Tafakji: Settlement, Settler Terror, and Raids Are One System to Annex the West Bank

Settlement expert Dr. Khalil Tafakji affirmed that what is happening in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem has become an integrated Israeli system aimed at annexing the West Bank, through settlement projects, settler violence, and raids. He pointed to plans targeting thousands of dunams, and a UN report documented the advancement of 37,000 settlement units in Jerusalem and 27,000 in the West Bank, warning of turning the occupation into a permanent reality.

Dr. Khalil Tafakji, director of the Maps and Survey Department in Beit Sharq and an expert on settlement affairs, affirmed that what is happening in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem is no longer a series of separate measures but has become an integrated Israeli system in which settlement projects, settler violence, military raids and incursions, checkpoints, and land confiscation intertwine, aiming to reshape the geographic and demographic reality and prepare the ground for imposing annexation and so-called "Israeli sovereignty." Tafakji told the newspaper "Palestine" yesterday that the occupation state is working to turn the West Bank into a group of isolated Palestinian enclaves surrounded by settlements, bypass roads, military zones, and confiscated lands, while occupied Jerusalem is being entrenched as the center of this system. He added that the goal is not limited to expanding the area of settlements but extends to cutting geographic continuity between Palestinian cities and towns, controlling water sources, highlands, and main roads, and preventing any possibility of establishing a viable Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. Tafakji explained that among the most prominent recent settlement projects is the extensive structural plan southeast of the Tekoa settlement in Bethlehem governorate, which targets about six thousand dunams of Palestinian land, along with the new settlement road on the lands of Battir and Beit Jala. He also pointed to plans to seize more than seven thousand dunams in the Nabi Musa area in Jericho governorate, and the threat to isolate more than one thousand nine hundred dunams in Bethlehem in favor of the Efrat settlement, in addition to land registration procedures and military orders used to consolidate control over vast areas of the West Bank. Tafakji clarified that these projects integrate with the expansion of outposts and linking them to a network of roads and checkpoints, creating a new reality on the ground before the official announcement of annexation. He noted that the UN Human Rights Office report documented progress in the construction or approval of 37,000 settlement units in occupied East Jerusalem, and about 27,000 units in the rest of the West Bank, in addition to the establishment of 84 new outposts, indicators revealing the speed of transition from scattered settlement to an interconnected regional control system. He stressed that settler terror serves a clear geographic and political function, as it targets villages, Bedouin communities, farmers, harvest seasons, homes, and properties, pushing residents to leave their lands under the weight of fear, siege, and repeated attacks, and then their departure is used as a pretext to seize lands and establish new outposts or carve roads or create military zones. He affirmed that the siege imposed on Palestinian villages and towns, closing their entrances, preventing access to agricultural lands, and night raids and arrests, are all organized pressure tools aimed at emptying the land of its original inhabitants, not just temporary security measures. Tafakji added that Benjamin Netanyahu's government not only provides political cover for settlers but continues to legalize outposts, expand settlements, and transfer civil and security powers, enhancing the integration of settlements into the Israeli governance system. He considered that the recent decision to transfer the powers of so-called "law enforcement" in settlements from the army to the occupation police reflects a clear trend towards legalizing settlement and consolidating Israeli control over the West Bank. The director of the Maps and Survey Department in Beit Sharq warned of the acceleration of Israeli measures aimed at imposing so-called "sovereignty," stressing that the continued confiscation of lands, expansion of settlements, changing administrative and legal systems, giving settlers free rein, and undermining the powers of Palestinian institutions will undermine any future possibility of establishing an independent and geographically contiguous Palestinian state. He said the danger is no longer represented by a single settlement project but in re-engineering the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem so that the occupation becomes a permanent reality, and talk of a two-state solution becomes a political cover for actual annexation being implemented in stages. Tafakji called on the international community to move from statements of condemnation to practical measures that stop settlement, protect Palestinian residents, and ensure accountability for those responsible for attacks and land confiscation, stressing that protecting Palestinian villages and towns and preserving the Palestinian presence in Jerusalem and the West Bank constitute an urgent priority to prevent the completion of the annexation project and the change of the identity of the place and its inhabitants.