Israeli human rights group B’Tselem details five mechanisms used by Israel to dismantle Palestinian collective life.
Israel is executing a systematic and accelerated campaign to dismantle “Palestinian collective life” and establish permanent Jewish-Israeli sovereignty across the occupied West Bank, an Israeli human rights group has warned.
The “Elimination Project”, published on Monday by B’Tselem, details several tactics used by the Israeli government to help it achieve its overall objective of “erasing the Palestinian presence” from the occupied West Bank.
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The report argues that while Israeli policies have been rooted in a long-term settler colonial framework, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has entered an accelerated phase of this objective since late ۲۰۲۲, particularly after the Hamas-led October ۲۰۲۳ attack on southern Israel.
“What Palestinians are living through in the West Bank is not a series of separate incidents. It is a single political project that reaches into every part of life,” said B’Tselem executive director Yuli Novak.
The report outlines five interconnected mechanisms Israel uses to advance its West Bank project, drawing from roughly ۲,۰۰۰ testimonies given by Palestinians.
Firstly, Israel is “using military forces and armed settler militias to impose violence, fear and coercion”, according to the report.
Between October ۲۰۲۳ and September ۲۰۲۶, Israel killed at least ۱,۱۰۷ Palestinians in attacks across the occupied West Bank, the NGO said.
The Israeli army uses military operations and demolitions and assists armed settlers in driving Palestinians from their land to expand its presence in the territory, the report said.
To date, at least ۷۵ Palestinian communities have been forcibly displaced, it said. Israel has, via armed settlers, taken control of more than ۱,۰۷۰,۰۰۰ dunams of land, equivalent to ۱۸ percent of the West Bank as of July, ۲۰۲۶, it said. A dunam is a unit of land area commonly used in the region, equal to ۱,۰۰۰ square meters (about ۰.۲۴۷ acres or ۰.۱ hectare). Furthermore, about ۳۳,۰۰۰ Palestinians have been displaced from refugee camps in the northern West Bank.
Israel also actively restricts Palestinians’ movement, with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs documenting ۹۲۵ movement obstacles, including roadblocks and unmanned checkpoints, throughout the territory by the end of last year.
The Israeli government has purposefully stifled the West Bank’s economy, with unemployment rising from ۱۳.۱ percent in ۲۰۲۲ to more than ۳۱ percent in ۲۰۲۴.
Lastly, Israel actively criminalises political organising, suppressing protests and arresting activists, students and journalists.
Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in October ۲۰۲۳, it has arrested at least ۶۰ Palestinian journalists working in the occupied West Bank.
B’Tselem urged the international community to stop viewing Israel’s violations as isolated incidents and to end complicity in its actions.
It also called for immediate global action to protect Palestinians and dismantle Israel’s military rule and apartheid system.
“Palestinians are being left exposed to escalating violence while Israel advances its project of elimination in the West Bank. Governments cannot condemn these crimes while granting Israel the impunity to continue,” said Novak.
“Together with international institutions, they must use every means available under international law to stop Israel’s crimes and halt the machinery of violence and destruction that is tearing Palestinian life apart.”
