UN human rights chief deplores Israel's intention to expand settlements in occupied West Bank

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) - The UN human rights chief on Friday deplored Israeli plans to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank, saying this would amount to "a war crime" under international law.

"Reports this week that Israel plans to build a further 3,476 settler homes in Maale Adumim, Efrat and Kedar fly in the face of international law," Volker Turk said in a report to the Human Rights Council.

“The establishment and continuing expansion of settlements amount to the transfer by Israel of its own civilian population into the territories that it occupies, which amounts to a war crime under international law," he said, according to a statement by his office.

The report found that the size of existing Israeli settlements has expanded "markedly" between Nov. 1, 2022 and Oct. 31, 2023. 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, according to the report, included about 9,670 units in East Jerusalem.

"They also run counter to the views of a broad range of States laid out during hearings just two weeks ago at the International Court of Justice," Turk said, referring to hearings examining the legal consequences of Israeli policies and practices in the occupied Palestinian territory.

He stressed: "The West Bank is already in crisis. Yet, settler violence and settlement-related violations have reached shocking new levels, and risk eliminating any practical possibility of establishing a viable Palestinian state."

The reports also underlined that since Oct. 7, 2023, when the ongoing conflict began, there has been a "dramatic increase" in the intensity, severity, and regularity of Israeli settler and state violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

The latest UN figures show that, since Oct. 7, there have been 603 settler attacks on Palestinians, and a total of 1,222 Palestinians from 19 herding communities have been displaced as a direct result of settler violence.

Meanwhile, a further 396 have been killed by Israeli security forces, and two killed by either Israeli security forces or settlers, according to the UN figures.

Analysts say that in addition to violating the rights of Palestinians to their land, expanding settlements in the West Bank makes the prospects of a viable Palestinian state harder and harder, as Israeli settlements divide and Balkanize whatever land the Palestinians still hold onto.

Under international law, all Jewish settlements in the occupied territories – including the West Bank and East Jerusalem – are considered illegal.