According to the Palestinian letter, several recent Israeli measures in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are described as efforts by Israel to further consolidate what the letter characterizes as the annexation of Palestinian territories.
Archiv: Kolonisten („Siedler“) / Kolonien / Milizen / colonists („settlers“) / colonies / militias
Israel forces issues demolition notices for commercial shops near Nablus
Israeli occupation authorities delivered demolition notices on Thursday to several commercial shops at the junction of the town of Bazariya, northwest of Nablus.
Local sources reported that Israeli troops raided the area and distributed notices to demolish several shops in order to construct a colonial road between the settlements of Homesh and Sanur, which is expected to pass through the lands of Burqa, Sebastia, Jaba, and Fandaqumiya.
Joint Statement from the leaders of the E4 + Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway and the Netherlands on the situation in the West Bank
(May 22, 2026)
We call on the Government of Israel to …
CCTV footage has captured the moment a group of Israeli settlers spat towards the shrine of the Virgin Mary in Jerusalem.
The incident occurred on the day of “Flag March,” a national holiday marking the occupation of East Jerusalem by Israeli forces following the 1967 war
Video footage circulating online shows Israeli settlers spitting towards the Shrine of the Virgin Mary, located opposite the Church of the Shepherds of the Saviour in the Bab al-Jadid area of occupied East Jerusalem.
(…)
On Politics, Ideology and Anti-Zionism
Moreover, we have allies in Israel and around the world, who share the same fundamental political goals we strive for – self-determination for the Palestinian people, the end of the occupation, the establishment of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, and the rejection of all discrimination against Palestinians in Israel. Some of these allies consider themselves Zionist, because they subscribe to a minimalist understanding of Zionism – self-determination for a Jewish collective in Israel. This right was recognized by the international community in the 1947 partition plan of Palestine and was realized by the state of Israel itself.
We do not reject this right, yet as Friedrich Engels said: “A people which oppresses another cannot emancipate itself.” Israel is still preventing the right of self-determination for Palestinians – the right for an independent Palestinian state with real borders and an end to the suffering. We need to work together with those who believe in the rights of both peoples – and some of them are Zionists.
We also know that when a political solution is achieved, it will not be after Jewish Israelis reject Zionism, but when they decide that their collective and individual interests lie on the side of peace. We are materialists – we assert that Zionism, the ideology, will only be overcome after we begin to dismantle its material basis – that of apartheid and colonization.
Therefore, our focus must remain on practical actions against this reality – and not symbolic politics of denunciation. In the German case, this means advocating for concrete actions such as a ban on settlement products import, the suspension of the EU-Israel association agreement, and a complete ban on arms supply to Israel. These actions could challenge Zionism much more than the adoption of the antizionist label.
Israel uproots thousands of grapevines in Hebron to expand settler road
Zuhur Tarwa stood in shock as Israeli army markers appeared across her vineyard, declaring it confiscated.
The 68-year-old Palestinian had spent years tending the land with her two daughters in the fertile Baqa’a Valley, east of Hebron in the occupied West Bank.
Their 200 grapevines once filled the plot with broad green leaves, promising a strong harvest.
Before that could happen, the confiscation order arrived – followed soon after by bulldozers.
“They razed the entire land, uprooting the grapevines and other crops,” Tarwa told Middle East Eye.
CAIR Says Congress, Trump Admin Must Act After New NYT Revelations of Israel’s Widespread Sexual Abuse of Palestinian Prisoners
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on Congress and the Trump administration to take immediate action after a New York Times report detailed horrifying allegations of widespread sexual abuse, rape, torture, and humiliation of Palestinians held in Israeli detention facilities.
This is a hard article to read, but I hope you‘ll do so.
