NEW YORK
\nThe West Bank is nearing collapse and Israel is advancing a \u201cde facto annexation\u201d of the territory through the acceleration of settlement construction, mass displacements and record levels of settler violence, senior UN officials told the Security Council on Tuesday.
\nRamiz Alakbarov, the UN\u2019s deputy special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said the crisis engulfing the occupied territory was being overshadowed by other events in the region even as it reaches a tipping point after decades of unresolved conflict.
\n\u201cWhile the fragile ceasefire in Gaza and regional tensions consume much of the international community\u2019s attention, the West Bank is at the breaking point,\u201d he said, describing a pattern in which Palestinian communities are forcibly displaced from their villages before settlers move onto the vacated land.
\nSeventy-six Palestinians, including 18 children, have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank so far this year, and three Israelis have died in confrontations with Palestinians and an alleged ramming attack. About 127 Palestinian communities have faced full or partial displacement since January 2023, 47 of them wiped out entirely, which has affected more than 6,390 people. In 2026 alone, about 3,800 Palestinians, nearly half of them children, have been displaced by settler violence, demolitions or evictions.
\nThe UN has documented more than 1,430 attacks by settlers this year, which have caused casualties or property damage in about 260 Palestinian communities, Alakbarov said. Many of them took place in the presence of Israeli forces. He cited in particular a rampage on July 24 in Nablus Governorate, during which settlers attacked the village of Tell, triggering clashes that left four Palestinians and two Israeli security personnel dead.
\nThis was followed by further attacks on the villages of Urif and Sarra. Settler violence, once concentrated in Area C of the West Bank, which is under full Israeli military and civil control, is now increasingly reported in Areas A and B, he said, which are under full Palestinian civil control and partial Palestinian security control.
\nBetween Aug. 5 and 7, Israeli forces conducted a large-scale raid on the Qalandia refugee camp, during which dozens of people were injured and more than 60 were arrested or detained. Israeli forces also entered the UN Relief and Works Agency\u2019s Kalandia Training Centre without authorization on July 27 while classes were in session, a violation of the inviolability of UN premises, Alakbarov said.
\nAlongside the violence, Israeli planning authorities have advanced or approved about 12,360 housing units in the West Bank this year, 7,200 in Area C and 5,160 in East Jerusalem, he added.
\nHe noted that Israel has allocated about $431 million to build 34 new settlements that were approved this year, funding that UN officials said was being used to strengthen Israel\u2019s hold on the West Bank and is blocking Palestinian statehood.
\nAlakbarov also flagged what he described as an unprecedented move: an Israeli military seizure order for privately owned land in Area A near Qabatiya, south of Jenin, to build a road linking two newly approved settlements. It is the first reported seizure of land in Area A explicitly for settlement infrastructure.
\nHe warned that the financial crisis the Palestinian Authority is facing was compounding the instability; Israeli authorities are withholding about $6 billion in tax revenues and other duties they collect on behalf of the Palestinians, which has left the PA unable to pay full salaries of public-sector workers or deliver basic services.
\nHe also warned of another looming threat to Palestinian financial stability from Sept. 1, after Israeli banks said they intend to terminate correspondent banking service arrangements for the processing of shekel transactions. These services are essential because the Palestinian economy relies on the Israeli shekel but lacks direct access to a central currency clearing house.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW YORK The West Bank is nearing collapse and Israel is advancing a \u201cde facto annexation\u201d of the territory through the acceleration of settlement construction, mass displacements and record levels of settler violence, senior UN officials told the Security Council on Tuesday. Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN\u2019s deputy special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":561654,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-561636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n