Report: Erasing Anything Palestinian – Israel's Ethnic Cleansing of West Bank Bedouin and Herding Communities

Amnesty International concludes that the Israeli authorities have pursued a policy of ethnic cleansing in Area C of the occupied West Bank. Based on a combination of extensive field research, witness statements, and analyses of images and videos, this report finds conclusive evidence that Israel's forcible displacement of Palestinian Bedouin and herding communities amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity under international law.

Palestinian Bedouins have lived for generations in the occupied West Bank village of Khirbet Zanuta, sustaining themselves through herding, farming and dairy production. In 1995, the Oslo II Accords designated the village as part of the West Bank's Area C, placing it under full Israeli military and administrative control. Thirty years on, the village – and dozens of others like it – is being eaten away by Israeli outposts and settlements and destroyed by state-sponsored violence and terror, including:

• attacks against homes, private property and infrastructure
• physical attacks, threats and harassment against communities
• attacks on people's livelihoods and means of survival
• forced displacement of civilians

This report lays bare the scale and severity of the ethnic cleansing campaign targeting the Palestinian Bedouin and herding communities, carried out in a context of apartheid and unlawful occupation and against the backdrop of an ongoing genocide in the occupied Gaza Strip.

The report also demonstrates – contrary to what too many in the international community suggest – that the campaign is not the product of 'rogue' settlers, settlers’ organisations or 'extremist' government ministers, but an integral part of an organised state policy of ethnic cleansing that serves to entrench Israel’s system of apartheid against Palestinians, expand Israel’s control over and fragmentation of Palestinian territory, and ultimately ensure its annexation – all of which is prohibited under international law.

While ethnic cleansing is not a legal term, the UN Commission of Experts on Former Yugoslavia defined it as “a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas.”

Amnesty International’s research shows that Israel’s government is pursuing a policy of ethnic cleansing of large parts of the West Bank through the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity, both directly through its own forces and through support for violent attacks by settlers. Other organisations including UN bodies have reached similar conclusions.

Amnesty International’s research shows conclusively that, in the context of Israel’s unlawful occupation and apartheid against all Palestinians, and against the backdrop of an ongoing genocide in Gaza, Israeli authorities are committing serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law by ethnically cleansing Area C of the occupied West Bank.

It does this through the forcible displacement of Palestinian Bedouin and herding communities, acts that amount to the war crime of unlawful deportation and transfer, and the crime against humanity of forcible transfer or deportation, as well as the creation and expansion of settlements, which amount to the war crime of unlawful transfer.

Amnesty International's many recommendations include that:

1) Third states use all available means at their disposal to pressure Israel to end its ethnic cleansing campaign and unlawful occupation, and to dismantle its system of apartheid against Palestinians, including by:

• banning trade, investment relations and any other agreements and activities that contribute to or are directly linked to Israel's unlawful occupation, system of apartheid and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians
• suspending visa-free access for all Israeli settlers living in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
• ensuring their diplomatic presence actively protects the rights of the Palestinian Bedouin and herding communities by visiting and supporting those displaced or at risk of displacement
• imposing unilateral, targeted sanctions (including travel bans, asset freezes, and other targeted financial restrictions) against senior Israeli officials directly implicated in Israel's ethnic cleansing campaign, such as Benjamin Netanyahu, Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel Katz, Bezalel Smotrich and Orit Strock

2) The Israeli authorities immediately stop the forcible transfer of Palestinian Bedouin and herding communities in Area C of the West Bank and anywhere else in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including by:

• dismantling all Israeli settlements and outposts
• allowing displaced Palestinians to return to their homes
• ensuring that the humanitarian needs of all displaced civilians are met pending their return (including access to water, food, shelter and healthcare), in line with Israel’s obligations as the occupying power
• providing reparation to all Palestinian victims whose property was unlawfully damaged, destroyed or confiscated, as well as to all those affected by killings and serious injuries
• ensuring the perpetrators of these crimes are held to account