RAMALLAH, March 30, 2026 (WAFA) – While global attention focuses on the escalating military confrontation between Israel and the United States on one side and Iran on the other, the occupied West Bank is witnessing a frantic race to impose a new colonial reality.
Field data indicate that Israeli authorities are exploiting international preoccupation with the regional war to carry out the widest land seizure and leveling operations in the Palestinian Territory since early 2026.
Observers say the decline in international oversight and diplomatic pressure due to major crises has given Israel an unofficial “green light” to intensify land appropriation orders and expand colonial settlements. This escalation is no longer limited to isolated measures but has become a systematic policy aimed at reshaping the ground situation under military and security pretexts.
Control maps: Area C at the center of targeting
Figures released by the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission show that approximately 61% of the West Bank falls within Area C, where Israeli authorities exercise full security and civil control. More than 70% of Area C lands are subject to designations such as “state land,” “nature reserves,” and “military training zones,” while around 15% of West Bank lands have been declared “state land,” the majority of which is allocated for colonial settlement expansion.
In addition, 18% of the total West Bank area is designated for military training, denying Palestinians access, use, and cultivation, while colonists are allowed to enter and establish outposts.
During the first week of March, the Committee recorded 486 attacks, concentrated in Hebron (82) and Nablus (69), with three demolition and seizure notices issued across nine sites, signaling an early acceleration in operations amid rising regional tensions.
In the second week, property attacks increased to 123 incidents, including 57 carried out by colonists. During this period, 54 cases of property burning and vandalism, along with seizures and thefts across 12 sites, were documented, particularly in Nablus, which recorded 23 property attacks alone.
The third week saw continued field aggression with 284 additional attacks, with notable concentrations in Nablus (50) and Hebron (48). These attacks included seven cases of property seizure and land leveling for the construction of colonial roads and the expansion of existing outposts.
Cumulative data for March indicate that Israel is focusing its efforts on “cleansing” large swathes of Palestinian land through intimidation and terror tactics, with reports documenting hundreds of cases of harassment and denial of access to agricultural lands.
In the second week alone, the Committee recorded 307 attacks on individuals, followed by 210 similar cases in the third week, aimed at pressuring farmers to abandon their lands to facilitate land seizures and colonial settlement expansion without international media attention.
The Committee’s reports concluded that the absence of international accountability, amid global focus on the conflict with Iran, encouraged settler militias to carry out 152 direct attacks during the first three weeks of March, including beatings, injuries, and cases of suffocation, reinforcing the perception that Israel is exploiting the “cover of war” to assert control over the Palestinian Territory.
Increase in colonial settlements and outposts
The same data show that the number of colonial settlements and outposts in the West Bank has exceeded 542, including 350 outposts and 192 settlements inhabited by over 780,000 colonists, while Israeli authorities continue to issue military orders and structural plans targeting thousands of dunums annually.
The Commission noted that in recent years, approvals for colonial settlement units have escalated to tens of thousands, alongside the construction of hundreds of kilometers of bypass roads, redrawing the geographic map and deepening the isolation of Palestinian communities, as part of a comprehensive plan to tighten control over the land and undermine any possibility of a geographically contiguous Palestinian entity.
T.R.
