UN Human Rights Briefing with Ajith Sunghay on settlements report in OPT

“Today, we are publishing a report on the Israeli settlements in occupied West Bank, detailing the drastic acceleration in settlement building alongside oppression, violence and discrimination against Palestinians,” said Ajith Sunghay, Head of the UN Human Rights Office for the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

“Just this week, there were reports that Israel plans to build a further 3,476 settler homes in the illegal settlements of Maale Adumim, Efrat and Kedar in further violation of international law,” said Sunghay, speaking to the biweekly press briefing in Geneva from East Jerusalem.

The report highlights the dramatic increase in the intensity, severity and regularity of Israeli settler and State violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, particularly since 7 October 2023.

“This violence is accelerating Palestinians’ displacement from their land,” Sunghay warned.

“The report finds that the policies of the current Israeli Government appear aimed at expanding long-term Israeli control over the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the steady integration and annexation of occupied territory into the State of Israel,” Sunghay said.

“Once more, we remind Israel that the transfer of the population of an occupying power into occupied territory, or the forcible transfer of the population within or from occupied territory, or the annexation of territory by use of force are all strictly prohibited – officials and others involved in such conduct risk individual criminal liability,” he said.

“As the High Commissioner has repeatedly stressed, Israel’s unlawful actions against the Palestinian population in the West Bank must cease immediately,” Sunghay stressed.

The size of existing Israeli settlements has expanded markedly, the report says. About 24,300 housing units within existing Israeli settlements in the West Bank were advanced during this period, the highest on record since monitoring began in 2017. This included approximately 9,670 units in East Jerusalem.

The report finds that the policies of the current Israeli Government appear aligned, to an unprecedented extent, with the goals of the Israeli settler movement to expand long-term control over the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and to steadily integrate this occupied territory into the State of Israel.

ENDS

In Geneva:

Ravina Shamdasani - + 41 22 917 9169 / ravina.shamdasani@un.org

Jeremy Laurence - + 41 22 917 9383 / jeremy.laurence@un.org

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