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Palestine | Planet & Commerce

Israeli policies in the occupied West Bank are driving a dramatic surge in Palestinian displacement, with human rights groups warning that thousands are being forced from their homes at levels unseen in more than half a century. A new report published by Human Rights Watch (HRW) last week documented the expulsion of 32,000 Palestinians from just three refugee camps this year—Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarem—marking the largest mass displacement in the West Bank since 1967. The findings underscore what rights organisations describe as a systematic campaign to empty Palestinian areas under the guise of military operations and planning regulations. The surge in expulsions has unfolded alongside spiralling Israeli settler violence, which has reached record highs since October 7, 2023, coinciding with Israel’s devastating war on Gaza. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank during this period, according to rights groups, while settlers living in illegal settlements have launched an unprecedented number of attacks on Palestinian communities.

In Area C, the vast region of the West Bank under full Israeli control, the United Nations reported earlier in November that more than 1,000 Palestinians were displaced after their homes were demolished. Israel claimed the houses lacked building permits, although it is “almost impossible” for Palestinians to ever obtain such permits, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Another 500 people were made homeless in occupied East Jerusalem under similar pretexts. Despite mounting documentation of abuses, Israel has so far faced little international consequence, even as calls grow for accountability and investigations into senior Israeli military and political officials over actions in the West Bank refugee camps and the ongoing displacement of civilians. Human rights organisations argue that the scale and nature of the operations amount to a policy of forced population transfer, which is illegal under international humanitarian law. Yuli Novak, executive director of the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, warned that Palestinian lives have been effectively abandoned. “Israel has already shown it is capable of far greater violence, as we are seeing in the Gaza Strip,” she said. “The situation in the West Bank is deteriorating by the day and will only worsen, because there is no internal or external mechanism to restrain Israel or stop its ongoing policy of ethnic cleansing. The international community must put an end to Israel’s impunity.”

Senior Israeli officials have been increasingly explicit about their long-term aims for the West Bank. The Israeli parliament in October granted preliminary approval for a bill extending Israeli sovereignty over the occupied territory—an act regarded globally as a blatant breach of international law. Hardline Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, himself a resident of an illegal settlement, has repeatedly declared that his mission is to integrate the West Bank—referred to by its biblical names Judea and Samaria—into Israel permanently. Speaking to his Religious Zionism party, Smotrich said he was establishing “facts on the ground” to ensure the region becomes an “integral part of the state of Israel.” He vowed to legalise scores of illegal outposts and make the area impossible to relinquish, calling his objective “my life’s mission” and openly declaring his intent to thwart any possibility of a future Palestinian state. More than 700,000 Israeli settlers now live in illegal settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem. In August, Smotrich announced plans for a new settlement known as E1, involving the construction of 3,000 homes between East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank—an expansion critics say would effectively sever Palestinian territorial continuity and “bury the idea of a Palestinian state.”

Israel typically defends its actions by citing planning regulations, claiming that Palestinian homes were built illegally or on “closed military zones,” a designation that places land under exclusive Israeli use. However, human rights monitors note that Israel’s planning system is designed to deny Palestinians habitable space, making legal construction virtually impossible. In the case of the Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarem camps, Israel framed the mass displacements as part of “Operation Iron Wall”, a large-scale military effort to eradicate resistance groups inside the refugee camps. Months after the initial raids began in January, residents remain barred from returning, and bulldozers have razed large sections of the camps. An Israeli military spokesperson defended the demolitions as necessary for security, claiming residents were allowed to submit objections to the Israeli Supreme Court. All petitions—including those asserting violations of international law—were rejected.

Israeli settler violence has soared to unprecedented levels. In October alone, OCHA recorded more than 260 attacks resulting in casualties or property destruction—an average of eight attacks per day, the highest rate since records began in 2006. During the olive-harvesting season, settlers unleashed a new wave of assaults, often in view of Israeli soldiers who did not intervene. The Palestinian Farmers’ Union said the attacks are “not random, but deliberate efforts to undermine Palestinian rural life,” warning that systematic harassment, land seizures and vandalism are forcing many families to abandon agricultural livelihoods that have sustained them for generations. Palestinians argue that settler groups are accelerating efforts to make life untenable for indigenous communities, driving them out to clear land for further settlement expansion.

Rights organisations say the situation in the West Bank has entered a dangerous phase, with the collapse of any mechanisms capable of restraining Israel’s actions. The political landscape in Israel, dominated by extremist nationalist factions, has emboldened settler groups while weakening internal oversight. Internationally, despite protests at the United Nations and growing pressure from human rights bodies, Western governments have taken limited action. The absence of accountability, experts warn, has enabled Israel to intensify policies that hollow out Palestinian communities while expanding settlement blocs that entrench permanent Israeli control over occupied territory. As displacement accelerates and settler violence rises, Palestinians in the West Bank face an increasingly precarious future. With entire refugee camps bulldozed, villages emptied, olive groves destroyed and neighborhoods erased, human rights organisations warn that the region is being transformed in ways that will shape the conflict for decades to come.

