Official Report: Occupation and Settlers Carried Out Over 1600 Attacks in West Bank During April

An official report issued by the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission showed a dangerous escalation in the pace of Israeli violations in the occupied West Bank during last April. According to documented data, the occupation army and settlers carried out a total of 1637 attacks targeting citizens and their properties, ranging from direct demolition and sabotage to land confiscation.

The sources clarified that the occupation army was responsible for carrying out 1097 attacks, while settlers launched another 540 attacks under the protection of regular forces. These violations were primarily concentrated in Nablus Governorate, which recorded 402 attacks, followed by Hebron Governorate with 340 attacks, and then Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorates with 312 violations, reflecting a systematic targeting of Palestinian centers of gravity.

Regarding the destruction of infrastructure and housing, the occupation authorities carried out 37 demolition operations affecting 78 different Palestinian structures. These operations included the demolition of 37 inhabited homes, leading to the displacement of dozens of families, in addition to the destruction of 34 agricultural structures and 5 commercial establishments, in a step aimed at undermining the economic and livelihood resilience of Palestinians.

The Palestinian environment and agriculture were not spared from this assault, as the report documented the uprooting, destruction, and poisoning of approximately 4414 olive trees in the governorates of Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Jerusalem, and Nablus. These attacks are part of a policy to destroy the agricultural sector and prevent farmers from accessing their lands, especially in areas near existing settlements or new outposts.

Regarding settlement expansion, the Commission revealed the establishment of 21 new settlement outposts in just one month, most of which took on an agricultural and pastoral character to control the largest possible area of land. The occupation authorities also issued 6 military orders to seize 42 dunams of citizens' land under the pretext of paving security roads or establishing buffer zones around settlements.

The report indicated that settlers carried out 124 acts of property sabotage and 20 acts of direct confiscation and theft, with full protection provided to them by the occupation army. These practices coincide with the closure of vast areas of Palestinian land under flimsy security pretexts, while settlers are allowed to expand and move freely within these closed areas.

The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission warned that these policies aim to impose a coercive environment that expels the indigenous population, paving the way for widespread forced displacement. These practices specifically target Bedouin communities and areas classified as (C), seeking to empty the land of its owners and undermine the historical Palestinian presence in those areas.

At the planning level, the relevant Israeli authorities studied 10 structural plans for settlement expansion, including 6 plans deep in the West Bank and 4 within the boundaries of the occupation municipality in Jerusalem. These moves confirm the occupation's transition from random expansion to imposing comprehensive and legalized geographical facts aimed at resolving the conflict over the land and definitively changing the features of Palestinian geography.

Occupational policies have shifted from managing settlement expansion to imposing comprehensive and legalized geographical facts through official decisions aimed at tampering with Palestinian geography.