(May 11, 2026)
I‘ve spent some time reporting on widespread rape and other sexual violence of Palestinian male and female prisoners by Israeli authorities, and the article is now published. The assault victims were warned not to give speak of what they endured — they were sometimes told they would be killed or raped if they gave interviews — but they found the courage to do so. One man described being raped three times in a single day in Israeli prison, the third time after he tried to protest. A young woman said the guards would come in at the beginning of each shift and strip her naked and abuse her. Another reported that she was shown photos of herself being raped and warned they would be released unless she cooperated with Israeli intelligence. Even three children who had been detained told me they had been sexually abused. Look, whatever our position on the Middle East, we should be able to agree on being anti-rape. Sexual assaults were horrific when Israeli women were targeted on Oct. 7, and they‘re equally horrific when Israeli authorities use them against Palestinians day after day after day. We should be able to find common ground in opposing rape. Here‘s a gift link to the article:
Israeli Officials Denounce NYT Report on Systemic Sexual Abuse of Palestinians
The article in question, “The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians,” by Nicholas Kristof, recounts the stories of 14 Palestinians who experienced sexual violence at the hands of Israeli soldiers and settlers. A majority of the interviews discuss sexual violence inflicted by soldiers and interrogators on Palestinians in Israeli detention, but others speak of attacks by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank — attacks that are “increasingly protect[ed]” by the Israeli military, according to Kristof. The interviews are reinforced by testimony from Israeli and international human rights organizations, and demonstrate that sexual violence is systemic, used on a daily basis against Palestinians, and effectively Israeli state policy.
The Horror of Sexual Assault in Israeli Prisons
(transcript)
I’m appalled by this pattern of abuse, partly because our American tax dollars subsidize the Israeli security forces. I fear that leaves us complicit. The United States has leverage, and we could use it to insist on an end to the impunity and to demand that Red Cross visits be restored for Palestinian detainees. Look, whether you consider yourself pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian, here’s one thing we should be able to agree on: We’re anti-rape. The horrific abuse inflicted on Israeli women on Oct. 7 now happens to Palestinians day after day after day.
The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians
It’s a simple proposition: Whatever our views of the Middle East conflict, we should be able to unite in condemning rape.
Supporters of Israel made that point after the brutal sexual assaults against Israeli women during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu and many U.S. senators, including Marco Rubio, condemned that sexual violence, and Netanyahu rightly called on “all civilized leaders” to “speak up.”
And yet in wrenching interviews, Palestinians have recounted to me a pattern of widespread Israeli sexual violence against men, women and even children — by soldiers, settlers, interrogators in the Shin Bet internal security agency and, above all, prison guards.
Israeli PM slams ‘moral bankruptcy’ of EU over settler sanctions
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the European Union on Monday after the bloc imposed sanctions on some Israeli settler organisations over violence against Palestinians.
„As Israel and the U.S. are ‚doing Europe‘s dirty work‘ by fighting for civilisation against jihadist lunatics in Iran and elsewhere, the European Union exposed its moral bankruptcy by drawing a false symmetry between Israeli citizens and Hamas terrorists,“ Netanyahu‘s office said on its official X account.
Israeli forces demolish dozens of commercial and industrial facilities in al-Eizariya southeast of occupied Jerusalem
According to available data, these shops are threatened with removal as part of the occupation’s dangerous colonial project known as the “Fabric of Life” plan, which represents a practical implementation of the Israeli annexation plan for the area known as “E1,” aiming to establish full geographical contiguity between the colony of Ma’ale Adumim and occupied Jerusalem.
This would result in the separation of the northern West Bank from its southern part and the seizure of nearly 3% of the occupied Palestinian Territory for formal annexation under the so-called “Greater Jerusalem” plan.
Occupation Soldiers Detained Solidarity Delegations Supporting Palestinian Victims of Settlers Terror
he delegations to Bethlehem and the Jordan Valley, were stopped by soldiers and police officers, and activists held protests on the scene. In other areas, activities proceeded as planned. “While settler terror gangs operated across the West Bank unhindered, the police and army blocked hundreds of activists this morning who came to demonstrate solidarity with the victims,” one of the participants told Zo Haderekh.
Hundreds of activists from a wide range of organizations took part in the protest, including Partnership for Peace, Rabbis for Human Rights, Peace Now, Hadash, Zazim, The Parents Circle-Families Forum, Standing Together, Jordan Valley Activists, Looking the Occupation in the Eye, Women Wage Peace, A Land for All, Combatants for Peace, Breaking the Silence, and Mothers Against Violence.
Partnership for Peace stated: “Hundreds of Israelis who set out to oppose terror and demand the state enforce the law in the occupied territories were detained at all checkpoints. It was proven that when the army wants to, it can act efficiently. We expect authorities to show the same determination in protecting innocent people who undergo daily violent pogrom attacks. We will not stop striving for peace, justice, and equality for all residents of the region.” “We will continue the struggle against the occupation and ethnic cleansing! They will not succeed in stopping us!” they emphasized.
