West Bank Palestinians facing accelerated displacement

Displacement is a fundamental characteristic of the Palestinian experience. Palestinians were displaced from their homes in 1948, 1967 and during multiple other wars in the region. The current war in Gaza has displaced about 90 percent of the population. In East Jerusalem and the West Bank, Israel has pursued a policy of displacing Palestinians in specific areas that are culturally or strategically important. Such displacements are nothing new, but Israel’s far-right government is now using the wars in Gaza and Lebanon as cover for a new wave of forcible displacement in the West Bank.

Many Israeli leaders have opposed a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a particularly long and successful history of undermining any potential for a Palestinian state. Israel’s current government, which took power in late 2022, goes further. According to reports by The Guardian, The New York Times and others, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich last week told his supporters in Israel’s settlement movement that the government is pursuing a policy of effectively annexing the West Bank.

Certainly, the government’s actions suggest that Smotrich is right. Last year, it shifted significant authorities over life in the West Bank to Smotrich, a pro-settler activist. Before the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, the military had far more soldiers stationed in the West Bank than along the border with Lebanon or the border with Gaza, despite the lack of a militant group there with capabilities similar to Hamas or Hezbollah — a strong indication of the government’s priorities.

This year, the government has seized far more West Bank land than in any year since the Oslo Accords were signed

Kerry Boyd Anderson

The government has approved new settlements and the expansion of others, while settler violence has increased dramatically, including sometimes with military support. This year, the government has seized far more West Bank land than in any year since the Oslo Accords were signed. Furthermore, the “government doubled the budget of the Ministry of Settlement and the funds allocated to the Settlement Division,” according to the Israeli organization Peace Now.

Another crucial part of the current government’s drive toward effective, if undeclared, annexation is the increased displacement of Palestinians.

There is a long history since 1967 of the Israeli government forcing Palestinians out of their homes in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. In recent years, the government has often demolished Palestinian homes as a punitive measure used against the families of alleged militants or due to building without a permit — although permits are nearly impossible for Palestinians to get from the Israeli authorities, despite natural growth and the need to update old structures and infrastructure.

A new wave of such displacements has occurred under the current government and particularly in the last year. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, in the last year, “Israeli authorities destroyed, confiscated, sealed or forced the demolition of about 1,800 Palestinian structures across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.” These demolitions displaced more than 4,630 Palestinians.

The primary causes of such demolitions were construction without permits and via military operations, such as the extensive destruction of buildings and infrastructure in Jenin. Israeli authorities say that damage from military operations is unavoidable due to the need to combat terrorism and they blame militants for hiding among civilians. However, Palestinians say that some of the destruction caused by Israeli forces appears unrelated to militants’ actions or presence.

In addition to the demolitions and destruction carried out by Israeli authorities and security forces, Palestinians in the West Bank and parts of Jerusalem experience violence and intimidation from settlers that is designed to force them to move away from targeted areas. Settler violence is not new but has spiked dramatically and settlers almost never face consequences under the current Israeli government.

Settler violence is not new but has spiked dramatically and settlers almost never face consequences

Kerry Boyd Anderson

In the past year, settlers have destroyed crops, killed livestock, torched cars, attacked individuals and damaged homes and more. Settlers have killed at least 12 Palestinians in the last year, according to the UN, while Israeli forces have killed at least 719 in Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Currently, settlers appear to be targeting farming and herding communities located in Area C, which, under the Oslo Accords, constitutes about 60 percent of West Bank land and is administered by Israel. Their focus seems to be on pushing Palestinians out of Area C and especially the Jordan Valley. At least 16 Palestinian communities — mostly herders and farmers — have fled in the face of settler violence in the last year. Settlers often then destroy property and otherwise ensure that the Palestinians will not return.

In the last couple of weeks, settlers have targeted Palestinians harvesting olives. Groups of armed settlers have confronted Palestinians in their fields, threatening them, injuring them and damaging or destroying olive trees. The destruction of olive trees carries both practical and symbolic importance. Practically, it deprives Palestinian farmers of their livelihood in a way that takes years to replace and, symbolically, it demonstrates that Palestinians do not belong on the land in which they have deep roots.

The actions of the Israeli government and settlers in the West Bank are clearly designed to further ensure that no sovereign Palestinian state based in the West Bank will ever emerge — and, further, to assert Israel’s long-term control and settlement of the land. This is not new, but the policies of the current far-right government are accelerating annexation to a higher speed.

Meanwhile, as the world focuses on the vast destruction and death in Gaza and the highly risky war in Lebanon, the Israeli government and the settler movement are taking advantage of the opportunity to move ahead with forcing Palestinians into ever smaller parts of the West Bank.

• Kerry Boyd Anderson is a writer and political risk consultant with more than 18 years of experience as a professional analyst of international security issues and Middle East political and business risk. Her previous positions include deputy director for advisory with Oxford Analytica. X: @KBAresearch