WEST BANK, (PIC)
The occupied West Bank is witnessing an unprecedented acceleration in the pace of Israeli settlement expansion, as this issue has turned into the most prominent headline of Israel’s policies aimed at deciding the conflict on the ground.
The plans for geographic and demographic control over the occupied West Bank are proceeding according to a systematic vision that was prepared in advance, moving from mere local expansion to a process of de facto annexation and a comprehensive reshaping of Palestinian geography in a way that undermines any future geographic opportunity to establish a contiguous state.
Official legalization and imposing a reality on the ground
The current settlement policy moves through two parallel paths that integrate to tighten control over the land, the first path is represented by the structural and official aspect, through issuing a series of military orders and government decisions to expand existing settlements, approve new master plans, and allocate vast areas for future projects.
As for the second path, it depends on giving the green light to settler groups for direct field movement, especially in rural and plains areas. This is manifested in accelerating the pace of displacement of Bedouin and pastoral communities, and establishing new random settlement outposts that extend over wide areas to form buffer zones that prevent Palestinian farmers and herders from accessing their vital lands.
De facto annexation, from military administration to civil sovereignty
Settlement behavior is no longer limited to spatial expansion, but has been accompanied by a strategic and legal shift in the method of land management in the West Bank.
Recent measures prove the occurrence of a fundamental change in the structure of the institutions responsible for this management, as administrative and legal powers were transferred from the authority of the army and the temporary Civil Administration to civil bodies and institutions managed directly by the settlement current within the extremist right-wing Israeli government.
This administrative shift represents an advanced step toward silent “de facto annexation,” as the West Bank is no longer dealt with as an area subject to temporary military occupation according to international law, but rather it is dealt with as a part subject to full Israeli sovereignty, paving the way for legalizing isolated settlement outposts and facilitating the provision of infrastructure and basic services to them without legal restrictions.
Record confiscation and accelerated classification of “state lands”
On the level of figures and devoured areas, the last three years witnessed the confiscation of approximately 70,000 dunums of Palestinian lands under various military orders, which included declarations of control under the names of “state lands,” natural reserves, and closed military zones.
The grave danger lies in the classification of about 27,000 dunums of these lands as “state land,” which is a record number that almost equals the total areas confiscated under this classification since the signing of the Oslo Accords more than three decades ago.
This takeover integrates with the establishment of more than 200 new settlement outposts, mainly concentrated in the period between the years 2023 and the middle of 2026, with the aim of cutting off connection between Palestinian towns and villages.
Systematic attacks and widespread demolition of infrastructure
Expansion operations are accompanied by a sharp escalation in field attacks and the targeting of Palestinian properties, as the ignition of about 850 fires was recorded targeting agricultural lands, crops, and residential homes to force residents to leave.
In a step aimed at legalizing this reality, the Israeli mini-cabinet in the Israeli government approved the establishment of 103 new settlements, which is an unprecedented number reflecting a huge leap in the expansion of the settlement project.
In contrast, destruction mechanisms carry out a systematic emptying of the land through the demolition of Palestinian structures, as approximately 4,000 Palestinian structures were demolished during the past three years, including residential houses, villas, and agricultural, commercial, and Bedouin structures. These measures integrate with the distribution of more than 3,500 demolition notices, as part of the widest operation of altering features and geographic uprooting the region has witnessed in decades.
Fragmented geography as an alternative demographic reality
The current expansionist system is based on a clear plan aimed at absolute control over the geographic and demographic capabilities of the West Bank, as today about 42% of its total area is under the control of settlement councils, including approximately 70% of the areas classified as “C” which are rich in natural resources and open spaces.
The number of Israeli settlers in the West Bank has exceeded the threshold of 780,000 settlers, distributed over approximately 542 settlement sites, including 192 official and approved settlements, and 350 random and pastoral settlement outposts that expand daily to besiege Palestinian communities and strip them of their surrounding lands and natural vital space.
These integrated policies ultimately seek to impose geographic and legal realities that are impossible to reverse in the future, so that the unity of Palestinian lands is replaced by isolated cantons surrounded by settlements and bypass roads, deciding the battle for control over land and resources permanently in favor of the expansionist settlement project.