UN human rights chief warns that Israeli settlements could amount to war crimes
The United Nations human rights chief on Friday condemned Israeli plans to build more than 3,000 new homes for settlers in the occupied West Bank, warning that the expansion of settlements amounts to a war crime.
The Israeli government has shrugged off criticism from the United States and others to press ahead with its construction plans, which come as tensions have risen in the West Bank since the 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel October led to all-out war in Gaza.
“The West Bank is already in crisis,” said UN rights chief Volker Türk, “but settler violence and settlement violations have reached shocking new levels and threaten any practical possibility for the establishment of a viable Palestinian state.”
About 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the occupied West Bank, where the Israeli army rules over about 2.7 million Palestinians. Much of the Israeli right believes that Israel should control the West Bank forever, while Palestinians view the area as integral to their aspirations for an independent state.
Mr. Türk’s comments accompanied a report released by his office that said settlement expansion and a dramatic increase in related violence and discrimination against Palestinians, especially since October 7, have “put the West Bank on the brink of have brought a catastrophe.”
Settler violence had already reached record levels in 2023, with 835 incidents before the October 7 attack. Since then, violence among settlers has skyrocketed, the UN said, with another 603 attacks by settlers reported.
The UN reported that nine Palestinians were killed by settlers using firearms and 396 by Israeli security forces, while two other Palestinian deaths were unattributed.
More than 1,200 Palestinian herders had been driven from their homes as a direct result of settler violence, as had nearly 600 Palestinians, the UN reported.
Israel’s latest plan to build 3,476 new homes for settlers follows the construction of 23,000 new homes in the 12 months ending in October, the UN Human Rights Office reported, representing the fastest growth rate since monitoring began in 2017 .
The expansion represents a transfer of the Israeli population into occupied territory, which is prohibited under international law and amounts to a war crime, the UN said.
The current Israeli government’s policies appear to be in unprecedented alignment with the settler movement’s goals of expanding long-term control over the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and steadily integrating this occupied territory into Israel , the UN said.
It cited the appointment of Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister and settler, as an “additional minister” in the Defense Ministry with widespread powers over the West Bank, including over land designation, planning and property demolition. At the end of 2022, Israel had 468,000 Jewish Israelis in the West Bank, the report said, and in May 2023, Mr. Smotrich laid out a two-year plan to attract half a million more Israelis to move there.