UN report: Israel must dismantle apartheid in the West Bank
The measures taken as part of the occupation have the goals of domination and separation: to divide the territories of Palestine and control them through military repression.
Eliana Riva • January 18, 2026
IL MANIIFESTO
IL MANIIFESTO
ITALY
The military and legal actions that Israel is taking in the Occupied Palestinian Territories have nothing to do with security needs. The real objectives are neither the “fight against terrorism” nor the defense of the Jewish state, despite how Tel Aviv presents them.
The measures taken as part of the occupation have the goals of domination and separation: to divide the territories of Palestine and control them through military repression. This is the picture that emerges from the report published on Wednesday by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, entitled “Israel’s Discriminatory Administration of the Occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”
The policy of economic support for settlement expansion benefits only Israeli settlers, the report explains; the latter live in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, “to the detriment of the rights and freedoms of the Palestinian population.”
The annexation of new and ever broader territories in the West Bank and East Jerusalem represents a “violation of the prohibition on the acquisition of territory by force and of the right of Palestinians to self-determination.” Territorial fragmentation is being imposed through checkpoints, gates, roads reserved for settlers and the appropriation of natural resources. This is a system of restrictions that suffocates the Palestinian economy, prevents access to care, education and places of worship, and transforms daily life into an obstacle course.
The document also recounts how, for decades, a legal and military regime distinct from that of Israeli settlers has been applied to Palestinians, with concrete effects on life, freedom of movement and access to land, water and essential services. Two parallel legal systems under one single controlling authority. On one side, military courts, arbitrary detentions, systematic use of force, mistreatment and torture; on the other, Israeli civil law and the full protection of the state. Administrative detention – arrest without charges – is used on a large scale against Palestinians, including minors, while this is not used for settlers, who are illegal occupants. The report concludes that there are well-founded reasons to hold that separation, segregation and subordination are not temporary measures but structural arrangements meant to be long-lasting, designed to perpetuate oppression and domination over the Palestinian population.
Hundreds of resolutions, opinions, reports and commissions have reached the same conclusions over the years. A UN Special Commission did so in 1980, calling on Israel to release all political prisoners and remedy human rights violations. After 46 years and the further refinement of the processes and tactics of apartheid, the High Commissioner is once again asking Tel Aviv to tear down the settlements, put an end to the arbitrary detention of Palestinians and revoke the policies of racial segregation.
But condemnations are no longer enough – as Mu’ayyad Shaaban, the representative of the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, said on Wednesday, denouncing the seizure by Tel Aviv of 694 dunums (69.4 hectares) of land in the Qalqilya governorate. Despite being Palestinian lands, Israel declared them “state domain.” Shaaban stressed that classifying Palestinian land as state domain “is not a technical or administrative procedure, but a central tool in Israel’s colonial project.”
In contrast to news that had been circulated before, according to the Israeli channel Kan the Israeli government has decided not to reopen the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, despite the conditions of the Palestinians continuously worsening. At the same time, during a visit to the Naqab together with Ministers Ben Gvir and Katz, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a vast police operation and inaugurated a five-year plan to expand new settlement construction right along the border with Egypt.
The military and legal actions that Israel is taking in the Occupied Palestinian Territories have nothing to do with security needs. The real objectives are neither the “fight against terrorism” nor the defense of the Jewish state, despite how Tel Aviv presents them.
The measures taken as part of the occupation have the goals of domination and separation: to divide the territories of Palestine and control them through military repression. This is the picture that emerges from the report published on Wednesday by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, entitled “Israel’s Discriminatory Administration of the Occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”
The policy of economic support for settlement expansion benefits only Israeli settlers, the report explains; the latter live in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, “to the detriment of the rights and freedoms of the Palestinian population.”
The annexation of new and ever broader territories in the West Bank and East Jerusalem represents a “violation of the prohibition on the acquisition of territory by force and of the right of Palestinians to self-determination.” Territorial fragmentation is being imposed through checkpoints, gates, roads reserved for settlers and the appropriation of natural resources. This is a system of restrictions that suffocates the Palestinian economy, prevents access to care, education and places of worship, and transforms daily life into an obstacle course.
The document also recounts how, for decades, a legal and military regime distinct from that of Israeli settlers has been applied to Palestinians, with concrete effects on life, freedom of movement and access to land, water and essential services. Two parallel legal systems under one single controlling authority. On one side, military courts, arbitrary detentions, systematic use of force, mistreatment and torture; on the other, Israeli civil law and the full protection of the state. Administrative detention – arrest without charges – is used on a large scale against Palestinians, including minors, while this is not used for settlers, who are illegal occupants. The report concludes that there are well-founded reasons to hold that separation, segregation and subordination are not temporary measures but structural arrangements meant to be long-lasting, designed to perpetuate oppression and domination over the Palestinian population.
Hundreds of resolutions, opinions, reports and commissions have reached the same conclusions over the years. A UN Special Commission did so in 1980, calling on Israel to release all political prisoners and remedy human rights violations. After 46 years and the further refinement of the processes and tactics of apartheid, the High Commissioner is once again asking Tel Aviv to tear down the settlements, put an end to the arbitrary detention of Palestinians and revoke the policies of racial segregation.
But condemnations are no longer enough – as Mu’ayyad Shaaban, the representative of the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, said on Wednesday, denouncing the seizure by Tel Aviv of 694 dunums (69.4 hectares) of land in the Qalqilya governorate. Despite being Palestinian lands, Israel declared them “state domain.” Shaaban stressed that classifying Palestinian land as state domain “is not a technical or administrative procedure, but a central tool in Israel’s colonial project.”
In contrast to news that had been circulated before, according to the Israeli channel Kan the Israeli government has decided not to reopen the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, despite the conditions of the Palestinians continuously worsening. At the same time, during a visit to the Naqab together with Ministers Ben Gvir and Katz, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a vast police operation and inaugurated a five-year plan to expand new settlement construction right along the border with Egypt.
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/lonu-lo-ripete-lapartheid-di-israele-va-smantellata on 2026-01-08
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