision of permanent Israeli control over the West Bank.

The annexation policy is advanced through the transfer of powers from the Civil Administration to bodies that answer to elected politicians, the expansion of Israeli control in various civil spheres into Areas A and B, and seismic changes in the land administration. In addition, over the past year, dozens of new settlement jurisdictions and the construction of thousands of housing units in existing settlements were approved. Additionally, approximately 360 illegal outposts and outpost farms established without planning or approval, are scattered throughout the West Bank. They dominate hundreds of thousands of dunams, enjoy military protection, and, in many cases, are ultimately connected to infrastructure even before their “regularization” process begins.

Dozens of Palestinians were shot and killed this year by soldiers or settlers, and many hundreds were injured, including elderly people, women and children. Hundreds of families, including entire shepherding communities, were forced to leave their homes and lands as a result of settler violence and access restrictions, while some 33,000 residents of refugee camps in the northern West Bank who were forced out of their homes as part of a military operation more than a year ago remain displaced, living in harsh conditions and not permitted to return home.

Human rights organizations and protective presence activists report closer cooperation between settlers and soldiers than previously observed, the increased use of arbitrary arrests by the military as a tool for oppressing Palestinians, and the continued use of temporary area closure orders to remove protective presence activists. Closure orders and restrictions imposed by the military, ostensibly for the protection of public order and the local community, sometimes create favorable conditions for settler attacks by preventing the presence of human rights activists and media, and delaying the arrival of medical assistance. Settlers, meanwhile, violate these closure orders and attack Palestinian residents undisturbed.

Freedom of movement for 3.4 million Palestinians living in the West Bank is restricted daily by nearly 1,000 full or partial roadblocks. Some are permanently closed, while others operate intermittently without coordination or a proper schedule. Tens of thousands of farmers are denied free access to their land and are required to obtain permission and coordination from the military, which are given sparingly. For the third year in a row, more than 100,000 Palestinian workers have not been permitted to return to work in Israel. These restrictions directly contribute to the economic crisis in the West Bank. Israel’s refusal to transfer billions of dollars of Palestinian Authority revenues needed for running public services in the West Bank is another factor.

Petitioning the High Court of Justice (HCJ) remains a central tool in the fight against systematic human rights violations and unlawful harm to Palestinian civilians by State agents, whether through policy, activities, or acts of omission. However, the effectiveness of this fundamental tool is limited given the slow pace of legal proceedings compared to the rapid pace at which the violations are carried out, the court’s reluctance to intervene in many cases, and the narrow interpretation of its rulings by the military and the Civil Administration.