The Israeli non-governmental organization “Peace Now” confirmed in a report issued yesterday, Friday, that the West Bank has witnessed a boom in settlement activity since the start of the war on the Gaza Strip, following the unprecedented increase in the number of random settlements and new roads built for settlers.
The organization stated in the report that since the beginning of the war in Gaza, settlers have established or re-established at least 10 settlement outposts, some of which had been evacuated in the past and then rebuilt.
She added that so far, they have documented at least 18 new roads established by settlers, and estimated that the actual number is higher than what was documented, and explained that these roads allow the seizure of new areas on the road’s path, and prevent Palestinians from reaching them.
She added that the settlers continue to control Area C in the West Bank, which constitutes 60% of its area, which further marginalizes the Palestinian presence there, especially with the spread of the phenomenon of roadblocks that prevent Palestinians from accessing the main roads in the West Bank.
She pointed out that the settlers exploited the three months of the war to effectively control large areas in Area C, stressing that the settlers continue to build roads and settlement outposts, ignoring the legal status of the land.
Participation in decisions
The organization also said that the West Bank has witnessed an increase in settler participation in security and civil decisions related to the lives of Palestinians, including preventing the opening of roads for the use of Palestinian vehicles and closing the entrances to Palestinian villages.
The organization called for an immediate halt to what it called “settlers’ agitation,” because it leads to a major political transformation in the West Bank, amid the military and political environment’s leniency toward land seizures, as a number of settlement supporters currently hold ministerial positions in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
The organization estimates that more than 700,000 settlers reside in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
It is noteworthy that the Israeli non-governmental organization “Yesh Din” reported last week that acts of violence committed by settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank reached a record high in 2023.
While the United Nations, for its part, also recorded 1,225 attacks launched by settlers against Palestinians during the same year.
Last December, the Israeli government approved the allocation of 75 million shekels ($20 million) to secure illegal settlement outposts in the West Bank, despite increasing international and international criticism of settler violence in the West Bank.
This comes amid the continuing incursions and attacks by the Israeli army in the occupied West Bank, coinciding with the aggression it launches against the besieged Gaza Strip.