Beirut: A comprehensive UN Human Rights Office report released today details the asphyxiating impact of Israel's laws, policies, and practices on every aspect of daily life for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The report warns that Israel is violating international law requiring States to prohibit and eradicate racial segregation and apartheid.
According to National News Agency - Lebanon, systemic discrimination against Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is a long-standing concern, with the situation drastically deteriorating since at least December 2022. The report illustrates how increasingly constrained and insecure life has become for Palestinians, providing numerous examples of the challenges they face.
The report highlights how Israeli authorities treat Israeli settlers and Palestinians residing in the West Bank under two distinct bodies of law and policies, resulting in unequal treatment in critical areas such as movement and access to resources like land and water. Palestinians face large-scale land confiscation and resource deprivation, leading to dispossession of their lands and homes, along with systemic discrimination in military courts that violate their due process and fair trial rights.
The report concludes that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the separation, segregation, and subordination are intended to be permanent, aimed at maintaining oppression and domination of Palestinians. It states that acts committed with such intentions violate Article 3 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), which prohibits racial segregation and apartheid.
Since 7 October 2023, the Government of Israel has expanded the use of unlawful force, arbitrary detention, torture, repression of civil society, and undue restrictions on media freedoms. This includes severe movement restrictions, settlement expansion, and related violations in the occupied West Bank, marking an unprecedented deterioration of the human rights situation. The report also notes the continuation and escalation of settler violence, often with the acquiescence, support, and participation of Israeli security forces.
The military justice system, administered against Palestinians, offers little human rights protection compared to Israeli civil law, which provides much greater protection for settlers. The military legal system is highlighted as a significant tool in controlling Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
The report documents trends of unlawful killings and other forms of State and settler violence, including numerous examples of lethal force used in a discriminatory manner against Palestinians. It cites incidents such as the shooting of a 10-year-old boy, Saddam Hussein Rajab, and the killing of an eight-month pregnant woman, Sondos Shalabi, under suspicious circumstances.
Discriminatory movement restrictions further impact Palestinians' enjoyment of human rights, hindering their right to work and access to lands, causing financial hardship. New roads accessible only to Israeli settlers cut off Palestinian communities, and thousands have been evicted from their homes across the West Bank, potentially amounting to unlawful transfer, a war crime.
Palestinians are also deprived of their natural resources, with Israel unlawfully confiscating and demolishing Palestinian water infrastructure and diverting water to settlements. This forces the Palestinian Authority to purchase water from an Israeli company extracting water from the occupied West Bank.
"There is a systematic asphyxiation of the rights of Palestinians in the West Bank," stated UN Human Rights Chief Volker Trk. He emphasized that every aspect of life for Palestinians is controlled and curtailed by Israel's discriminatory laws, policies, and practices, likening the situation to apartheid.
Impunity prevails for human rights violations, including violence by Israeli security forces and settlers. The report notes that of over 1,500 Palestinian killings between January 2017 and September 2025, only 112 investigations were opened, resulting in one conviction.
Illegal settlement expansion continues, with Israeli authorities and settlers appropriating tens of thousands of hectares of Palestinian land for new settlements or outposts, illegal under international law. A recent example is the approval of 19 new settlements, aimed at blocking the establishment of a Palestinian state.
"The Israeli authorities must repeal all laws, policies, and practices that perpetuate systemic discrimination against Palestinians based on race, religion, or ethnic origin," urged Trk. He called for an end to Israel's unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including dismantling settlements and evacuating settlers, and respecting the Palestinian people's right to self-determination.