RAMALLAH, September 14, 2026 (WAFA) – In a new report titled "The Erasure Project: Israel’s Elimination of Palestinian Presence in the West Bank," the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (B’Tselem) stated that Israel has escalated measures undermining the foundations of Palestinian life in the West Bank—particularly since the current government took office in late 2022 and with greater intensity since October 2023—as part of a comprehensive "erasure project" targeting the Palestinian presence.
The report—based on over 2,000 testimonies recorded by B’Tselem from Palestinians since October 2023, alongside more than three decades of human rights violation documentation—indicates that events in the West Bank should not be viewed as a series of isolated incidents. Rather, they constitute an integrated system designed to dismantle the conditions enabling Palestinians to sustain their presence, while simultaneously deepening colonial control and presence.
Five Pillars of Dismantling Palestinian Life:
According to the report, the "erasure project" manifests through five interconnected pillars: violence and the instilling of terror, movement restrictions, economic strangulation, political and social destruction, and ethnic cleansing and the seizure of space.
The report argues that while each of these practices individually impacts Palestinian life, their full significance emerges when viewed collectively; they reinforce one another and contribute to dismantling the conditions that allow Palestinians to exist as individuals, communities, and a political and social collective. He added that these policies are witnessing a clear escalation; practices previously presented as temporary or exceptional are now being implemented on a wider scale and in a more direct, overt manner. This coincides with growing cooperation between official institutions, the military, settlers, and their affiliated armed militias, according to the report.
**Expanding Control and Settlement:**
The report situates these practices within the framework of the settler-colonial project, positing that the Israeli regime in the West Bank is predicated on entrenching Jewish control and presence by displacing Palestinians, dispossessing them, and dismantling their collective existence.
It notes that the dismantling of Palestinian presence is accompanied by a spatial reorganization that expands the occupation's control and the settlement enterprise. This is achieved through the transfer of land and resources to Israeli control and the expansion of settlements, outposts, and settler-run farms, alongside the use of legal, planning, infrastructural, and budgetary systems to cement the colonial presence.
According to B'Tselem, these two processes are interconnected: the dismantling of Palestinian presence facilitates the expansion of Israeli presence and control, while that expansion, in turn, deepens the displacement of Palestinians and the dismantling of their presence.
**Escalation Since the Formation of the Current Government:**
The report clarifies that this "project of erasure" is not new; rather, it relies on mechanisms Israel has developed and employed for decades. However, since the formation of the current Israeli government in late 2022—and particularly since October 2023—the project has undergone significant acceleration and escalation. It points to a shift of powers, budgets, and political influence toward factions pushing for the expansion of colonization, annexation, and the displacement of Palestinians. It considers the "Decisive Plan" formulated by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to be a clear political and operational articulation of this trend, noting that elements of the plan are already appearing in official policies and practices on the ground.
**Repercussions of the War on the Gaza Strip:**
The report links the escalation in the West Bank to the shift in the practices of Israeli occupation forces since October 2023. It highlights the transfer of military tactics used in the Gaza Strip to the West Bank—including aerial bombardment, widespread destruction of residential areas and infrastructure, intensified use of military force, and mass displacement.
The report views events in Gaza and the West Bank as two distinct manifestations of a single project targeting the Palestinians' ability to exist as a people. It notes that the "logic of erasure" in Gaza has reached the level of genocide, whereas in the West Bank, it manifests through dispossession, ethnic cleansing, violence, restrictions on movement, economic strangulation, and the dismantling of social and political life.
**Violations Characterized by the Report as International Crimes:**
From a legal perspective, the report describes the Israeli system in the West Bank as an "apartheid regime" that institutionalizes systematic control and oppression of Palestinians, as well as Jewish supremacy, through the distribution of rights, protections, resources, and political power.
It notes that international law prohibits the crime of apartheid and that certain actions discussed in the report may—depending on the circumstances—constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity. The report also draws upon the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice in July 2024, which concluded that Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful and called for its termination as rapidly as possible.
**A Call for Structural Change and Accountability for Israel:**
The report concludes that—according to B’Tselem—halting the systematic oppression of Palestinians in the West Bank cannot be achieved through limited measures such as stricter law enforcement against settlers, the removal of certain checkpoints, or a partial freeze on settlement activity. It argues that such steps fail to address the underlying structure that generates violence, dispossession, and oppression.
The center called for an end to the apartheid regime and military control—rather than mere partial reforms—and urged that equal individual, collective, and political rights be guaranteed for the entire population.
It also held the international community legally and morally responsible for taking action to prevent ongoing violations and protect Palestinians, criticizing the tendency to treat developments in the West Bank—such as settlement expansion, settler violence, home demolitions, land confiscation, killings, and closures—as isolated incidents.
The report emphasized that any future political agreement must be grounded in the recognition of Palestinians as a people possessing collective rights and the right to self-determination, rather than treating them merely as a population subject to administration or control. It asserted that the living conditions and political status of Palestinians can no longer be determined on their behalf through coercion, military control, or arrangements that perpetuate existing relations of dominance, stressing that the Palestinian right to self-determination and collective existence is the starting point for any just reality.
K.T
