Among the Palestinian plain, remains of broken lives stand out. On both sides of the highway that connects the north with the south of the occupied West Bank, There are ruins of houses abandoned in the rush of fleeing for their lives. Most, if not all, have been looted. Some of them even burned. Among the rubble, one can sense a precarious corral or a decomposed sheepfold. These devastated corners are part of the landscape of desolation and uprooting that the Area C of the occupied Palestinian territories. Amnesty International has denounced in a new report the ethnic cleansing of Israel against the Bedouin and pastoralist communities of the West Bank.
Behind this reality, there are many people responsible. The settler violence that expels Palestinian families from their native land is supported, in part, by offices in Europe, according to the organization. “We have war criminals walking through our streets and no one is doing anything about it,” he denounced Agnès CallamardSecretary General of Amnesty International, at a press conference this Wednesday in Berlin. From the German capital, he has pointed out the Government of the German country as one of the culprits that this “abject violence is perpetuated in complete impunity“.
Fewer Palestinians
Violence is expressed in different ways: from herd theft until the arson fires against houses and mosques, including attacks against pastors and the uprooting of ancient trees. These actions are carried out by settlers living in the occupied West Bank, often protected by Israeli soldiers. This regime of terror and violence has one result: the expulsion of the Palestinians. “Ethnic cleansing in the occupied West Bank is not a product of a group of extremists, it is imposed by the State, it is a state project“, defends Callamard. The Office of the United Nations for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) denounces the increase in this phenomenon in recent years.
The secretary general of Amnesty International, Agnès Callamard, during the press conference she offered this Wednesday in Berlin. / JOHN MACDOUGALL / AFP
Between January 2023 and April 2026, approximately 5.910 personas they saw each other forced to leave their homes. Most of the affected communities are located in the Zone Cwhich includes more than 60% of the West Bank and is administered by Israel. A large part of the natural resourcesvast grazing and agricultural lands, guarded by an increasingly scarce Palestinian population that suffers this violence with hardly any protection. Despite the documentation of settler attacks by the victims themselves or by Israeli and international activists accompanying them, the crimes are barely investigated by Israeli security forces, even though they violate national laws, and none have been convicted.
Colonists in the Government
Since the prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to office at the end of 2022 thanks to the support of far-right allies, the settlers have become the executive arm of its annexationist policies on Palestinian land. “The Israeli Government is carrying out ethnic cleansing in the West Bank through the forcible transfer of Palestinians, which constitutes a crime against humanity“said Callamard. The Israel-Palestine director for the International Crisis Group, Max Rodenbeckhas pointed directly to Bezalel Smotrichthe settler in charge of the Finance portfolio. “Before becoming minister, in 2017, he presented his plan for the occupied West Bank that would force Palestinians to decide whether they want to be expelled or live under apartheid“, he tells this newspaper.
“Israel is a demographic colonial project of population replacement, of colonization of the indigenous people”
“Israel is a demographic colonial project of population replacementof colonization of the native people”, denounces Ines Abdel Razekco-director of the Palestinian Institute for Public Diplomacy, to EL PERIÓDICO. In the report’Erasing everything Palestinian: Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Bedouin and pastoralist communities in the West Bank’ by Amnesty, the organization directly points to the current government coalition as responsible for the ethnic cleansing of the occupied Palestinian territories. This has been carried out from the incorporating settler priorities to state politics, with explicit appeals of Israeli officials to the settlement expansionthe extension of Israeli sovereignty on the occupied territory, the measures aimed at minimize the Palestinian presence in Area C and the public support for settlers by key Government ministers, some of whom are settlers.
More weapons
Furthermore, the legislation has allowed the transfer of powers in the West Bank from military to civilian authoritiesin violation of the international humanitarian lawthe declaration of state land and the simplification of procedures for the approval of settlements, added to the increase of financial and political support for their infrastructure. The flexibility of the criteria for granting firearms licenses private companies have multiplied weapons permits 15-fold since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. “These policies caused a strong increase in armed attacks of the settlers,” Amnesty denounces in the report, pointing out the delivery of “weapons and uniforms to thousands of settlers, making it difficult for Palestinians to distinguish between soldiers and settlers.
“By not taking action against Israel we have let this happen: we find ourselves in an era of total destruction of the occupied West Bank and the international system”
But, beyond these direct perpetrators, the human rights organization insists on the complicity of the international community. “He is guilty of misrepresenting settler violence, presenting it as a isolated fact“Callamard stated at the press conference. “We agree with the sanctions imposed on extremist settlers by some European countries, but we deeply reject the background which is Europe’s inability to face the systematic state forces that support the campaign” of ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population, he adds. “By not taking measures against Israel we have allowed this to happen: we find ourselves in a era of total destruction of the occupied West Bank and the international system”Callamard concluded, with concern.
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