As we mark the 56th year of the Occupation, a group of 17 current and former NIF Grantees have compiled a powerful report on the dangers ahead.

“Analysis shows a threefold trend: 1. Certain violent policies continue, with no change seen or foreseen (such as torture in interrogations and night arrests of children). We are especially concerned with the almost total lack of accountability for attacks on Palestinians across the oPt. 2. Since the start of 2022, a notable and clear rise is apparent in the number of Palestinians shot and killed in the West Bank. Again, the impunity for these killings and for killings in Gaza is practically absolute. 3. Israel’s (current) 37th government is planning and advancing several disturbing bills that would decrease Israeli accountability even further and stymie human rights organisations.”

Across the 56 years of Occupation, we have seen a huge amount of land taken for Israeli use, restrictions on movement and personal freedom, and wide-spread violence against Palestinians. The Israeli military is complicit in this violence. As the report says “23% of West Bank fatalities were children, and in over 45% of the cases in the West Bank, the military does not claim that those killed were armed.”

The report also highlights the role of the new Israeli government in cementing the occupation and moving towards a de facto annexation of the West Bank.

“Changes advanced by Israel’s 37th government, even if not implemented in full, will lead to an irreversible transformation of the West Bank and will cement Israel’s control of the oPt’s Palestinian population and its property. The government’s policies are concurrently advanced via administrative tools, structural changes, legal reforms and huge budget allocations to settler causes. These should not be viewed piecemeal, but as a harmonized policy to accelerate the West Bank’s annexation.”

Click here to read the full report.

The report was compiled by
Association for Civil Rights in Israel; Bimkom – Planners for Planning Rights; Breaking the Silence; HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual; Combatants for Peace; Emek Shaveh; Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement; Human Rights Defenders Fund; Ir Amim; Parents Against Child Detention; Peace Now; Physicians for Human Rights Israel; Rabbis for Human Rights; The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel; Torah of Justice; Yesh Din; Zazim – Community Action