Israeli settlers are rapidly expanding their presence in the occupied West Bank, pushing ahead with a largely unnoticed de facto annexation of rural land. This expansion, which has resulted in the near-total displacement of Bedouin communities, is shifting beyond the traditionally contested areas and into regions that were meant to be under Palestinian civil control under the Oslo Accords.
While settler activity and violence have been well-documented in Area C, which falls under full Israeli control, settlers are now increasingly targeting Area B, where the Palestinian Authority technically holds civil administration authority. This shift is accelerating under the protection of Israel’s far-right government, further fragmenting Palestinian territories and undermining any prospect of a future Palestinian state.
One of the most heavily affected areas lies in the arid desert hills between Bethlehem and the Dead Sea, near the Israeli settlement of Tko’a. Once home to Bedouin shepherding communities, much of this landscape has now been seized by Israeli settlers who have established illegal outposts. These outposts, often consisting of makeshift homes or huts, have gradually expanded, cutting off Bedouin access to grazing lands, water sources, and other essential resources.
“Much of the emptying of this area near Tko’a took place in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023,” said Yoni Mizrachi, a researcher at the settlement monitoring group Peace Now. “Settler activity in the West Bank was supercharged after that event, leading to record numbers of illegal outposts being set up in 2024—one every week.”
Cisterns that Bedouins had used for generations have now been taken over by settlers, who have laid out new water pipes to support their own agricultural projects, particularly olive tree plantations. With settlers claiming land for farming, grazing space for sheep—essential for the Bedouin way of life—has rapidly disappeared.
As settlers advance into Area B, Palestinians and Bedouins are increasingly subjected to violent intimidation tactics aimed at driving them from their lands.
In Minya, south of Tko’a, a massive landfill site marks the boundary between the desert and one of the few remaining Bedouin encampments. There, Jameel and Mujahid Shalalda and their families remain, despite daily harassment from extremist settler groups that have recently arrived in the area.
“They’ve destroyed our structures and stolen our equipment,” said Jameel. “Even though we have gone to the police, they do nothing.”
Nearby, a settler group known as the Flock of Abraham has set up an illegal outpost. Their cars can be seen moving along the hills, and videos taken by locals show them attacking Bedouin children with dogs, setting fire to homes, and attempting to scatter flocks to disrupt shepherding activities.
The situation in Tko’a is just one example of a much larger strategy playing out across the West Bank. According to Yehuda Shaul, founder of Ofek, the Israeli Centre for Public Affairs, settler expansion now spans thousands of dunums of land, with violent displacement increasing sharply in recent months.
Before October 7, 2023, an estimated 100 Palestinians were forcibly displaced due to settler activity. However, in the months following the attack, that number has skyrocketed to 1,400.
“In just three years, the amount of Palestinian land inaccessible due to settler violence has grown from 240,000 dunums to nearly 800,000,” said Shaul. “That’s 12% of the entire West Bank—a staggering loss of land for Palestinians.”
The goal, according to Shaul, is clear: to completely dismantle the possibility of a viable Palestinian state by ensuring that Palestinians are confined to dense urban centers.
“Settlers no longer talk about Area A, B, or C,” he explained. “They frame their actions as a ‘battle over open space,’ essentially claiming all unbuilt land as their own.”
The expansion of settler control over Palestinian land has been openly facilitated by Israel’s far-right government, which has provided political cover for the illegal outposts. Settler leaders have also gained positions of power within the Israeli government, ensuring that military and police forces largely turn a blind eye to their activities.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, both hardline settlers, have openly supported the movement to claim Palestinian lands, dismissing international criticism.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden has largely refrained from taking action against Israeli settlement expansion. While the Biden administration condemned settler violence in late 2023, it has continued to provide military aid to Israel and avoided applying any meaningful pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt settlement expansion.
The lack of consequences has emboldened settlers, who now operate with near-total impunity across the West Bank.
As Israeli settlers push deeper into Area B, erasing entire Bedouin communities and expanding their control over rural landscapes, experts warn that these actions are rapidly destroying the last remnants of a two-state solution.
With settlers emboldened and Palestinian land shrinking by the day, the West Bank is being transformed into a fragmented patchwork of Israeli-controlled zones, making the creation of a contiguous Palestinian state virtually impossible.
“The goal is no longer just to confine Palestinians to Areas A and B,” Shaul concluded. “Now, settlers want to push them into built-up areas alone, leaving all open space for Israeli expansion.
“This is the last nail in the coffin for any hope of a meaningful Palestinian state.”
