Israel Expands West Bank Settlements Using Military Measures—Report

(MENAFN) A Palestinian report has alleged that Israeli authorities are using military infrastructure and land seizure measures to expand settlement activity across the occupied West Bank and reshape the area’s geography.

According to the document issued by the National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Israeli forces and state institutions have, over recent years, significantly altered the territorial layout of the West Bank.

The report claims that this has been carried out through the use of military installations and seizure orders aimed at constructing new roads and linking isolated settlement outposts to larger settlement blocs.

It further alleges that military firing zones have been adjusted for settlement expansion, while official orders have been used to pave infrastructure serving outposts and convert abandoned military bases into civilian settlement sites.

The report also states that Palestinian communities in areas such as the Jordan Valley and Masafer Yatta have been dismantled in recent years, with residents displaced while new settlement outposts were established in nearby locations. It adds that some of these outposts were created with what it describes as coordination involving political leadership.

The allegations highlight ongoing disputes over land use, security policy, and settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, which remains a central issue in the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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