Amnesty International has issued a new report sharply accusing Israel of conducting an "ethnic cleansing" operation against Bedouin and agricultural herding communities in the occupied West Bank. The report reveals a government-directed and supported plan aimed at accelerating the illegal annexation of Palestinian land.
Amnesty International published a report titled "Erasing anything Palestinian: Israel's ethnic cleansing of West Bank Bedouin and herding communities."
The report states that rural Palestinian communities are facing severe violence and forced displacement from their lands. Research indicates that between 2023 and 2025, 27 Bedouin and herding communities—comprising tens of thousands of Palestinians—have been forced to relocate or face imminent eviction in Area C of the West Bank. This area covers about 60 percent of the territory and has been under Israeli control since the Oslo Accords in the 1990s.
Amnesty accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government—one of the most right-wing in Israel's history—of responding to the nationalist religious agenda of Jewish settlers by accelerating Jewish community expansion and land seizure. This includes increasing financial and logistical support, as well as arming settlers, effectively enabling state-sanctioned violent groups.
Amnesty seeks to refute Israeli officials' claims that violence against Palestinians is caused by "a few extremist individuals" among settlers, highlighting open calls from senior Israeli officials to expand settlements and reduce the Palestinian population in Area C.
The report states, "This ethnic cleansing operation is led and supported by the state, not the actions of rogue settler groups or extremist ministers as claimed."
A key figure is Bezalel Smotrich, the far-right Finance Minister who lives in a Jewish settlement and actively supports annexing the West Bank. He was recently banned from entering France for promoting these ideas. This aligns with a May 2026 United Nations human rights office report condemning signs of ethnic cleansing in both Gaza and the West Bank.
Amnesty emphasizes that under international humanitarian law, Israel, as an occupying power, has a duty to protect the local population. However, current actions constitute "war crimes" involving unlawful deportations and forced transfers, and qualify as "crimes against humanity."
Bedouin and herding communities often live in isolation without security forces to protect them, making them easy targets. AFP reports that journalists on the ground have witnessed multiple Bedouin communities fleeing for their lives, including in the village of Ras Ain Al-Auja.
Farhan Jahalin, a Bedouin from the village, told AFP, "What is happening now is the complete collapse of the community, resulting from ongoing, repeated attacks by Jewish settlers."
Since Netanyahu's government took office in late 2022, Peace Now, a settlement monitoring organization, reports that the government has greenlit the establishment of 102 new Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Currently, more than 500,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements amid some 3 million Palestinians, excluding East Jerusalem, which Israel has occupied since 1967. Under international law, all Jewish settlements in this area are considered "illegal."
Human rights groups report that some Jewish settlers have committed arson, vandalism, theft, physical assaults, and even murder against Palestinians. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) notes that such attacks have steadily increased since the Gaza war erupted in 2023, with West Bank violence in 2026 averaging six incidents per day.
. Amnesty International/ AFP