Israeli soldiers stand by as masked Israeli settlers throw stones at Palestinian protesters (unseen) gathering during a demonstration against construction on an Israeli outpost near the Palestinian village of Turmus Ayya and the Israeli settlement of Shilo, north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, on October 17, 2019. (Photo by JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP) (Photo by JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP via Getty Images)
Ramallah, December 3, 2025 (WAFA) – Minister Mu’ayyad Sha’ban, head of the Commission against the Wall and Settlements, said that Israeli occupation forces and settlers carried out a total of 2,144 attacks during the month of November, in continuation of the ongoing series of terrorism by the occupying state against the Palestinian people, their lands and properties .
Shaaban explained in the commission’s monthly report issued today, Wednesday, entitled “Occupation Violations and Colonial Expansion Measures”, that the occupation army carried out 1,523 attacks, while the settlers carried out 621 attacks, and that the total number of attacks was concentrated in the governorates of Ramallah and Al-Bireh with 360 attacks, Hebron with 348 attacks, Bethlehem with 342 attacks, and Nablus with 334 attacks .
Shaaban explained that the attacks varied between direct physical assault, uprooting trees, burning fields, preventing olive pickers from accessing their lands, seizing property, and demolishing homes and agricultural facilities, at a time when the occupation forces close off large areas of Palestinian lands under the pretext of “security,” while settlers are being enabled to expand within them .
He said that these escalating violations confirm that what is happening is not isolated incidents, but rather an organized methodology aimed at emptying the land of its owners and imposing a comprehensive racist colonial system .
A wave of terrorist attacks by settlers and the uprooting of 1986 trees
Shaaban noted that the settler attacks, which amounted to 621 attacks, in one of the peaks of settler terrorism targeting Palestinian Bedouin villages and communities, were concentrated in the governorates of: Nablus with 133 attacks, Hebron with 112 attacks, and Ramallah and Al-Bireh with 93 attacks .
He added that in light of the egregious data concerning the past month, a comprehensive picture emerges of the extent of the systematic violations targeting people, land, and property in various Palestinian governorates, stressing that the figures are not merely static statistics, but rather compelling evidence of an escalating policy aimed at undermining the Palestinian presence through direct military attacks, settler encroachment, and the destruction of the social and economic infrastructure.
He said that more than two thousand attacks in one month, along with hundreds of arrests, restrictions on movement, and the protection of terrorist settlers by the occupation army, reveal a deliberate strategy to empty the land of its original inhabitants and tighten control over it. He added that the attacks on crops, which affected about two thousand trees, including hundreds of olive trees, represent a blow to the Palestinian cultural and economic symbol, while the demolition and seizure operations reflect an attempt to uproot sources of livelihood and destroy the foundations of daily life.
Shaaban stressed that these facts impose an urgent moral and legal responsibility on the international community, not only to condemn these policies, but also to take practical steps to stop them and hold their perpetrators accountable.
He explained that the political message drawn from this report is that continued international silence provides cover for these violations, and that protecting the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights requires a serious political will that translates into binding decisions that put an end to the policy of collective punishment and colonial settlement, and open the way for justice and freedom .
Shaaban added that the settlers carried out 485 acts of sabotage and theft of Palestinian property, affecting vast areas of land. They also caused – with the help of the occupation army – the uprooting, destruction, and poisoning of 1,986 trees, including 466 olive trees, in the governorates of Nablus (1,260 trees), Ramallah and Al-Bireh (381 trees), Salfit (135 trees), Hebron (100 trees), Qalqilya (70 trees), and Jenin (40 trees).
Attempt to establish 19 new colonial outposts
Shaaban pointed out that the settlers tried to establish 19 new settlement outposts since the beginning of last November, which were mostly agricultural and pastoral in nature, as they tried to establish 5 settlement outposts on the lands of Nablus Governorate, 3 outposts in Hebron, Jerusalem, Ramallah and Al-Bireh, in addition to 2 outposts in Tubas and one outpost in Qalqilya.
