UN Human Rights Office said the Government of Israel has stormed up settlement of the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, transferring its own population into the territory and unlawfully demolishing Palestinian homes. At the same time, Israel has continued its violence against campers.
Spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said in a statement Israel’s settlement policy, its acts of annexation, and related discriminatory legislation and measures are in breach of international law and violate Palestinians’ right to self-determination.
Al-Kheetan was presenting a report by the UN Human Rights Office that outlines the ongoing transfer of powers over the Occupied Palestinian Territory from the Israeli military to the government.
The report, which covers a 12-month period up to the end of October 2024, refers to plans to construct over 20,000 housing units in new or existing Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem alone, according to Israeli non-governmental organisations.
In East Jerusalem, 214 Palestinian properties and structures have been demolished. Over 10,300 units within existing Israeli settlements in the rest of the West Bank are in the pipeline, and an unprecedented 49 new Israeli outposts have been established.
Al-Kheetan added that the report also points to plans to increase the provision of Israeli Government services in settlements. This further institutionalises long-standing patterns of systematic discrimination, segregation, oppression, domination, violence and other inhumane acts against the Palestinian people.
The current climate has empowered Israeli settlers to attack Palestinians, force them from their homes, and seize their lands. During the reporting period, 612 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, by Israeli security forces and settlers. Twenty-four Israelis were also killed in alleged attacks or clashes with Palestinians.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk repeated that “Israel must immediately and completely cease all settlement activities and evacuate all settlers, stop the forcible transfer of the Palestinian population, and prevent and punish attacks by its security forces and settlers.
