1.3. Recent Developments
Over the past three years since the last survey was conducted during 2016-2018, Israel has
unabatedly advanced its colonial enterprise throughout Mandatory Palestine with unassailable
impunity. While both the US and Israeli administrations have changed during that period, the
strategy has remained the same in its hostility towards Palestinians and in its colonial-apartheid
policies. These attacks have been augmented by the increased Arab-Israeli normalization
deals, used as a method by the Israeli-American allyship to entrench Zionist-Israeli presence
and relevance in the region. Naturally, this shift has come at the expense of Palestinian selfdetermination and their inalienable rights. The Palestinian struggle is simultaneously being
undermined locally and internationally, as Palestinian civil society is confronting increased
shrinking spaces. All of this is unraveling with the backdrop of Palestinian refugee living
conditions worsening and their right to durable solutions sidelined. Israeli impunity,
nonetheless, has remained largely untouched.
96
The Israel Land Administration Law of 2009 allows the privatization of lands ‘owned’ by the State of Israel, in Israel
and the oPt, authorizing the sale of colony units and areas confiscated from Palestinians for colonies to private Jewish
owners; see Adalah, ‘New Discriminatory Laws and Bills in Israel’ (Adalah, October 2012) <https://www.adalah.
org/uploads/oldfiles/Public/files/English/Legal_Advocacy/Discriminatory_Laws/Discriminatory-Laws-in-IsraelOctober-2012-Update.pdf>. For more on the JNF, see BADIL, ‘The Jewish National Fund (JNF)’ (2007) 34 Al
Majdal <http://www.badil.org/en/publication/periodicals/al-majdal/item/429-the-jewish-national-fund-jnf.html>
accessed 3 October 2022.
97
OCHA, ‘Data on casualties’ (OCHA, 26 December 2018) <https://www.ochaopt.org/data/casualties>
accessed 3 October 2022.
98
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), ‘UN experts alarmed by rise in
settler violence in occupied Palestinian territory’ (OHCHR, 10 November 2021) <https://www.ohchr.org/en/pressreleases/2021/11/un-experts-alarmed-rise-settler-violence-occupied-palestinian-territory> accessed 3 October 2022.
99
B’Tselem, ‘Settler Violence = State Violence’ (B’Tselem, 2022) <https://www.btselem.org/settler_violence_updates_
overview> accessed 3 October 2022.
19
1
Chapter
to enhance or support the illegal acts of Israel, often with questionable and illegal acts of
their own, and enjoy a significant measure of impunity, and often times, outright support
of the state. Israel utilizes Jewish parastatal organizations, such as the Jewish National Fund
(JNF), to privatize ‘state-owned’ land and ensure it remains in Jewish hands in perpetuity,
thereby frustrating Palestinian attempts to reclaim or access their land.96 Israel also relies on
colonizers themselves to inflict violence against Palestinian communities in order to induce
fear in Palestinians. Consequently, Palestinians are inhibited from cultivating their land or
are forced to leave, thereby freeing land up for seizure. It is a policy that Israel implicitly
perpetuates through the security its military provides to colonizers and through denying
equal enforcement of the law. In the past 14 years, colonizers have killed 37 Palestinians,
and wounded at least 2,026 people.97 In the first ten months of 2021 alone, there were 410
attacks by colonizers against Palestinians, with 302 of these attacks being against property and
108 against individuals – four of whom were murdered.98 Since 2020, there have been 757
documented incidents, with 274 of the attacks being on agricultural property, 297 on nonagricultural property, and 218 on individuals.99