How Israel systematically dismantles Palestinian life in occupied West Bank
B'Tselem says settlement expansion, displacement and curbs are not isolated abuses, but decades-old, coordinated system.
Bethlehem, occupied West Bank – On any given week, Palestinians across the occupied West Bank can experience dozens of what appear to be isolated acts of Israeli violence and suppression.
In early September, Israeli forces killed two teenagers during a military raid in al-Mughayyir, east of Ramallah. Days later in Masafer Yatta, Israeli forces demolished every home in Khirbet al-Tabban, leaving about 70 people, including 30 children, without shelter. In Qusra, south of Nablus, settlers have kept three families under siege inside their homes for more than a month, cutting off their water and power.
In a new report published on Monday, Israeli rights group B’Tselem argued these are not separate incidents. Together, they work towards a single end: Making Palestinian life on the land unsustainable and replacing it with permanent Israeli control. The reality in the West Bank, the group said, is “neither a temporary crisis nor a collection of random human rights violations”.
The squeeze is deliberate, the report argued: A family that cannot earn is easier to uproot, and when Palestinians fall back on their own land, the pressure follows them there.