UN Urges Israel to Dismantle Settlements in Occupied West Bank

UN Calls for the Dismantling of All Settlements in the Occupied West Bank

The UN Human Rights Office has urged Israel to "dismantle all settlements" in the West Bank, asserting that the "oppression and domination" over Palestinians resembles an apartheid system. In a report released on Wednesday, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights highlighted the "systemic discrimination" against Palestinians, noting restrictions on movement through checkpoints and limited access to roads, natural resources, land, and basic social services.

“There is a systematic suffocation of the rights of Palestinians in the West Bank,” stated UN rights chief Volker Turk in a statement. “This is a form of racial discrimination and extreme segregation that resembles the apartheid system we have seen before.” Turk's comments followed independent UN experts describing the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories as "apartheid," for the first time using a term originally referring to the racial segregation system in South Africa that lasted from 1948 to 1994.

The report accused Israeli authorities of treating Israeli settlers and Palestinians “under two distinct bodies of laws and policies,” resulting in unequal treatment in various critical issues.

Furthermore, laws have led to the expropriation of land and housing from Palestinians, “along with other forms of systemic discrimination, including criminal proceedings in military courts, where rights to a fair trial are systematically violated.” Currently, more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank, which has been occupied since 1967 and is home to approximately three million Palestinians. Violence has surged in the backdrop of the genocidal war in Gaza, with Israeli attacks leading to the deaths of over 1,100 Palestinians in the West Bank since October 7, 2023. Israeli authorities have arrested nearly 21,000 Palestinians during this period.

Meanwhile, the expansion of Israeli settlements continues, with Israel recently approving 19 new settlement advancements in the occupied West Bank, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government seeks to prevent the establishment of a contiguous Palestinian state.