Moscow | Planet & Commerce

Russian President Vladimir Putin intensified his political and military pressure on Ukraine on Thursday, declaring that Ukraine’s current government “has no legitimacy” and insisting that Moscow sees no point in signing agreements with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy or his administration. Speaking in Kyrgyzstan at the conclusion of a three-day regional visit, Putin claimed Zelenskyy forfeited authority by not holding elections after his term expired, disregarding Ukraine’s repeated explanation that voting cannot be held under nationwide martial law during an active invasion. Putin’s comments come at a pivotal moment as Russia, the United States and Ukraine prepare for a new round of diplomatic exchanges, even as heavy fighting continues across the eastern frontline. Despite the rare suggestion that a US-backed peace plan could “form the basis for future agreements,” the Russian leader delivered his most uncompromising demands in months, underscoring that Moscow expects Ukrainian forces to withdraw from all territories Russia claims, including occupied and partially occupied areas of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Putin said bluntly, “If Ukraine’s troops leave the territory occupied, then military action will stop. If they won’t leave then we will achieve that by armed force.” The ultimatum expands Russia’s long-standing demands and challenges both U.S. diplomacy and Ukraine’s insistence that territorial concessions are unacceptable.

Putin addressed growing speculation around a US peace roadmap that American officials, including President Donald Trump, have recently described as making “tremendous progress.” He stressed that Trump’s ideas were “not a finished plan” but “a set of proposals” open to negotiation. Still, he warned that many points required “serious discussion” and that Russia would not accept any agreement that diluted its core conditions. The Kremlin confirmed it will receive a delegation led by US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow early next week. Putin said Russia is prepared for “serious discussion” with the U.S. and signalled that the coming talks could be pivotal. However, he simultaneously repeated his maximalist territorial demands, diminishing expectations of a quick breakthrough. Ukrainian officials said they, too, would meet U.S. representatives by week’s end. Zelenskyy stated that the next week would see “important negotiations” for both Kyiv and himself personally, hinting at a fresh diplomatic round tied to the updated Geneva principles.

Russia currently occupies roughly 20 percent of internationally recognised Ukrainian territory, including most of Luhansk and parts of Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. However, the Kremlin’s demand extends beyond its current battlefield control to the entirety of the four regions it claims to have annexed, even though significant sections remain firmly under Ukrainian power. Russian forces have recently made incremental gains around Pokrovsk and other areas on the eastern front, but analysts caution that these advances do not indicate imminent Russian victory. The Institute for the Study of War, in its latest assessment, said Russia’s current rate of advance suggests that a swift conquest of the remaining Donetsk oblast is “not imminent.” Nevertheless, Putin’s insistence that Ukraine surrender its heavily defended “fortress belt”—a network of fortified towns crucial for Ukrainian security—represents a non-starter for Kyiv and its European allies. Western governments maintain that territorial concessions are a red line, and Ukrainian leadership has repeatedly vowed not to cede land seized through military aggression.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded indirectly in his nightly address, signalling readiness for meetings with U.S. officials but dismissing suggestions that Kyiv would entertain the territorial losses that Russia demands. Kyiv and European Union leaders have publicly condemned draft versions of the U.S.-Russia peace framework after reports suggested that earlier iterations reflected too much of Moscow’s desired outcomes. The 28-point peace plan, reportedly drafted with significant Russian input before being revised, drew criticism for proposing limits on Ukraine’s military, barring NATO membership, and requiring withdrawal from strategic regions. Those early points have since been softened, but Putin’s comments suggest Russia expects them to reappear in some form. Putin said he would comment on final agreements only after the U.S. delegation arrives in Moscow, adding that “every word matters” in the diplomatic text.

Among his strongest demands, Putin insists that Ukraine must be barred from NATO membership and prohibited from hosting Western troops or military infrastructure. He said these guarantees were essential for any settlement to last, accusing the West of pushing Ukraine toward confrontation and ignoring Russia’s security concerns. Putin framed the war as both a territorial conflict and an existential struggle over NATO expansion. “We have said this repeatedly,” he emphasised. “Ukraine must not become a platform for Western troops or weapons aimed at Russia.”

Western capitals have rejected this demand, arguing that sovereign nations cannot have their alliances dictated by force.

The renewed diplomatic momentum has emerged against the backdrop of escalating military operations, including heavy shelling along the Donetsk frontline and Russia’s continued targeting of Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Despite Putin’s comments that the U.S. plan could lay a “foundation for future agreements,” his threats of seizing territory by force if Kyiv refuses to withdraw have cast doubt on Russia’s sincerity. This week, Ukrainian troops fought off multiple Russian attempts to push deeper into the industrial belt of eastern Ukraine. Analysts say that even as negotiations loom, both sides appear determined to shape the map militarily before any ceasefire lines are discussed. Putin’s determination to negotiate from a position of strength is evident in his public posture, but U.S. officials maintain that no agreement can bypass Ukraine’s direct involvement, and that Washington will not endorse a settlement imposed by military coercion.

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff’s upcoming visit to Moscow will be closely watched as Washington attempts to navigate between Russia’s demands and Ukraine’s refusal to surrender sovereign land. With both Russia and Ukraine signalling openness to talks but rejecting each other’s core conditions, the feasibility of even a temporary ceasefire remains uncertain. Putin said he had been informed of the latest discussions and believed the U.S. plan might “form the basis for future agreements,” but said it would be “impolite” to speak of final terms until negotiations formally begin. As the war enters its third year, the gap between Moscow’s territorial ambitions and Kyiv’s refusal to yield appears wider than ever, making next week’s diplomacy a critical—yet deeply fragile—moment for Europe’s most devastating conflict since World War II.