Report says Israeli settlers used grazing to usurp West Bank land
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Around 490,000 Israelis are living in settlements and outposts that are deemed illegal under international law in the occupied West Bank.
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An Israeli settlement tops a hill overlooking sheep in their pen in a hamlet in the South al-Khalil hills in the occupied West Bank, on May 17, 2024. (AP)
Israelis have utilized grazing to grab control of 14% of the occupied West Bank by establishing shepherding outposts in recent years, Israeli watchdogs have revealed.
In their study "The Bad Samaritan", Israeli NGOs Peace Now and Kerem Navot stated that in the preceding three years, 70% of the land grabbed by settlers was "taken under the guise of grazing activities."
Settlers in the occupied West Bank utilize herding to establish a presence on agricultural grounds used by Palestinian populations, progressively denying them access to these areas, according to the research.
To push Palestinians out, settlers resort to harassment, intimidation, and violence, "with the backing of the Israeli government and military," according to watchdogs.
"Israeli authorities make living conditions very difficult, but settler violence is really the main trigger why people leave lately -- they have nothing to protect themselves," said Allegra Pacheco, head of the West Bank Protection Consortium, a consortium of international non-governmental organizations.
"People get very worried about their families and their safety" and have little recourse when settlers begin to seize their properties, she told AFP.
Around 490,000 Israelis are living in settlements and outposts that are deemed illegal under international law in the occupied West Bank, home to 3 million Palestinians.
On Friday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that "Israeli settlers injured 23 Palestinians in one week" primarily in Bedouin and herding communities.
Between March 11 and 17, "two Palestinian families were displaced, and at least two houses, eight vehicles, and 180 Palestinian-owned trees and saplings were vandalized" by settlers.
More than 60 entire Palestinian shepherding communities throughout the West Bank have been expelled using such methods since 2022, the report added.
These villages are primarily located in Area C of the West Bank, which is fully controlled by "Israel" under the Oslo Accords signed in the 1990s.
In recent months, numerous Israeli lawmakers have urged taking advantage of President Donald Trump's support for the occupation to usurp part or all of the West Bank by 2025.
"The systematic and violent displacement of Palestinians from hundreds of thousands of dunam of land in recent years" has laid the groundwork for such ambitions, the new study stated of "annexation", citing a customary measure of land area comparable to 1,000 square meters.
