هيئة مقاومة الجدار والاستيطان

Ramallah, January 5, 2025: Minister Mu’ayyad Sha’ban, head of the Colonization & Wall Resistance Commission, stated that Israeli occupation forces and colonizers carried out 16,612 assaults against Palestinians and their property in various governorates last year, marking a record high in annual attacks. The majority of the attacks were concentrated in Hebron Governorate, with 2,934 assaults, followed by Nablus Governorate with 2,531 assaults, and Ramallah Governorate with 2,224 assaults.

In a press conference held in Ramallah today, Sunday, in the presence of Dr Mohammed Abu Rab, director of the government communication centre, MR Sha’ban detailed the most prominent violations committed by the occupation and colonizers in 2024, revealing that the Israeli occupation army carried out 13,641 assaults, while colonizers committed 2,971 assaults.

He indicated that colonizer assaults were concentrated in Nablus Governorate with 806 assaults, followed by Hebron with 657 and Ramallah with 532.

Mr Sha’ban added that colonizer assaults have resulted in the martyrdom of 10 citizens since the beginning of the year. He also noted that colonizers caused 373 fires on citizens' properties and fields in the governorates of Nablus, Ramallah, Jenin, and Tulkarm. These incidents are in addition to 451 assaults that led to the uprooting, damage, and poisoning of a total of 14,212 trees, including 10,459 olive trees. Hebron Governorate recorded the highest number of damaged trees, with 3,980 affected, followed by Bethlehem Governorate with 3,791 trees, and Nablus Governorate with 2,737 trees.

He explained that since its formation, the occupation state has relentlessly pursued its expansionist agenda on Palestinian lands at escalating rates. These days, escalations have reached unprecedented levels. The occupation state is aiming to control all the lands between the river and the sea, establishing Jewish supremacy by stripping Palestinians of their rights. This constitutes the clearest manifestation of apartheid committed by the last remaining occupation on Earth.

This campaign is part of a broader effort to eliminate the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state. It includes isolating Jerusalem and stripping it of its authentic Palestinian cultural and historical context while seizing control of strategic aspects of Palestinian geography through fragmentation, theft, and destruction. Furthermore, it involves controlling Palestinian living conditions through checkpoints and an extensive system of closures, which have not just begun today but date back to the founding of the occupation state as a means of comprehensive oppression and collective punishment.

The occupation state has continued to implement annexation plans, which are no longer silent, particularly in the areas of the Jordan Valley, the eastern slopes, and as far as Masafer Yatta in the far south of the West Bank. This is being carried out by creating a coercive environment designed to displace the indigenous Palestinian population, utilizing armed colonizer militias to implement this strategy. This represents one of the clearest manifestations of functional exchange between the official establishment and the colonizers.

It was highlighted that the most notable feature of 2024 was the legislative environment that fostered settler-colonial terrorism, developed and advanced by the occupation state through a series of laws and proposed legislation aimed at gaining approval. These laws specifically target Palestinian land for control and plunder, resulting in actual annexation and alleged sovereignty over our Palestinian land.

Sha’ban added that Israeli occupation authorities issued 939 demolition notifications last year for Palestinian facilities under the pretext of lacking permits, continuing the systematic targeting of Palestinian construction. These notifications were concentrated in Hebron Governorate with 180 notifications, Jericho Governorate with 140 notifications, and Bethlehem Governorate with 126 notifications, including 20 notifications targeting the eastern wilderness of Bethlehem.

He also noted that in 2024, the occupation authorities carried out a total of 684 demolition operations, during which 903 facilities were demolished in the West Bank, including Jerusalem. This affected 4,332 people, including 2,320 children. The demolitions were concentrated in Jerusalem Governorate with 190 demolitions, followed by Hebron Governorate with 172 demolitions, and Bethlehem Governorate with 68 demolitions.

Regarding settler-colonial expansion, Mr Sha’ban stated that the occupation authorities seized 46,597 dunums of land last year through a series of military orders. These included 35 orders for land appropriation, targeting approximately 1,073 dunums, which resulted in the establishment of 12 buffer zones around colonies. Additionally, five expropriation orders seized approximately 803 dunums, eight orders declared 24,597 dunums as "state land," and six orders adjusted the boundaries of a nature reserve, seizing about 20,000 dunums.

In terms of colonial expansion, Mr Sha’ban noted that the "planning committees" of the occupation authorities reviewed a total of 173 plans targeting colonies in the West Bank and Jerusalem. These plans included the review of 23,461 colonial units, resulting in the approval of 8,800 new units and the submission of 14,661 units for subsequent approval. These plans targeted a total of 14,982 dunums of Palestinian land across various West Bank governorates, including Jerusalem.

The head of the Colonization & Wall Resistance Commission clarified that colonizers established 51 new colonial outposts last year, 36 of which took the form of grazing outposts in areas such as Ramallah, Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus, Jerusalem, Tubas, Jericho, Salfit, and Tulkarm.

He noted that the occupation authorities have practically begun the process of regularizing 13 colonial outposts, with some expected to be transformed into neighbourhoods or standalone settlements in the future. This regularization was carried out through Cabinet decisions and adjustments to colonies’ boundaries.

 

 

Mr Sha’ban pointed out that by the end of 2024, the number of colonizers in the colonies of the West Bank, including Jerusalem, reached a total of 770,420. These colonizers are distributed across 180 colonies and 256 colonial outposts, 138 of which are classified as pastoral or agricultural outposts.

 

He said that in 2024, the occupation state redefined itself as the last apartheid state on Earth, removing the mask to reveal a horrific face dripping with blood, extremism, and racism. It did not stop there but positioned itself as a criminal machine insatiable in its pursuit of killing, theft, and tightening its grip around the necks of citizens, presenting itself on a platter of the bones and skulls of the innocent and the vulnerable in a blatant challenge to the most basic ethical principles of conflict and relations known to humanity.

 

Mr Sha’ban urged all national institutions—official, popular, and civil society—to unite under a national strategy to confront the occupation's agenda, considering this strategy a top national priority. He added that the desired national strategy must first mobilize national and popular capabilities and second, foster innovation by moving beyond conventional approaches. This includes developing new tools tailored to the current stage and its challenges. The current phase reiterates an old yet urgent demand: the necessity of a genuine and immediate international protection mechanism to safeguard the Palestinian people and their national assets in the face of the occupation's arrogance.