How Israel systematically dismantles Palestinian life in occupied West Bank

What the report says

Al Jazeera reports that Israeli rights group B’Tselem has issued a new assessment arguing that conditions in the occupied West Bank are not a series of disconnected abuses, but part of a long-running, coordinated system aimed at making Palestinian life unsustainable. The report, published Monday and titled The Elimination Project, says settlement expansion, displacement, restrictions on movement and attacks on institutions work together to advance permanent Israeli control. It draws on nearly 2,000 Palestinian testimonies, according to the article.

The piece describes recent examples cited by the group, including killings during raids, home demolitions in Masafer Yatta and settler harassment in areas such as Qusra and the South Hebron Hills. It also highlights broader pressures on daily life: checkpoints and roadblocks across the West Bank, limited access to land, permit restrictions, and rising economic hardship. Al Jazeera says these conditions have worsened since late 2022 and after the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.

B’Tselem places the pattern within what it calls a settler-colonial framework, saying Palestinians are being pushed out while Israeli settlement presence expands. The article also cites figures from UN agencies and settlement monitors on obstacles, settler attacks, demolitions and unemployment, and notes that the group sees Gaza and the West Bank as part of the same wider policy toward Palestinians.