He stressed that the escalation of the process of establishing colonial outposts in the last stage could only have happened with clear instructions from the political level in the occupying state, with the aim of imposing facts on the ground and further fragmenting the Palestinian geography. The settlers take on the task of making a change on the ground, and then the official level takes on the task of turning this change into a fait accompli by legislating it, establishing it, and turning it into a colonial site that enjoys all services .
Seizure of 2800 dunams of citizens’ land
Shaaban said that last November the occupation authorities issued a series of military orders through which they seized 2,800 dunams of citizens’ land, through orders of seizure, expropriation and modification of the boundaries of “state lands”.
He pointed out that the occupation authorities issued a record number of seizure orders for military purposes, totaling 26 orders, through which they seized 1,296 dunams, which led to the revelation of the occupation’s intention to establish 3 buffer zones around the settlements, through 3 seizure orders around the settlements of “Givat Asaf” north of Ramallah and Al-Bireh, “Hamdat” in the Tubas Governorate and “Elazar” in the Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate, while 9 other successive military orders revealed the occupation’s intention to build a road that cuts through vast areas of the Jordan Valley surrounded by a wall (the nature of which is not specified) and buffer zones along 22 kilometers in the Tubas Governorate, in addition to security roads and other military sites .
Shaaban added that the occupation authorities revealed their intention to seize the archaeological site in Sebastia through a military expropriation order No. 2/25, which stipulates the seizure of a total of 1,473 dunams of the archaeological site in the largest archaeological seizure operation witnessed by the Palestinian territories. He explained that the occupation state, through what is called the “Blue Line Team,” expanded the borders of the “Alfei Menashe” settlement, which is built on citizens’ lands east of Qalqilya, by adding 31.8 dunams of citizens’ lands in the area to the lands seized within the settlement .
76 structures demolished and notices issued for the demolition of 51 others.
Shaaban said that during the past month of November, the occupation authorities carried out 46 demolition operations that affected 76 facilities, including 20 inhabited homes, two uninhabited homes, 30 agricultural facilities and 23 sources of livelihood, concentrated in the Hebron Governorate with 30 facilities, the Jerusalem Governorate with 15 facilities, and then the Bethlehem Governorate with the demolition of 11 facilities.
He explained that the occupation authorities distributed 51 notices to demolish Palestinian facilities, continuing the series of restrictions on Palestinian construction and the natural growth of Palestinian villages and towns, which are being translated these days into a large number of demolition operations. He added that the notices were concentrated in the Bethlehem Governorate with 21 notices, 14 notices in Hebron, 6 notices in Nablus, 2 in Tubas, and 1 in Ramallah and Al-Bireh.
Study of 23 structural plans for colonies
Shaaban added that the planning authorities in the occupying state studied in November a total of 23 structural plans for the benefit of the West Bank settlements and within the boundaries of the occupation municipality in Jerusalem, with 19 structural plans for the West Bank settlements and 4 plans for the benefit of settlements within the boundaries of the occupation municipality in Jerusalem .
He added that these authorities approved 12 structural plans for West Bank settlements and deposited 7 other plans for subsequent approval, through which they deposited 1,409 units and approved the construction of 353 new settlement units on an area estimated at 1,327 dunams, while the occupation municipality in Jerusalem approved a structural plan for Jerusalem settlements and deposited for subsequent approval 3 other plans for settlements within the boundaries of the occupation municipality in Jerusalem, amounting to 687 settlement units, on an area estimated at 36,759 dunams of citizens’ land .
Shaaban explained that the maps attached to the structural plans indicate the occupation’s approval of the establishment of a new colonial neighborhood belonging to the “Negohot” settlement, which is built on citizens’ lands in the city of Dura in the Hebron Governorate, through the approval of the structural plan that bears the number יוש / ב /1/ 521 , which aims to build 158 new colonial units on an area of 520 dunams of citizens’ lands .
He said that the same documents revealed that the occupation had deposited another structural plan aimed at establishing a new neighborhood belonging to the “Kedumim” settlement, located east of Qalqilya Governorate, through the deposit of the structural plan bearing the number יוש / 17 / 113, which aims to build 1388 new settlement units on an area of up to 239 dunams of land belonging to the villages of Jit and Kafr Qaddum. The neighborhood referred to is located south of the street called “Street 55”.
—
About the Author
