هيئة مقاومة الجدار والاستيطان

Executive Summary

The occupation state attempts to frame its actions in the Palestinian Territories as being tied to the aggression, or the so-called “security justifications” for their actions on the ground, given that the motivation behind the settler-colonial policy has purely a security concerns. However, in reality, all the occupation state’s actions, from changing the shape of the settler-colonial policies and the resulting procedures on the ground have started since the first year of occupation and have escalated in recent years. The severity of such actions have culminated after the formation of the extremist right-wing government in 2023, particularly evident in the outcomes of the coalition agreements between the parties that formed the government at the time. At the top of the terms of the agreement is the subject of recolonizing the northern part of the West Bank and what follows regarding the adjustment of the Disengagement Law, legalizing colonial outposts, expanding colonies, granting more privileges to the colonizers, and enforcing further planning restrictions on Palestinians.

The subject of coalition agreements now leads us to the statements made by the occupation’s Minister of Finance and the second minister of the Ministry of War, Bizalel Smotrich, especially his infamous article back in 2017 in which he announced the “Decisive Plan”. Upon examining this plan, especially the part concerning the lands of the West Bank, it becomes evident that the current policies and procedures are part of the steps of a previous plan but rather premeditated steps now framed as part of the security conditions of the so-called “war” and its accompanying justifications. Today’s conversations are not merely around procedures stripped from their context; rather, there is now a legislative incubator in progress that revolves around achieving the settler-colonial project. On the one hand, fundamental and unprecedented changes have been made to the structure of the so-called “Civil Administration”; however, this change does not absolve the previous framework’s reality as a colonial tool that has been utilized to solidify the occupation and control the land.

On the other hand, the nature of the changes established are solely on the structural aspect, like creating the position of the Deputy Head of the so-called “Civil Administration”, held by a “civilian” colonizer with an extremist right-wing background, then granting this person unlimited powers. These changes also include hiring a new director for the “Planning Council” who previously worked at the Shomron Regional Council (Northern West Bank)^[1].  In addition, the changes included withdrawing planning powers from the Palestinian Authority and transferring them to the occupation, particularly in Area (B) and Bethlehem’s eastern wilderness, which extends from southern Jerusalem to northern Hebron with an area of 167 km². Overall, the strategic objective being pursued through colonial expansion and land control is the elimination of any possibility of establishing a future Palestinian state. All colonial policies now revolve around this goal.

Nowadays, a number of key initiatives being accelerated exponentially, first of which, land seizures and expropriations (details to follow). The second framework handles the demolition of buildings and facilities, enforcing the planning powers of the occupation state regarding Palestinian construction and accelerating demolitions. In this regard, it is expected for demolitions and removal of Palestinian construction and emptying large areas of land, whether in areas C or B. Most importantly, part of the reason behind the new hires in the so-called “Civil Administration” was to enforce the demolitions against Palestinian construction heavily, while avoiding interference with colonial construction, and accelerate the procedures of legalizing colonial outposts. The occupation government has prepared a list less than a year ago that contains 70 colonial outposts that it wants to legalize, out of which it settled the legal proceedings of 13 outposts in 2024.

The Third framework, colonial expansion, brings us back to the coalition agreements in which Smotrich posed many conditions to impose big reforms in the so-called “Civil Administration”. He was given the responsibility of reducing the approval for colonies’ expansion plans from four steps to two, in addition to eliminating the need for the army’s approval of these stages. By the end of 2024, the so-called “Civil Administration” reviewed (between approvals and deposits) 173 master plans that aim to build 23,461 new units in the West Bank and Jerusalem (including J1 and J2 classifications), in addition to establishing 51 new colonial outposts by colonizers, 36 of which are of pastoral nature, which marks an unprecedented an significant increase in the unofficial mechanisms of land control over the land.

The current occupation government, which is the most right-wing and extremist and fascist in Israeli history, has raised one slogan since the first moment of its formation, one that perfectly aligns with its inner criminal nature. This one slogan is relentless colonization, and control with no supervision. Because of this, it has lunged towards the efforts of manipulating with Palestinian geography with no restraints. In 2024 alone, it has seized a total of 46,597 dunums under various pretexts such as (declaration of nature reserves, expropriation orders, seizure orders, and state land declarations). This includes 20,000 dunums confiscated through six orders modifying the boundaries of nature reserves; 803 dunums through five expropriation orders; and 1,073 dunums through 35 land appropriation orders for military purposes, which resulted in the establishment of 12 buffer zones around colonies, along with a network of sites, fences, and security and military roads. Additionally, 24,597 dunums were declared state land through eight declarations, along with three additional declarations under what is referred to as the Blue Line Team.

Regarding assaults on Palestinian properties, the occupation authorities carried out a total 684 demolitions during 2024, which resulted in the demolition of 903 facilities in the West Bank, including Jerusalem. The occupation authorities also issued 939 demolition notifications to demolish Palestinian facilities under the pretext of lacking a license, 20 of which were targeted at Bethlehem’s eastern wilderness.

At the level of recorded assaults and violations against citizens and their properties, the documentation and publication teams of the Colonization & Wall Resistance Commission documented a total of 16,612 assaults during the past year, 2024. These were carried out by various apparatuses of the occupation state, including its colonizers’ militias, targeting Palestinian citizens and their properties. Among these, 13,641 assaults were committed by the Israeli army, and 2,934 by colonizer militias. These systematic assaults resulted in the martyrdom of 522 Palestinian citizens in the West Bank and Jerusalem, while 10 citizens were martyred at the hands of colonizers.

According to the documentation and publication database of the Colonization & Wall Resistance Commission, the number of operations targeting Palestinian trees during the past year, 2024, amounted to a total of 451 assaults, affecting 14,212 trees, including 10,459 olive trees. The Hebron Governorate recorded the highest number of damaged trees, with 3,980 trees affected, and followed by Bethlehem Governorate with 3,791 trees damaged or uprooted, and then Nablus Governorate with 2,737 trees damaged or uprooted.