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UN Rights Chief Warns of Accelerated ‘Dispossession’ Amid West Bank Plans
GENEVA (AFP) — The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, warned this week that Israel’s recent moves to tighten control over the occupied West Bank are part of a broader strategy aimed at consolidating illegal annexation. These decisions include allowing Jewish Israelis direct access to buy land in the West Bank and increasing Israeli oversight where Palestinian governance prevails.
Turk’s comments came as he highlighted a series of such measures by Israel’s security cabinet, which has escalated since 1967 when Israel occupied the West Bank. Today, more than 500,000 Israelis reside across settlements in the region, while around three million Palestinians live there. The UN official emphasized that these actions are “yet another step towards rendering a viable Palestinian state impossible,” violating the right to self-determination.
Turk expressed deep concern about how such policies would accelerate the displacement of Palestinians and further erode their access to basic rights. He described plans to annex more Palestinian lands as part of an ongoing attempt to integrate the region into Israel, which is illegal under international law.
“These decisions are not only detrimental to the future prospects for a two-state solution but also threaten to intensify already troubling human rights abuses,” Turk stated in his statement. He pointed to increasing incidents of violence by Israeli settlers and security forces against Palestinians as part of a pattern of forcible transfers, home demolitions, land grabs, and movement restrictions.
Turk warned that these measures risk further depriving Palestinians of their natural resources and exacerbating existing human rights violations. “We are witnessing rapid steps to change permanently the demography of occupied Palestinian territories,” he added. “These decisions violate Israel’s obligations as an occupying power and must be reversed.”
The UN chief emphasized that such policies not only undermine regional stability but also challenge core international norms, including those regarding land ownership and human rights.