Israel is ethnically cleansing Palestinian Bedouins, major new report finds
A campaign of ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Bedouins in the occupied West Bank is being driven not by rogue extremists, but by the Israeli state, according to a major new report.
Amnesty International published the new 150-page report on Wednesday.
It found that Israeli authorities were committing the crime against humanity of forcible transfer, through a “state-driven campaign of ethnic cleansing targeting Palestinian Bedouin and herding communities in Area C of the occupied West Bank”.
Area C makes up around 60 percent of the total area of the West Bank, and is under military and civil control of Israeli authorities - in contravention of international law.
According to Amnesty’s report, the Israeli government has expanded gun licences and the number of armed settlers in the area, increased funding for illegal settlements, and accelerated the construction of settlements and the legalisation of outposts.
Outposts are settlements built in contravention of Israeli law, which are increasingly being legalised by the authorities. All Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law.
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Israeli forces guard a bulldozer reportedly operating on Palestinian lands near the village of Dura, west of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, on 9 June 2026 (Hazem Bader/AFP)