B’Tselem says Palestinian life in the West Bank is being destroyed — Jerusalem Post
In a new report, the organization B’Tselem said that Israel is systematically destroying the conditions for the continued existence of Palestinian society in the West Bank. The IDF rejected these claims, saying that accusations of a policy aimed at eliminating Palestinians as a people are false, baseless and detached from reality, The Jerusalem Post reports.
B’Tselem’s claims
The report, titled “The Project of Elimination,” is based, according to B’Tselem, on more than 2,000 testimonies from Palestinians collected since October 2023, as well as on the organization’s materials from the past three decades. The authors characterize the situation not as isolated rights violations, but as a comprehensive mechanism that, in their view, weakens Palestinian communities and irreversibly strengthens Jewish control over the territory.
In the document, the concept of “elimination” is interpreted more broadly than physical violence: according to the organization, it concerns Palestinian land, institutions, language, culture, social ties, leadership, collective memory and history. The report is divided into five sections: violence and intimidation, restrictions on movement, economic suppression, the destruction of the social and political sphere, and ethnic cleansing and territorial seizure.
B’Tselem also claims that Israeli military personnel, police officers and settlers who harm Palestinians allegedly enjoy near-total impunity. The organization says there has been an increase in cases of violence and mistreatment of prisoners and detainees since Itamar Ben-Gvir was appointed national security minister.
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Israel’s response
The IDF said that its task in the West Bank is to counter terrorism, protect all residents and maintain law and order. Israel also denies B’Tselem’s accusations of genocide, ethnic cleansing, settler colonialism and apartheid. In its report, the organization states that, in its legal assessment, Israel’s actions in the West Bank meet the criteria for apartheid.
B’Tselem criticizes the suspension or cancellation of nearly all work permits for Palestinians in Israel, delays and deductions from the Palestinian Authority’s tax revenues, as well as restrictions on the activities of Palestinian organizations. The Jerusalem Post notes that Israel links some decisions made after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack to security considerations.
Separately, B’Tselem says that state mechanisms support or fail to stop settler violence. The article cites the IDF’s position that the military must stop such incidents and investigate possible violations by service members.
