Palestinians Lose More Land After Israel Secret...

Drop Site is a reader-funded, independent news outlet. Without your support, we can’t operate. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a 501(c)(3) tax-deductible donation today. DEIR AMMAR, Occupied West Bank—Mustafa Badaha drove along the edge of his land, past rows of olive trees he could no longer access. A red string put up by Israeli settlers demarcated the border of what was stolen from him in Deir Ammar, a Palestinian town around 17 kilometers northwest of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. The settlers had recently established a new outpost in the area named Ramataim Zofim. “Everything is legal—I have permits—but it makes no difference. A settler comes and simply says, ‘This is my land. You have no place here,’” Badaha told Drop Site. For years, he cultivated the land, building a small summer home where his family would gather. “Now, no one can go there—if we try, we are attacked,” he said. “What was once my joy is now my greatest fear.” Settlers began routinely attacking Palestinians in the area back in August 2025. “They came here armed, created problems with the youth and the families, and even fired live ammunition,” Badaha said. He contacted the Palestinian Authority, who reached out to Israeli authorities. “The attacks kept increasing day after day. At first, the settlers were about 500 meters away, then gradually they kept getting closer until they reached the houses,” he said. “Every day there are provocations. They block the road, and with the youth we reopened it several times. Recently, there was another major attack and they blocked the road again.” After contacting the Israeli police, the Israeli military eventually arrived and detained Palestinians from the community instead of the settlers. “The youth were insulted, detained for over an hour, searched, and had their IDs checked. I asked the officer, ‘What are we supposed to do? You tell us not to react, but settlers are the ones attacking,’” Badaha exclaimed. “We are living under constant attacks. This is our home, our land—we have water, electricity, internet—everything. Yet there is no safety.” Ramataim Zofim is one of 34 settlements secretly approved by the Israeli security cabinet in late March, a decision that was only revealed in Israeli news reports last month. It marked the largest number of settlements approved by any Israeli government at one time. The decision to officially approve new settlements or to legalize outposts allows for the establishment of water and electricity infrastructure, further entrenching their presence on Palestinian land. The 34 new settlements established by the Israeli security cabinet join 68 settlements the current government has approved since its formation a little over three years ago. By comparison, only six new settlements were formally approved by Israel in the 30 years between the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 and the establishment of the current government. Over the past three decades, thousands of additional housing units have been approved within existing settlements, like Ma’ale Adumim which lies just east of Jerusalem and is home to up to 40,000 Israeli settlers. “This represents an unprecedented pace and scale of expansion,” Amir Daoud, director of Publishing and Documentation at the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, told Drop Site. Until the establishment of the current Israeli government there were 127 official settlements in the West Bank, according to the Israeli group Peace Now. Adding over 100 new official settlements represents an increase of nearly 80%. “These new sites are distributed across the West Bank in what can be described as a fragmented but comprehensive pattern, effectively targeting the entire territory,” Daoud said. “Overall, this wave of approvals reflects a clear race against time to impose as many facts on the ground as possible, in order to achieve long-standing strategic goals.” All 34 of the new settlements are located in Area C, a technical designation established under the Oslo Accords that divided the West Bank into three sections. Area A is technically under Palestinian civil administration and security control; Area B is under Palestinian civil administration but shares security control with Israel; and Area C is under full Israeli control. The International Court of Justice, UN Security Council resolutions, and international law experts agree that all Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law. “Consistent with long-standing settlement policy, these new sites contribute to the fragmentation of Palestinian areas while simultaneously creating territorial continuity between settlements,” Daoud said. “This is especially evident in central parts of the West Bank, where settlement placement further disrupts Palestinian geographic cohesion.” Five of the newly approved settlements are in the governorate of Al-Khalil (Hebron) in the south of the territory and home to the largest Palestinian city in the West Bank. One of the settlements, which lies southwest of the city of Al-Khalil, named Meged, has affected land that Fahed Qawasmi and his family have cultivated for generations. “My sister and I lost about three dunams [about 0.75 acres] of our land,” Qawasmi told Drop Site. “We only realized what was happening from neighbors—they had already taken around 300 to 400 dunams [about 74 to 100 acres] before reaching our land…We rushed there, but settlers attacked my brother on the land.” The establishment of a new settlement has geographical ripple effects far beyond the actual settlement itself. “If a settlement is built, it won’t just take the land it stands on. It will expand around it, turning the surrounding areas into closed military zones,” Qawasmi said. “That means more land lost, more restrictions, and no access—not just for us, but for nearby homes and fields as well.” Qawasmi said that grapevines more than 100 years old and police trees planted by his father were all uprooted. “This land is extremely valuable to us—not in money, but because it was passed down through generations. My father inherited it from his father, and so on. We were even offered to sell it before, but we always refused. This land is not for sale,” he said. “To lose it like this, without any right, is devastating. It destroys you emotionally.” In the north of the West Bank, six of the newly approved settlements form a semi circle around Jenin, surrounding the Palestinian city from the west, south, and east. “The land involved here is around 500 dunams [around 123 acres], and what’s happening now—through road construction and gradual takeover—means this entire area could effectively be confiscated,” Mohammad Arqawi, the head of the village council of Al-Arqah village in Jenin, told Drop Site. “And when 500 dunams are affected, it doesn’t just impact one group. It affects farmers, traders, workers, shepherds—the entire local community.” A staggering 40,000 Palestinians have been displaced across the West Bank since the beginning of 2025 by demolitions, settler attacks, and access restrictions, according to a statement by the Deputy Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General Farhan Haq. Meanwhile, violence by Israeli settlers and soldiers against Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem has skyrocketed to unprecedented levels. According to the United Nations, between October 7, 2023 and April 23, 2026, at least 1,088 Palestinians—including 238 children— have been killed. Forty-two of them have been killed since the beginning of 2026. The UN said that the first four months of 2026 have seen the most violent start to a year since monitoring of settler violence and harassment began in 2013. “This is just the beginning—the impact will grow,” Arqawi said. “Every time settlers attack, the army is present. The situation has become almost routine—settlers and army operating together on a daily basis.” * Sharif Abdel Kouddous contributed to this report.

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Palestinians Lose More Land After Israel Secretly Approves a Record Number of Settlements in the West Bank