‚Killing like we haven‘t since 1967‘: Top Israeli general brags about shooting Palestinians in occupied West Bank
“A plasterer in [the West Bank city of] Ramallah earns 1,500 shekels ($510) a month and a plasterer in [the Israeli town of] Ramle earns 7,000 shekels a month, so of course he‘s willing to risk being shot in the knee or a week of detention, if he succeeded in crossing over and can work in a bakery,” Bluth explained.
“There are a lot of ‘limping monuments’ in Palestinian villages, of those who tried to [cross the barrier], so there is a price being paid,” he boasted.
The Israeli general also said Palestinians throwing rocks were engaged in “terrorism,” while bragging about how many his troops had killed last year.
Israel killing Palestinians ‘like we haven‘t since 1967’, top commander says
Israel’s top commander in the occupied West Bank has said the army is killing Palestinians at levels “not seen since 1967”, according to Haaretz.
Avi Bluth, head of the Israeli army’s Central Command, made the remarks in a closed forum, where he also defended looser rules of engagement allowing troops to fire at unarmed Palestinians.
He acknowledged a discriminatory approach whereby Jewish Israeli stone-throwers are not targeted while Palestinians carrying out similar acts are fired at.
„In three years, we have killed 1,500 terrorists,“ he said, referring to Palestinians.
„So how is there no intifada? Why aren’t they taking to the streets? Why is the Palestinian public indifferent? Why are there no disturbances?“ Bluth, a settler who has been the Israeli army commander in the West Bank since 2024, added.
Death toll in occupied West Bank from Israeli attacks rises
Israeli army and settler attacks killed at least 1,151 and wounded more than 11,885 Palestinians across the occupied West Bank since Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023, Al Jazeera reported.
For the first time since 1967: Israeli government approves law okaying land registration in West Bank
Meanwhile, Israeli Army Minister Israel Katz emphasized that the government is, for the first time since the 1967 war, starting the registration of West Bank lands, allowing vast areas to be recorded as “property of the State of Israel,” according to his statement.
Israel approves registration of West Bank land as ‚state property‘
The measure is expected to formalise Israeli control over extensive areas of Palestinian land, much of which has remained unregistered since Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967.
It would allow authorities to legalise the confiscation of unregistered, or so-called abandoned, land by reclassifying it as “state land”.
In 1968, Israeli authorities suspended a Jordanian-led land registration process, effectively preventing Palestinians from formally recording ownership of their property.
Israel‘s plan to install West Bank regulations denounced as illegal ‚mega land grab‘
Israel will begin a contentious land regulation process in a large part of the occupied West Bank, which could result in Israel gaining control over wide swaths of the area for future development, according to a government decision on Sunday.
It paves the way for the resumption of „settlement of land title“ processes, which had been frozen in the West Bank since the Mideast War in 1967.
Hadash Strongly Denounce Israel’s Illegal Annexation Measures in the Occupied West Bank
Hadash condemned the illegal Israeli measures approved by the far-right Israeli government to entrench and expand settlements in the occupied West Bank. A spokesperson for Hadash said that the proposed significant changes to territory, implementation, and administrative powers in the occupied West Bank would undermine efforts to achieve peace and stability. He added that the Hadash’s position is clear, “any unilateral attempt to alter the geographic and demographic composition of Palestine is completely unacceptable and contrary to international law.” The statement called on the occupying authorities to immediately reverse these decisions, stressing that the two-state solution remains the only viable path to lasting peace.
According to Hadash MK Ayman Odeh, the government is racing against time to impose strategic realities on the ground before the upcoming parliamentary elections. Odeh indicated that the primary goal is to definitively rule out the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state and prevent it permanently through intensified settlement and silent displacement.
Yair Golan vows not to fund settlements if he comes to power
(February 2, 2026)
Asked by the media later in the day about his comments, Golan clarified that he was referring to illegal outposts and unauthorized settlement activity.
“The settlement blocs are part of Israel,” he said after leading a faction meeting in the Knesset. “They will be, because there is no other possibility. We will strengthen settlements along the border, but there will be no illegal activity.”
The international community — with the notable exception of the United States under President Donald Trump — considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law.
Israeli security cabinet approves recognition of 19 new settlements
Israel‘s security cabinet has approved a new proposal by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defence Minister Israel Katz to recognise 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The settlements are spread across five regional councils. A total of 69 settlements have been recognised under Smotrich.