The West Bank…a geography eroding under the weight of settlement policy

In just a few moments, ten residential apartments in the city of Hebron turned into rubble, leaving behind a family that lost a history that spanned decades. The owner of one of the houses, Abu Amjad Salhab, says that he built his house years before the occupation of the West Bank, and that the story of the house is more than just the demolition of a building; Rather, it is the story of an entire life being uprooted.

In a report prepared by Muhammad Al-Atrash, Abu Amjad says that his life suddenly changed, as everything he had collected during 50 years was lost, and he found himself returning to square one. Close to his house, a settlement road was built about 30 years ago, before the demolition decision came on the first day of Ramadan this year under a security pretext related to the building’s proximity to this road. Despite the demolition, the family did not leave their land, but rather set up tents over the rubble, fearing the expansion of the nearby “Hagai” settlement.

The property owner believes that what happened is part of attempts to force him and his family to leave, stressing that they have previously faced similar legal attempts by submitting multiple ownership documents.

This incident is not isolated, but rather comes within a broader context of Israeli policies that combine legal and security tools to expand settlement. In the Knesset, Member of Parliament Limor Son Har Malekh, based on reports issued by the “Regavim” association, called for the demolition of thousands of Palestinian buildings near bypass roads, under the pretext of their illegality and security considerations.

These settlement associations operate intensively in Area C, which constitutes about 62% of the area of ​​the West Bank, and which has become a major focus of the conflict over the land. The numbers indicate an unprecedented escalation in demolitions in recent years, rising from 659 facilities in 2023 to 903 in 2024, reaching 1,400 facilities in 2025, at a time when obtaining building permits for Palestinians is almost impossible, with only 9 permits granted in 2023.

28 thousand settlement units

On the other hand, settlement projects are witnessing a remarkable expansion, with about 28,000 settlement units approved in 2025, which is the highest level in years. While Palestinian licensing applications decline to zero, demolition decisions increase, in a scene that reflects a structural flaw in land management.

By following up on the activity of the “Regavim” association, cases of direct incitement against Palestinian facilities were monitored, as happened with a football field in the “Umm Al-Khair” community, where the demolition order was issued a few days after the association published a report about it, which raises questions about the nature of the relationship between it and the occupation authorities.

The roots of this association go back to after 2005, when it was founded by Bezalel Smotrich and Yehuda Eliyahu, who today hold influential positions in the Israeli government, giving these associations increasing influence in policy-making on the ground.

In addition to Regavim, several other settlement organizations are active, amid controversy over their sources of funding and their relationships with governmental and foreign entities.

The expert on Israeli affairs, Adel Shadid, believes that these associations have begun to play a role that goes beyond civil work and have become tools that employ state institutions, including the security and judicial services, to serve an ideological settlement project aimed at establishing Israeli control over the entire land.

In parallel, research centers and political forums are working on developing strategic plans, such as the “Shilo Forum” document issued in 2020, which included practical steps to expand control in the West Bank, and many of its recommendations have turned into executive decisions during the era of the current government.