{"id":306340,"date":"2025-03-18T12:13:21","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T16:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&#038;p=306340"},"modified":"2025-04-09T11:04:46","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T15:04:46","slug":"israel-ramps-up-settlement-and-annexation-in-west-bank-with-dire-human-rights-consequences","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/israel-ramps-up-settlement-and-annexation-in-west-bank-with-dire-human-rights-consequences\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel ramps up settlement and annexation in West Bank with dire human rights consequences"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>18 March 2025<\/p>\n<div class=\"hero-1__image-wrapper\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload hero-1__img aligncenter\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271276%27%20height%3D%27425%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%201276%20425%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%271276%27%20height%3D%27425%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/hero_image_1\/public\/2025-03\/2025-03-18-opt2.jpg?itok=WQkTNWJL\" alt=\"New buildings stand around the Israeli settlement Ateret near the Palestinian village of Um Safa near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, March 11, 2025. \" width=\"1276\" height=\"425\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"hero-1__caption\" style=\"text-align: center\"><span class=\"hero-1__caption--credit\">@ REUTERS\/Mohammed Torokman<\/span><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>GENEVA \u2013 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\u00a0<em><a title=\"A\/HRC\/58\/73: Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan - Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights - Advance edited version\" href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/a-hrc-58-73-israeli-settlements-opt-ohchr-report-march2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-entity-type=\"node\" data-entity-uuid=\"d5666adc-3d60-4dbe-a107-d4efa6194aef\" data-entity-substitution=\"canonical\">report<\/a><\/em>\u00a0by the UN Human Rights Office has found.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"content-container\">\n<div class=\"content-main\">\n<div class=\"content-narrow\">\n<div class=\"node-news__body\">\n<div class=\"wysiwyg-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item\">\n<p>\u201cIsrael\u2019s 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\u2019 right to self-determination,\u201d UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker T\u00fcrk said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIsrael 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDozens of unauthorised roads have been paved by settlers and the army around settlements and outposts, helping to connect them while blocking Palestinians\u2019 movement and enabling further seizure of their land,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n<p>Plans to ramp up the provision of Israeli Government services in settlements \u201cfurther institutionalise[s] long-standing patterns of systematic discrimination, segregation, oppression, domination, violence and other inhumane acts against the Palestinian people\u201d, the report adds.<\/p>\n<p>It also points to \u201ca climate of revenge\u201d 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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe line between settler and State violence [has] blurred to a vanishing point, further enabling an increase in violence and impunity,\u201d 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 \u2013 which was already a record-breaking year.<\/p>\n<p>A total of 1,779 Palestinian structures were demolished in the West Bank for \u201clack of building permits\u201d, 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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe transfer by Israel of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies amounts to a war crime,\u201d the High Commissioner said, urging the international community to take meaningful action on Israel\u2019s advancing settlement of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIsrael must abide by the International Court of Justice\u2019s 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,\u201d T\u00fcrk said.<\/p>\n<p>To read the full report, click on the following link:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/en\/documents\/country-reports\/ahrc5873-israeli-settlements-occupied-palestinian-territory-including\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/en\/documents\/country-reports\/ahrc5873-israeli-settlements-occupied-palestinian-territory-including<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; 18 March 2025 @ REUTERS\/Mohammed Torokman &nbsp; GENEVA \u2013 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\u00a0report\u00a0by the UN Human Rights Office <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/israel-ramps-up-settlement-and-annexation-in-west-bank-with-dire-human-rights-consequences\/\"> [&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":301,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[1329],"document-source":[1825],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[2849,1769,2029,1741,6882,6885,1785,2613,6876,6879,2297,2185,2137,6251],"entity":[],"document-language":[],"class_list":["post-306340","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-press-release","document-source-office-of-the-united-nations-high-commissioner-for-human-rights-ohchr","document-subject-annexation","document-subject-armed-conflict","document-subject-house-demolitions","document-subject-human-rights-and-international-humanitarian-law","document-subject-human-rights-council","document-subject-human-rights-violations","document-subject-israeli-actions-in-occupied-east-jerusalem-and-the-rest-of-the-occupied-palestinian-territory","document-subject-internally-displaced-persons","document-subject-international-court-of-justice","document-subject-israeli-settlements","document-subject-land","document-subject-legal-issues","document-subject-settlements","document-subject-west-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/306340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/301"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/306340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":306767,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/306340\/revisions\/306767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=306340"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=306340"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=306340"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=306340"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=306340"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=306340"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=306340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}