Volker Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, stated on Friday that Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories have expanded in an unprecedented manner and threaten to eliminate any practical possibility of a Palestinian state. He added that the expansion of Israeli settlements constitutes a form of population displacement by Israel, which he described as a war crime. He continued, "The violence of settlers and violations associated with settlement activities have reached shocking new levels, which threaten to obliterate any practical possibility of establishing a Palestinian state with viable governance."
Israel, which seized the West Bank in the 1967 war, claims a biblical right to the land where settlement expansion is occurring. The military states it is conducting operations to combat terrorism in the West Bank, targeting individuals suspected of being armed. Turk's report noted that the policies of the Israeli government, which is the most right-wing in Israel's history and includes religious nationalists with close ties to settlers, appear to be aligned "in a way that has not been seen before" with the goals of the Israeli settlement movement. The report documented instances where settlers donned Israeli military uniforms or parts of them and carried military rifles while harassing or attacking Palestinians, with no clear dividing lines between the two sides. It added that they sometimes fired at them from close range.
