Israeli document shows settlers’ role in ousting Palestinians from West Bank

By Ahmed Asmar

ANKARA (AA) – Israeli settlers are actively reporting any Palestinian construction work in the occupied West Bank to Israeli local authorities, in an effort to dispossess Palestinians, according to Israeli media on Monday.

An internal official document obtained by Haaretz newspaper showed a close cooperation between settlers and Israel’s Civil Administration to report any work carried out by Palestinians.

The document lists 1,168 tip-offs from Israeli settlers through an online platform in the period between March 10 to October 19.

"Digging a well," "Arabs are planting trees," and "massive construction on and preparation of plots of land" were among the forms of the settler reporting against Palestinians.

“The internal document also provides yet another glance at the intense involvement of settlers in the Civil Administration and Israeli army operations, from evictions of Palestinians from most of the territory of the West Bank, and the prevention of their construction and infrastructure work, to the meticulous effort to ensure that they do not exceed the bounds of the enclaves Israel has allocated to them,” the document said.

Israel widely uses the pretext of lack of construction permits to demolish Palestinian homes and buildings, especially in Area C in the occupied West Bank, which constitutes around 60% of its space.

Area C is under Israel’s administrative and security control until a final status agreement is reached with the Palestinians.

Under the 1995 Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, was divided into three portions – Area A, B, and C.