The brutal war of attrition launched by the Israeli occupation on Gaza is not the only front on which it is committing ethnic cleansing, as its seizure of land in the West Bank is on a steady increase.
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New housing projects are seen in the West Bank Israeli settlement of ‘Givat Ze’ev’, June 18, 2023 (AP)
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) announced that the area of land seized by the Israeli occupation in 2023 has reached 50,526 dunams (50.5 square km), compared to about 26,000 dunams (26 square km) in 2022.
The PCBS also announced that the occupation regime issued 32 orders to seize 619 dunams (0.6 square km), four orders to expropriate about 433 dunams (0.4 square km), and two orders to declare 515 dunams (0.5 square km) as “state land” during the past year.
The PCBS also stated that “Israel” issued four orders to amend the boundaries of nature reserves, through which it seized 48,959 dunams (48.9 square km).
Israeli settlement expansion on the rise
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk confirmed that Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories have increased by a record amount and they risk eliminating any practical possibility of a Palestinian state.
He said that the growth of Israeli settlements amounted to “Israel’s” transfer of its own population, which he said constituted a war crime, which echoes the Biden administration’s statement last month that the settlements were “inconsistent” with international law after the occupation announced new building plans.
Accompanying the report due to be presented to the Human Rights Council in Geneva later this month, Turk said: “Settler violence and settlement-related violations have reached shocking new levels, and risk eliminating any practical possibility of establishing a viable Palestinian State”.
In a related statement, “Israel’s” diplomatic mission in Geneva argued that the deaths of 36 Israelis in 2023 should have been included in the report.
“Human rights are universal, yet Israeli victims of Palestinian terrorism are ignored by the Office (of the High Commissioner) time and time again”.
Read next: Israeli authorities, settlers carried out 12,000+ attacks in 2023
The 16-page report demonstrates the plans for 24,300 new Israeli housing units in the occupied West Bank from one year through to the end of October 2023, which was the highest record since UN monitoring began in 2017.
According to the report, a sharp increase in the intensity, severity, and regularity of both Israeli settler and state violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank has been evident, especially since October 7.
