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<h1 class="gmail-single_title">Settlement expert: Israel is turning WB into isolated enclaves, seeks full occupation of Area C</h1>
<p class="gmail-single_date">Monday 14-July-2025 - <font size="1"><a href="https://english.palinfo.com/?p=3">https://english.palinfo.com/?p=3</a></font></p>
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<p>WEST BANK, (PIC)</p>
<p>Jad Isaac, Director General of the Applied Research Institute \u2013 ARIJ,
warned that the Israeli occupation authorities are working to transform
the occupied West Bank into isolated \u201cenclaves\u201d while aiming to take
full control of Area C, effectively ending any possibility of
establishing a viable Palestinian state.</p>
<p>The settlement affairs expert added on Monday that Israel continues
to expand its settlement activity in the West Bank, seize as much land
as possible, and encourage \u201cvoluntary migration\u201d of Palestinians.</p>
<p>Since the start of the ongoing genocidal war in Gaza on October 7,
2023, calls from Israeli ministers and Knesset members to annex the
occupied West Bank and apply full Israeli sovereignty over it have been
increasing.</p>
<p>In early July 2025, 14 Israeli ministers and the Knesset Speaker
signed a letter addressed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2014who is
wanted by international justice\u2014urging him to annex the occupied West
Bank.</p>
<img width="394" height="131" src="https://english.palinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/settlemenets-1024x341.jpg" alt="" class="gmail-wp-image-343252" style="margin-right: 25px;">
<p><strong>Isolated zones<br></strong>Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Isaac
explained that the Israeli government, including Finance Minister
Bezalel Smotrich (who oversees settlement affairs), seeks to bring all
of Area C\u2014including nature reserves\u2014under full Israeli control. This
would leave Palestinians confined to the remaining areas, corralled into
disconnected enclaves linked by roads, tunnels, or bridges, without any
real possibility for sustainability or development in the future.</p>
<p>He expressed concern that what is happening in Gaza could be just a
prelude to similar measures in the West Bank. He pointed to Israel\u2019s
military operations in refugee camps\u2014especially in the northern West
Bank cities of Jenin, Nablus, Tulkarem, and Tubas\u2014as evidence of an
attempt to impose new facts on the ground.</p>
<p>Since January 21 this year, the Israeli army has launched a campaign
starting in Jenin and its refugee camp, later expanding to Tulkarem and
Nur Shams camps, destroying thousands of housing units, demolishing
infrastructure, and forcibly displacing residents from these camps and
surrounding neighborhoods.</p>
<p>Isaac believes that the occupation authorities are reconfiguring the
West Bank into regional clusters, delegating authority to local tribal
leaders or figures to tighten control over the Palestinian
population\u2014effectively eliminating any hope for a viable, sustainable
Palestinian state and dismantling any path toward a two-state solution.</p>
<p>He added that Areas A and B will likely be reduced to disconnected
cantons where Palestinians are allowed to remain under certain
conditions meant to encourage voluntary emigration.</p>
<p>Under the Oslo II Accords (1995), the West Bank was divided into three areas:<br>\u2022 Area A: Full Palestinian control<br>\u2022 Area B: Palestinian civil control with Israeli security control<br>\u2022 Area C: Full Israeli civil and security control<br>Area C constitutes about 60% of the West Bank\u2019s territory.</p>
<p><strong>Emptying the Jordan Valley<br></strong>According to Isaac,
the occupation has recently emptied 32 Bedouin communities from the
eastern slopes of the West Bank through forced displacement\u2014crimes that,
he stressed, have received little international attention.</p>
<p>He described these actions as war crimes, explaining that Israel aims
to reduce the Palestinian population in Area C through intimidation,
forced eviction, and various oppressive practices, especially in the
Jordan Valley.</p>
<p>Farmlands that used to be cultivated by Palestinians have been turned
into grazing outposts due to the lack of settlers to inhabit the area.
To maintain a presence, livestock\u2014including cattle\u2014have been brought in.</p>
<p>Currently, 133 grazing outposts control over 250,000 dunums (1 dunum =
1,000 mē) of land in the Jordan Valley, in addition to other outposts
south of Al-Khalil, where residents of Masafer Yatta face daily forced
displacement and are even prevented from setting up tents for students
or shelter.</p>
<img width="394" height="263" src="https://english.palinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/jordanvalley-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="gmail-wp-image-343253" style="margin-right: 25px;">
<p><strong>Land confiscation disguised as \u201cLand Registration\u201d<br></strong>Regarding
Israel\u2019s land registration law in the West Bank, Isaac explained that
when Jordan governed the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), land
ownership was being officially registered in 1963. However, this process
was halted when Israel occupied all Palestinian territories in 1967.</p>
<p>Isaac said that land registration activities resumed about a year and
a half ago in occupied Jerusalem, where the Israeli government began
re-evaluating land ownership titles registered in the names of
Palestinian ancestors. Properties were recorded in the names of those
physically present in Jerusalem, while Palestinians living outside the
city lost their rights to those properties.</p>
<p>\u201cIn effect,\u201d Isaac said, \u201cIsrael gave itself the authority to manage
land registration, which is a violation of international law, as the
occupying power has no right to carry out such procedures on occupied
land.\u201d</p>
<p>He added, \u201cThe Knesset decided to apply land registration procedures
in Area C, even though the Palestinian Authority had previously
conducted such registration. Israel refuses to recognize those records.\u201d
He pointed out that a new registration process has begun under the
Israeli Civil Administration, with new requirements, \u201cand we will see
how much land we end up losing through this process.\u201d</p>
<p>Isaac described this as a dangerous step that grants Israel
self-proclaimed sovereignty over occupied territories, amid global
silence, a world that neither hears, sees, nor speaks.</p>
<img width="394" height="246" src="https://english.palinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/grab.jpg" alt="" class="gmail-wp-image-343254" style="margin-right: 25px;">
<p><strong>Parallel violence in Gaza and the West Bank<br></strong>In
parallel with the genocide in Gaza, Israel has escalated attacks by its
military and settlers across the West Bank, resulting in the death of at
least 998 Palestinians and injury to around 7,000 others over the past
21 months, according to Palestinian data.</p>
<p>In Gaza, Israel, with US support, has been committing genocide that
has left over 196,000 Palestinians killed or wounded, most of them women
and children, since October 2023. In addition, over 10,000 people are
missing, hundreds of thousands have been displaced, and famine has
claimed the lives of many\u2014including dozens of children.</p>
<img width="394" height="246" src="https://english.palinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/gaza-5-1024x640.jpg" alt="" class="gmail-wp-image-343255" style="margin-right: 25px;">
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