"Human Rights Watch": Settler violence a systematic tool for displacing Palestinians

Human Rights Watch confirmed in a new report that settler militia violence in the West Bank has become a systematic tool for displacing Palestinians, with direct support from the Israeli occupation government, and considered this approach a war crime.

Human Rights Watch confirmed in a new report that settler militia violence in the occupied West Bank has become a systematic tool for displacing Palestinians from their lands, with direct support from the Israeli occupation government. The organization said in its report published Wednesday that settler attacks are not limited to individual acts but come within an official policy that provides funding, legal protection, and military support to attacking settlers. It noted that the occupation army and police actively participate in these attacks, either through field presence or deliberate negligence and failure to intervene to protect Palestinian civilians. The report documented dozens of cases where Palestinian villages and communities were subjected to repeated attacks, including property burning, physical assault, and preventing residents from accessing their agricultural lands and pastures, aiming to push them to leave. The organization pointed out that the occupation government funds illegal outposts and works to retroactively legalize them, along with providing political cover for settlers, considering this approach a war crime under international law. The organization held the international community responsible for silence over these violations, stressing that the lack of accountability has contributed to an unprecedented escalation in settler violence over the past two years. It called on states to impose sanctions on settlers involved in violence, as well as on ministers and officials who fund and support these policies. It emphasized that what is happening in the West Bank is not "mutual violence," as the occupation narrative claims, but rather organized forced displacement led by the occupation government aimed at changing the demographic reality and controlling the land.