#west-bank-settlements

#west-bank-settlements

Haitham al-Zayed, displaced from Shallal al-Auja, recalls his childhood memories of swimming in al-Auja's lush pools, now occupied by settlers celebrating their presence during Passover.

Taybeh, a small hilltop town in the heart of the West Bank, is one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, now feeling under siege and fighting for its existence.

Human rights groups, UN investigators, and Israeli legal organizations say torture and sexual violence of Palestinian detainees is part of a wider system of repression.

"The harassment by Israeli settlers had become unbearable," said Rashid, a young mother, as she stood leaning on the metal doorframe of her home in Ras Ein el-Auja in the occupied West Bank. Nearby, a few suitcases and other belongings sat in the corner, neatly packed. "There is no safety left. We've been suffering for three years, but now the provocations increased," Rashid told DW, speaking of how settlers entered their home.

Israel plans to start work next month on a bypass road that will close off the heart of the occupied West Bank to Palestinians and cement the de facto annexation of an area critical for the viability of a future Palestinian state. The road is a key part of the blueprint for a vast illegal new settlement in the E1 area east of Jerusalem, which would fragment the occupied West Bank.

Last week, its security cabinet approved a move that makes it easier for settlers to buy land there, repealing decades-old laws and regulations. This week, the Israeli government went a step further. It has approved a proposal to reactivate land registration in the area for the first time since 1967. The move paves the way for Israel to gain ownership of vast swaths of land Palestinians hoped would have been part of their future state.

The new measures, which aim to expand Israel's power across the occupied West Bank, will make it easier to seize Palestinian land illegally. We are anchoring settlement as an inseparable part of Israel's government policy, said Katz. Experts say it will fundamentally alter the civil and legal reality of the territory, removing what the Israeli ministers termed legal obstacles that have existed for decades against the expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied territories.