On October 22, 2025, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, advanced a bill to annex the West Bank, setting off a wave of international condemnation and intensifying concerns over the future of Palestinian territories. The move, which passed its first stage of approval, would allow Israel to formally acquire the West Bank—a step widely regarded by the global community as an illegal land grab and a violation of international law.
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, joined by Indonesia, Pakistan, Türkiye, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Oman, The Gambia, the State of Palestine, Qatar, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Egypt, Nigeria, the League of Arab States, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, released a forceful statement denouncing the Knesset’s approval of two draft laws meant to impose “Israeli sovereignty” over the occupied West Bank and its settlements. The coalition called the move a “blatant violation of international law,” referencing a United Nations Security Council resolution that condemns all Israeli measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character, and status of the occupied Palestinian territory since 1967, including East Jerusalem. The statement also cited the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) advisory opinion, issued on October 22, which reaffirmed the illegality of Israel’s occupation and settlement activity on Palestinian land.
Qatar, in a separate statement posted on X, urged the international community and the UN Security Council “to take urgent action to compel the Israeli occupation authorities to halt their expansionist plans and settlement policies in the occupied Palestinian territories.” The condemnation was echoed by Hamas, which, through a press release on Telegram, declared the annexation efforts “reflect the ugly face of the colonial occupation, which insists on continuing its attempts to ‘legitimize’ settlements and impose Zionist ‘sovereignty’ over the occupied Palestinian territories, in flagrant violation of all relevant international laws and resolutions.” Hamas further asserted that these attempts to annex the West Bank are “invalid and illegitimate.”
The United States also weighed in. In an interview with Time magazine, President Donald Trump was asked about the consequences if Israel proceeded with annexation. He responded unequivocally: “It won’t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries. It will not happen. Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened.”
Meanwhile, the situation on the ground has grown increasingly dire for Palestinians, particularly in the West Bank. The olive harvest season, a critical period for many Palestinian families, has been marred by violence and intimidation. According to an October 21 statement by the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission in Ramallah, Israeli forces and settlers have carried out 158 attacks against olive pickers since the start of the season—17 by the Israeli army and 141 by settlers. These attacks have included burning tents, uprooting trees, and raiding villages overnight. In total, 765 olive trees have been destroyed, and Israeli forces have blocked Palestinian farmers from harvesting their olives. Al Jazeera reported that a Palestinian woman was assaulted by Israeli forces while harvesting olives, further highlighting the dangers faced by those simply trying to maintain their livelihoods.
Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, visited the West Bank in October and described the situation as increasingly desperate. “As there is hope at long last in Gaza, the West Bank is being intentionally and brutally carved up,” Egeland said in a press release. “The same violence and impunity we saw in Gaza is dispossessing whole communities in the West Bank. Recovery in one part of the territory cannot come at the cost of destruction in another.” Egeland recounted meeting families who had been driven from their homes by relentless settler violence: “Their lives disrupted and livelihoods lost. Entire communities are being erased. Many families I listened to are having their land—land they have lived on for generations—stolen from them. Some communities have lost their water connection as settlers have diverted the supply: how can such actions go on with total impunity?”
The toll has been staggering. Since January 2025, Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 199 Palestinians in the West Bank and injured more than 3,200. Military operations and the expansion of refugee camps have displaced over 30,000 people. These numbers, reported by the Norwegian Refugee Council, underscore the scale of the crisis facing Palestinian communities.
The situation is no less fraught in East Jerusalem, particularly in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. On October 29, 2025, the Israeli government implemented new measures to assert control over Sheikh Jarrah and evict Palestinian residents, according to a report by the Israeli organization Ir Amim. The report, titled “Strangling Sheikh Jarrah: New Tools for Israeli Control and Palestinian Displacement,” described a “new and dangerous phase” in Israeli efforts to dominate one of East Jerusalem’s most symbolic neighborhoods. According to Ir Amim, Israel is now employing unprecedented legal, planning, and administrative tools to displace Palestinians and consolidate settlement presence at the heart of Sheikh Jarrah.
Among the measures are large-scale urban renewal projects, including the construction of some 2,000 housing units for Israeli settlers—entirely excluding Palestinian residents. The report also noted land registration efforts that allow government bodies and settlers to register plots in their names, as well as the confiscation and reallocation of public spaces for Jewish religious institutions and national-religious projects. Ir Amim called these steps a “coordinated strategy to turn Sheikh Jarrah from a vibrant Palestinian neighborhood into a fragmented area dominated by Israeli settlements.”
Israeli researcher Aviv Tatarsky of Ir Amim emphasized that these government measures are part of a broader effort to assert control over the neighborhood. “After years of failed attempts by settler groups to evict residents, Israel itself now leads the effort using new legal, administrative, and planning tools to solidify Israeli presence and push Palestinians to leave,” Tatarsky explained. “What is happening in Sheikh Jarrah is not limited to one neighborhood; it reflects a government-wide policy to reshape the entire city.”
Government-backed settler organizations are seeking to evict hundreds of Palestinians from homes they have occupied since the 1950s. Settlers claim that the land belonged to Jews before 1948, a claim Palestinian residents deny. In recent years, illegal settlers have seized homes in Sheikh Jarrah and continue to pursue additional properties to establish more settlements. The fate of East Jerusalem remains a flashpoint, with Palestinians insisting it is the capital of a future Palestinian state, while Israel maintains that the entire city is its capital.
The measures in Sheikh Jarrah are part of a broader Israeli escalation in the West Bank. Over the past two years, 1,062 Palestinians have been killed, around 10,000 injured, and over 20,000 detained, including 1,600 children, according to reports cited by Anadolu and Ir Amim. In July 2025, the International Court of Justice issued a landmark opinion declaring Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and calling for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
As the world watches these developments unfold, the question remains: will international pressure and legal rulings be enough to stem the tide of displacement and violence, or is the region headed for further instability? For now, Palestinian communities face mounting threats to their homes, land, and future, while diplomatic efforts struggle to keep pace with the rapidly changing realities on the ground.
