Israel’s push to displace thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank

In the occupied West Bank, much like in the Gaza Strip, Israeli policy is forcing thousands of Palestinians from their homes, in stark defiance of international law.

A report published last week by Human Rights Watch (HRW) highlighted the expulsion of 32,000 Palestinians from their homes in just three refugee camps this year. HRW said that the Israeli operation in the Jenin, Nur Shams, and Tulkarem refugee camps, which began in January, led to the biggest mass displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank since 1967.

The displacements come as Israeli violence spirals in the West Bank, where more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis since October 7, 2023, and the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, and Israelis living in illegal settlements launch increasingly violent attacks on Palestinians.

In Area C, the part of the occupied West Bank without even symbolic Palestinian administrative control, the United Nations reported earlier in November that more than 1,000 Palestinians were displaced when Israel demolished their homes, with a further 500 people made homeless in occupied East Jerusalem. Israel cited a lack of permits for the demolitions, but building permits are notoriously hard to obtain for Palestinians in those areas.

Israel has so far faced few consequences for its actions in the occupied West Bank, even as reports from human rights organisations call for senior Israeli military and political officials to be investigated for the actions of Israeli forces in the West Bank refugee camps, and the ongoing displacement of civilians.

“We are witnessing the total abandonment of Palestinian lives. Israel has already shown it is capable of far greater violence, as we are seeing in the Gaza Strip,” Israeli human rights group B’Tselem’s executive director Yuli Novak said on Friday. “The situation in the West Bank is deteriorating by the day and will only worsen, because there is no internal or external mechanism to restrain Israel or stop its ongoing policy of ethnic cleansing. The international community must put an end to Israel’s impunity and hold those responsible for crimes against the Palestinian people to account.”

What are Israel’s aims for the occupied West Bank?

According to many senior Israeli government figures, the aim is to annex the West Bank.

In October, Israel’s parliament granted preliminary approval for a bill that would extend Israeli sovereignty over the occupied West Bank, an action widely regarded as a flagrant breach of international law.

Israel’s hardline finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich – who lives in an illegal settlement  – has been clear in his intentions towards the occupied West Bank.

Speaking at a meeting of his Religious Zionism party last year, Smotrich told colleagues that he was “establish[ing] facts on the ground in order to make Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] an integral part of the state of Israel”.

“We will establish sovereignty … first on the ground, and then, through legislation. I intend to legalise the young settlements [illegal outposts],” the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Smotrich saying, “My life’s mission is to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state.”

More than 700,000 Israelis live in illegal settlements on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

In August, Smotrich announced the creation of a new “E1″ settlement involving the creation of 3,000 homes separating occupied East Jerusalem from the West Bank as part of a project the finance minister said would “bury the idea of a Palestinian state”.

Has Israel said why it is displacing so many Palestinians?

In the areas of the occupied West Bank that it controls, Israeli authorities typically cite planning laws, or claim that Palestinian homes have been built on “closed military zones”: land designated for use by the Israeli state, its security services or for settlement.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), it is “almost impossible” for a Palestinian to gain a building permit from the Israeli authorities.

In the case of the Jenin, Nur Shams, and Tulkarem refugee camps, Israel claimed that it displaced residents as part of “Operation Iron Wall”, intended to eradicate resistance to its occupation from within the camps. However, months after Israeli forces first entered the camps in late January, residents still remain barred from returning, and bulldozers have destroyed many of their homes.

According to Israel’s military spokesperson, the demolitions were carried out for “operational necessity”, and residents were allowed to submit objections and petitions to Israel’s Supreme Court.

All such petitions, including those claiming that Israel’s actions breached international humanitarian law, have been rejected.

What about Israeli settler violence towards Palestinians?

Violence by settler groups – Israelis illegally make their homes within occupied Palestinian territory – is increasing, perhaps buoyed by fellow settlers occupying some of the highest positions in the Israeli state. In October, OCHA recorded more than 260 attacks resulting in casualties, property damage or both. That is an average of eight incidents per day: the highest number since the agency began collating data in 2006.

During the olive harvesting season, Israeli settlers have unleashed a surge of violence upon Palestinians, even as Israeli soldiers watch on.

According to the Palestinian Farmers’ Union (PFU), the most recent attacks are “not random, but deliberate efforts to undermine Palestinian rural life”.

Palestinians say the attacks are part of an attempt by settlers to make life increasingly unbearable for the indigenous population, and eventually force them out.