A joint report by Yesh Din, Bimkom and HaMoked, presenting the various practices Israel uses to drive Palestinians out of ever-expanding parts of the West Bank. This policy, key principles of which have been incorporated into the Israeli government’s guiding principles, systematically deploys cruel and racist practices. Previously used mainly against isolated communities in Area C, it is now directed at the entire Palestinian population in the West Bank.

Using four case studies that focus on different levels of Palestinians’ social and geographic circles of belonging in the West Bank – from single families to communities, towns and entire geographic expanses – the report demonstrates that Israel’s annexation policy is applied at different scales and in different areas in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT).

The first section focuses on the Seam Zone, where access restrictions initially imposed as an emergency response have become a permanent reality. Sanctioned by Israel’s High Court of Justice, these restrictions force Palestinian absence from more than 100,000 dunams of agricultural land in the West Bank, leaving it open for takeover by the state or Israeli citizens and severely violating the basic rights of Palestinian farmers to freedom of movement, property and occupation.

The report then turns the spotlight on the community of Rummanah near Jericho, whose residents’ freedom of movement is at the mercy of the security guard of a nearby settlement, leaving them in constant uncertainty regarding their ability to leave their homes safely. Moreover, community residents live under constant threat even inside their homes, which are located in Area A, as soldiers and settlers regularly invade them. These acts of violence and harassment signal the expansion of the transfer and annexation apparatus from Area C to the rest of the West Bank.

The Sinjil case study illustrates the pressure put on the town by Israel’s apparatus of repression designed to drive residents off their land and concentrate them in small, enclosed areas. Direct violence, movement and access restrictions, land takeovers and systematic human rights violations are just some of the means used by the military and settlers in an ongoing process that aims to constrict Palestinian living space and create isolated Palestinian enclaves.

Finally, the report looks at Palestinian space in the northern West Bank, where the military operates with lethal violence to prepare the ground for the establishment of new settlements. The rapid expansion of the settlement project in this area, which enjoys massive support from the Israeli government, has already begun changing the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the region. It is expected to bring more restrictions on their freedom of movement and take over more of their land. In addition, based on Israel’s modus operandi in other parts of the OPT, it is reasonable to assume that renewed settlement in the northern West Bank will cost Palestinian lives, lead to the forcible transfer of communities and significantly reduce Palestinian living space.

These case studies point to a structured Israeli policy consisting of several components: full cooperation between settlers, who initiate the establishment of outposts and violence against Palestinians, and the military, which oppresses the Palestinian population on a daily basis, launches devastating attacks to pave the way for new settlements and backs settler attacks with force; lack of effective law enforcement against settlers and soldiers by law enforcement agencies; and institutional support in the form of funding, infrastructure, retroactive approval and legitimacy from members of government and elected officials. All these elements work in concert to take as much West Bank land as possible, while leaving as few Palestinians living on it as possible.

Israel is effectively annexing the West Bank through a structured, coordinated policy that integrates settlement, violence and the fragmentation of Palestinian space. The state of emergency, introduced as temporary, has become a permanent reality used by the State of Israel, through soldiers and settlers, to displace Palestinian communities, push the population into isolated enclaves, and erase the territorial contiguity of Palestinian space in the West Bank, amid mass abuse of Palestinians’ human rights.

Yesh Din, Bimkom and HaMoked urge the international community not to stand idly by in the face of Israel’s crimes in the West Bank but to take resolute, effective action, in line with international law. Israel’s unlawful annexation of the West Bank is the source of grave violations of Palestinians’ human rights and must be halted. Israel must fulfill its legal obligation to protect Palestinians living under occupation; guarantee their fundamental rights, with an emphasis on the rights to freedom of movement, property and livelihood; remove outposts and settlements; and hold settlers and soldiers accountable for attacks on Palestinians and their property.