Amnesty: Ethnic Cleansing by Israel    06/11 06:16

   

   JERUSALEM (AP) -- Amnesty International accused Israel on Wednesday of 
carrying out a campaign of "ethnic cleansing" of Palestinians from the occupied 
West Bank with the intention to annex the Palestinian territory.

   The accusation came in a new, 149-page report alleging that the forced 
displacement of West Bank Palestinians resulted from a concerted state policy, 
and not just the actions of violent settlers. While much of the displacement is 
driven by settlers who build outposts on Palestinian land, the report asserts 
that the process could not occur without the support of the government.

   The international community overwhelmingly considers the settlements 
illegal. Israel, meanwhile, views the West Bank as disputed territory and says 
its final status is subject to negotiations.

   U.N. data says that over 100 West Bank villages have been fully or partially 
emptied out between January 2023 and April 2026. At the same time, the United 
Nations has tracked more than 7,280 instances of individual Palestinian 
displacement because of demolition of homes and structures by Israeli forces, a 
figure that includes people who were displaced more than once.

   Israel has in the past denounced such accusations -- including allegations 
of "ethnic cleansing," a term referring to forced expulsions of population by 
violence -- as reflecting longtime unfair bias. It did not immediately respond 
to the report.

   Amnesty says settler violence is sanctioned by the state

   "These abuses are not the result of a few 'bad apples.' Settler violence is 
acorecomponentof a state-sanctioned campaign of ethnic cleansing," 
said AgnsCallamard, the head of Amnesty. "What we are witnessing is 
deliberate, state-led annexation, in complete violation of international law 
unfolding before the eyes of the entire world."

   Israeli leaders have condemned particularly grave violence by Jewish 
settlers but tend to denounce them as exceptions. Prime Minister Benjamin 
Netanyahu's coalition government is dominated by settler leaders and 
supporters, and key Cabinet ministers are pushing for a formal annexation of 
the territory.

   The government has come under heavy criticism from Palestinians and rights 
groups for accelerating settlement expansion, which they say is aimed at 
preventing the establishment of a future Palestinian state there. Over 700,000 
Israelis now live in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, areas captured by Israel 
in the 1967 Mideast war and claimed by the Palestinians as parts of a future 
state.

   Amnesty says it has identified dozens of bills in Israel's parliament, the 
Knesset, to extend Israeli civil law and jurisdiction over settlement blocs, as 
well as over courts that try Palestinians. Recently, the parliament approved a 
measure making the death penalty the default punishment for West Bank 
Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis.

   Last year, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would not allow Israel to 
annex the West Bank. The U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas 
militant group that aimed to stop the war in Gaza also acknowledged Palestinian 
aspirations for statehood.

   Villages in remote areas are most vulnerable, rights groups say

   Amnesty says the large-scale displacement of Palestinian Bedouin communities 
in the territory is caused by settler violence, advancement of new settlements 
and the Israeli takeover of large swaths of unregistered land. Rights groups 
have raised the alarm about this form of displacement before 2023, but say it 
dramatically intensified after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel that year that 
triggered the war.

   Rights groups say Bedouin herding communities in remote areas of the West 
Bank are most vulnerable to displacement. Unlike Palestinians in cities and 
towns across the West Bank, the villagers are less able to withstand the 
pressure from often-armed settlers as they establish new outposts around 
Palestinian villages.

   The anti-settlement monitoring group Peace Now says that 212 of at least 363 
existing outposts in the West Bank were created since 2023. The outposts are 
built without permission from Israeli authorities, who sometimes dismantle them 
but often turn a blind eye or even legalize them retroactively.

   Amnesty said its report looked into 27 hamlets and villages in the West Bank 
where Palestinians were displaced between 2023 and 2025. Researchers 
interviewed dozens of Palestinians and lawyers, spoke with witnesses of settler 
violence, watched over 420 videos and analyzed government statements and other 
reports.

   The group also said the international community has failed to act to stop 
the displacement.

   Dror Etkes, who runs the settlement watchdog group Kerem Navot, said that 
since the October 2023 attack, settlers have taken about 12.5% of West Bank 
territory -- land that Palestinians can no longer access or cross safely.