Civil Administration

Samuel's Tomb in the Palestinian village of Nabi Samwil, occupied West Bank, April 28, 2014. (Keren Manor/Activestills)

Israel seizing West Bank heritage sites ‘piece by piece’

The army is expropriating thousands of dunams in Sebastia and Nabi Samwil, using archaeology as a pretext to further isolate Palestinian communities.

By Shatha Yaish July 24, 2026

Israeli soldiers patrolling through the Old City of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, 4 July 2026. (Mosab Shawer/Activestills)

‘Like walking into a cage’: Israel tightens its grip on Hebron

By taking over planning jurisdiction, unilaterally modifying religious sites, and erecting new checkpoints, Israel is accelerating its annexation of the Old City.

By Basel Adra July 14, 2026

Israeli soldiers raid the village of Khilet Al-Dabe’, Masafer Yatta, in the southern West Bank, June 3, 2025. (Oren Ziv)

New Israeli directive expedites ethnic cleansing of Masafer Yatta

The military order removes the last legal barriers to the wholesale demolition and displacement of 12 Palestinian villages in the southern West Bank.

By Yuval Abraham and Basel Adra June 25, 2025

Latest

Musa Mleihat in front of the tent that is now his home, near Fasayil, occupied West Bank. (Yuval Abraham)

Palestinians struggle to rebuild their lives after West Bank settler pogroms

A surge in settler violence since Oct. 7 has robbed multiple Palestinian communities of their land and livelihoods. Now they don't know where to go.

By Yuval Abraham January 18, 2024

Israeli settlers with grazing sheep near the Palestinian village of Ein al-Rashash. (Oren Ziv)

Palestinian village fears imminent expulsion as settler attacks escalate

Residents of Ein al-Rashash are calling on activists to help deter Israeli settler violence that has already forced neighboring communities to flee.

By Tash Lever August 31, 2023

The belongings and remains of homes of Palestinian families in Ein Samia, West Bank. (Oren Ziv)

‘It’s like 1948’: Israel cleanses vast West Bank region of nearly all Palestinians

In mere months, entire Palestinian communities between Ramallah and Jericho have been chased out by settler violence and state policies — paving the way for a total Israeli takeover of thousands of acres of land.

By Oren Ziv August 31, 2023

Palestinian woman using a water pipe in Masafer Yatta, in the West Bank, May 10, 2022. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90)

In hottest summer ever, Masafer Yatta sears from water apartheid

Across the West Bank, Palestinians and Israeli settlers have very different access to water resources — even when they live on the same hill.

By Basel Adra August 13, 2023

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich during a discussion and vote on the state budget in the Knesset assembly hall, Jerusalem, May 23, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

While Israelis were in the streets, Smotrich unveiled his annexation plans

As protests escalated last week over the judicial overhaul, Israel's finance minister declared the end of the Oslo Accords in all but name.

By Roni Pelli July 27, 2023

Palestinians inspect the rubble of the elementary school in Jib al-Dib, an unrecognized village in the occupied West Bank, after Israeli authorities demolished it on May 7, 2023. (Flash90)

Palestinian school razed after campaign by gov’t-linked settler group

The residents of Jib al-Dib lost their years-long fight to save their elementary school, leaving dozens of children without proper access to education.

By Yuval Abraham May 8, 2023

Harun Abu Aram in his village of Al-Rakeez in Masafer Yatta, West Bank. (Emily Glick)

The theft of Harun Abu Aram’s body, home, and life

Harun was born into, paralyzed, and killed by Israel's colonial system. The struggle to dismantle it begins in the cave where he spent his final years.

By Yuval Abraham February 16, 2023

Religious Zionism Chairman Bezalel Smotrich stands above the Palestinian Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar, West Bank, March 21, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Smotrich is about to become the West Bank’s overlord. Here’s what’s at stake

Under the new coalition agreement, millions of Palestinians are about to fall directly at the mercy of one of the most extreme figures in Israeli politics.

By Eliav Lieblich December 7, 2022

A Palestinian resident of An-Nabi Samwil, occupied West Bank, stands in front of the Tomb of Samuel, holding an old photo showing how the village looked before Israel demolished the Palestinians' houses in the vicinity in order to displace the residents and build a new luxury Jewish settlement, April 28, 2014. (Keren Manor/Activestills)

Israel destroyed Palestinian village for luxury settlement that was never built

Archives reveal Golda Meir's government expelled residents of An-Nabi Samwil in 1971 to house wealthy Israelis. The settlement was aborted, but the Palestinians remain dispossessed, meters from their original homes.

By Yuval Abraham August 30, 2022

Israeli authorities demolish a tent in the West Bank area of Masafer, near the city of Yatta in the South Hebron Hills, on November 25, 2020. (Wissam Hashlamon/Flash90)

This Israeli forbids Palestinians from building. He lives in an illegal outpost

Meet the inspector who prevents Palestinians in Masafer Yatta from building on their land while living in a home Israel says was built illegally.

By Yuval Abraham July 28, 2022