RAMALLAH: Israeli settler violence and harassment in the occupied West Bank displaced nearly 700 Palestinians in January, the United Nations said Thursday, the highest rate since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023.
At least 694 Palestinians were forcefully driven from their homes last month, according to figures from the UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA, which compiles data from various United Nations agencies.
The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said in late January that settler violence has become a key driver of forced displacement in the West Bank.
January’s displacement numbers were particularly high in part due to the displacement of an entire herding community in the Jordan Valley, Ras Ein Al-Auja, whose 130 families left after months of harassment.
“What is happening today is the complete collapse of the community as a result of the settlers’ continuous and repeated attacks, day and night, for the past two years,” Farhan Jahaleen, a Bedouin resident, told AFP at the time.
Settlers in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, use herding to establish a presence on agricultural lands used by Palestinian communities and gradually deny them access to these areas, according to a 2025 report by Israeli NGO Peace Now.
To force Palestinians out, settlers resort to harassment, intimidation and violence, “with the backing of the Israeli government and military,” the settlement watchdog said.
“No one is putting the pressure on Israel or on the Israeli authorities to stop this and so the settlers feel it, they feel the complete impunity that they’re just free to continue to do this,” said Allegra Pacheco, director of the West Bank Protection Consortium, a group of NGOS working to support Palestinian communities against displacement.
She pointed to a lack of attention on the West Bank as another driving factor.
“All eyes are focused on Gaza when it comes to Palestine, while we have an ongoing ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and nobody’s paying attention,” she told AFP.
West Bank Palestinians are also displaced when Israel’s military destroys structures and dwellings it says are built without permits.
In January, 182 more Palestinians were displaced due to home demolitions, according to OCHA.
Excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, the West Bank is home to more than 500,000 Israelis living in settlements and outposts considered illegal under international law.
Around three million Palestinians live in the West Bank.
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January settler attacks cause record West Bank displacement since October 2023: UN
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January settler attacks cause record West Bank displacement since October 2023: UN
- At least 694 Palestinians were forcefully driven from their homes last month, according OCHA figures
- OHCHR said in late January that settler violence has become a key driver of forced displacement in the West Bank
Iran says missile attacks to continue, US talks ‘not on agenda’
- Abbas Araghchi: ‘I don’t think talking with the Americans would be on our agenda anymore’
- Top envoy says Tehran had a “very bitter experience” during previous negotiations with the US
TEHRAN: Iran’s foreign minister said Tuesday that talks with the United States were not on the agenda as their war entered its 11th day.
“I don’t think talking with the Americans would be on our agenda anymore,” Abbas Araghchi told PBS News, saying Tehran had a “very bitter experience” during previous negotiations with the US.
On February 28, the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran that killed its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and triggered a war that has spread across the Middle East.
The Israeli and US attacks took place two days before Washington and Tehran were scheduled to hold talks following three prior rounds of negotiations. Omani mediators in those discussions had said there was “significant progress” in the talks.
Iran has responded to the US-Israeli attacks with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel and US interests across the region.
Shipping traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which nearly 20 percent of the world’s crude oil usually transits, has been severely disrupted.
Iranian forces have repeatedly targeted oil tankers passing through the strategic waterway since the war began.
In the interview with PBS News, Araghchi insisted that Iran was acting in “self-defense.”
“We are prepared, we have been prepared to continue attacking them with our missiles as long as needed and as long as it takes,” he said.
Late Monday, Iranian deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said some countries in the region and elsewhere had reached out to Iran to push for a ceasefire.
“China, Russia and France, and even some countries in the region, are in contact with us,” he told state TV.
“Some of them are willing to do something to stop this war or establish a ceasefire.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said France and its allies are preparing a “defensive” mission to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Gharibabadi said Iran “did not start the aggression and the war … we are defending ourselves.”
“I don’t think talking with the Americans would be on our agenda anymore,” Abbas Araghchi told PBS News, saying Tehran had a “very bitter experience” during previous negotiations with the US.
On February 28, the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran that killed its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and triggered a war that has spread across the Middle East.
The Israeli and US attacks took place two days before Washington and Tehran were scheduled to hold talks following three prior rounds of negotiations. Omani mediators in those discussions had said there was “significant progress” in the talks.
Iran has responded to the US-Israeli attacks with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel and US interests across the region.
Shipping traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which nearly 20 percent of the world’s crude oil usually transits, has been severely disrupted.
Iranian forces have repeatedly targeted oil tankers passing through the strategic waterway since the war began.
In the interview with PBS News, Araghchi insisted that Iran was acting in “self-defense.”
“We are prepared, we have been prepared to continue attacking them with our missiles as long as needed and as long as it takes,” he said.
Late Monday, Iranian deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said some countries in the region and elsewhere had reached out to Iran to push for a ceasefire.
“China, Russia and France, and even some countries in the region, are in contact with us,” he told state TV.
“Some of them are willing to do something to stop this war or establish a ceasefire.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said France and its allies are preparing a “defensive” mission to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Gharibabadi said Iran “did not start the aggression and the war … we are defending ourselves.”
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