KUALA LUMPUR: United Nations (UN) experts on Monday warned of surging Israeli settler terror in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, saying it poses an existential risk to Palestinian communities’ presence on their land.
In a statement, 14 experts said relentless attacks by the settler-colonial movement, “carried out with the support and acquiescence of the Israeli State,” have become a daily terror in Palestinian lives, sowing fear, uncertainty, and profound insecurity that inevitably compels the forcible displacement of the indigenous population.
“The escalating violence, carried out with full impunity, serves as an instrument of coercion in the hands of the occupying power, facilitating ethnic cleansing,” they said.
The experts noted a sharp increase in the number of Palestinians killed or injured in settler attacks in 2026, as settler brutality has reached unprecedented levels this year, with at least 13 Palestinians killed and close to five hundred injured in five months.
“Both fatalities and injuries are outpacing figures from previous years,” they said.
According to the statement, while no part of the West Bank has been spared, the continued displacement of Palestinians would expose approximately 663 km² of land to further settlement expansion.
They said that Palestinian communities in Area C – which remains under full Israeli military and civil control – are disproportionately affected. This is particularly acute in the Jordan Valley and South Hebron Hills, where communities bear a heavy burden of violence and displacement.
In communities such as Masafer Yatta, near-daily raids by Israeli settlers and occupying forces have become a pervasive feature of daily life.
“Violence is used as a calculated, targeted tool to deny Palestinians access to essential services, agricultural and grazing areas, with the ultimate aim of severing the people’s connection to the land,” the experts said.
According to the statement, since 2023, new outpost installations across Areas B and C have consistently preceded and driven forcible transfers of Palestinian communities.
Meanwhile, the experts said, recent regional escalation has drawn international attention away from the realities unfolding in the occupied Palestinian territory.
“Facing no pushback and no censure, Israel continues irreversibly eroding the Palestinians’ right to self-determination enshrined in international law,” they added.
The experts urged Israel to immediately cease facilitating settler violence and forced displacement, including through financial, military, legislative, and political support to settlements and outposts, and to ensure accountability for settler attacks and effective protection of Palestinian communities.
They also called for the safe and dignified return of displaced residents and guaranteed access to residential, agricultural, and grazing lands.
“Despite the blatant unlawfulness of its occupation of the West Bank, Israel remains bound by its obligations as an occupying power under the Geneva Conventions – including the duty to treat the Palestinian population as ‘protected persons’ under international humanitarian law,” the experts said. – BERNAMA
