UN warnings of forced displacement of Palestinians due to expanding Israeli control in the West Bank

Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office, expressed deep concerns regarding the expansion of Israeli occupation authorities' control in the occupied West Bank. Shamdasani affirmed that these moves are directly aimed at facilitating the forced displacement of Palestinians from their lands by creating an environment that expels residents.

The UN official clarified in press statements that Israel's decision to expand surveillance and control activities in areas administratively under the Palestinian Authority raises serious legal and human rights questions. She pointed out that these measures impose cumulative pressures on Palestinian citizens, pushing them towards indirect forced departure without the need for official eviction orders.

Shamdasani warned that the accelerating Israeli steps reinforce a reality that leads to the illegal annexation of Palestinian lands, which constitutes a blatant violation of international law principles. She considered that these policies aim to change the legal and civil status in the occupied West Bank to impose permanent Israeli sovereignty over it.

The Israeli Ministerial Committee for Political and Security Affairs, 'the Cabinet,' approved on February 8 a series of decisions aimed at changing the reality on the ground in the West Bank. These decisions grant the occupation authorities broad powers of surveillance and enforcement in areas classified as 'A' and 'B' that were administratively under the Palestinian Authority.

The occupation authorities justify their new decisions by pursuing what they describe as unlicensed building violations, water issues, and the protection of archaeological and environmental sites. However, these pretexts open the door wide for the implementation of widespread demolition and confiscation operations of Palestinian properties in the heart of cities and villages under Palestinian control.

These developments undermine what remains of the 'Oslo II' agreement understandings signed in 1995, which divided the West Bank into three administrative and security zones. While Area 'A' was under full Palestinian control, it is now threatened by direct Israeli administrative and security encroachment that ends its legal specificity.

The UN spokesperson affirmed that the West Bank is experiencing an extremely 'pressurized environment' whose intensity has escalated since October 7, 2023, coinciding with the ongoing war on the Gaza Strip. She indicated that the narrowing of the available space for Palestinians to live and work was an existing approach and has dramatically escalated in recent months.

The UN Human Rights Office documented the killing of at least 1,052 Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since the beginning of the latest escalation. Reports clarified that these victims fell by the bullets of the occupation forces or during attacks carried out by settlers whom the international organization describes as illegal.

UN sources monitored multiple patterns of systematic violations, including severe beatings and arbitrary detention of Palestinians in conditions described as inhumane. She also drew attention to the escalation of restrictions on freedom of movement, which hindered residents' access to food, basic health, and educational services.

Shamdasani stressed that these restrictions prevent Palestinian farmers from accessing their agricultural lands and workplaces, destroying the economic and social structure of local communities. She considered that this systematic siege falls within a broader plan to consolidate the reality of illegal annexation on the ground.

In her assessment of the human rights situation, the international official indicated that the United Nations has observed systematic violations of Palestinian rights for decades. She affirmed that the office documented forms of continuous discrimination that may amount in their legal description to the level of an apartheid system.

The spokesperson called on the international community to urgently intervene to stop this escalatory approach and oblige Israel to respect its responsibilities as an occupying power under international law. She called for greater attention to what is happening in the West Bank in terms of rapid demographic and legal changes.

For its part, official Palestinian data indicates more tragic figures, as the number of martyrs in the West Bank since October 2023 has reached about 1,112 martyrs. Medical teams also recorded injuries to more than 11,500 Palestinians, while the number of detainees in occupation prisons exceeded 21,000 detainees.

Shamdasani concluded that the intensification of Israeli attacks, including killings, arrests, and settlement expansion, paves the way for the official annexation of the West Bank. She warned that international silence towards these measures will lead to the consolidation of an illegal reality that will be difficult to reverse in the near future.

Israeli decisions create conditions that facilitate indirect forced displacement by accumulating pressure on residents, rather than resorting to official eviction procedures.