Extract from ABC News
Abed Al Ebayat has lived in the West Bank village of Fasayil for close to 20 years. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)
In the West Bank village of Fasayil, the smell of rotting dates fills the air.
A few weeks ago, Israeli settlers dumped an enormous pile of animal feed on the doorstep of the last remaining Palestinian family to call the community home.
And the scent of it still lingers.
Abed Al Ebayat, who has lived there for close to 20 years, said the pressure from Israeli settlers was relentless.
"Their goal is to make the people leave … but where can we go to?" he asked.
"They harass us with their cows and sheep.
"They also cut the drinking water pipe … and there is nothing we can do."
Settlements are considered illegal under international law but supported by the Israeli government. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)
Further south in Duyuk al-Tahta, just outside Jericho, the ABC saw several Palestinian homes that had been reduced to rubble.
Activists said a day earlier, dozens of settlers came with heavy machinery and drove 15 families out of their community.
Sarit Michaeli, from Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem, said it was part of a pattern of behaviour that increasingly involved "immense amounts of violence".
"This is a symbolic example of the way that Israeli settlers, totally supported by the government, are acting towards Palestinians throughout the entire rural part of the West Bank," she said.
"They're acting as if Palestinians don't really exist in those areas."
Last week, Israel's security cabinet agreed on a plan that would pave the way for future settlements, which are considered illegal under international law.
Currently, Israelis can only purchase West Bank land using registered companies that require transaction permits.
Under the new plan, they will be able to purchase land directly.
Land records will also be declassified, making it easier for potential buyers to identify current owners.
In a statement announcing the policy, far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said: "We will continue to kill the idea of a Palestinian state".
Economic hardship could force sales
After the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, Benjamin Netanyahu's government barred the entrance to Israel of more than 140,000 Palestinian workers from the West Bank, according to a report by the Institute of National Security Studies (INSS).
On the eve of the war, a Palestinian construction worker in Israel could earn more than double the average daily wage in the West Bank, the report found.
According the International Labour Organization, unemployment in the West Bank was forecast to reach 38.5 per cent by the end of 2025.
The INSS report said the economic situation was being exacerbated by Israel withholding some tax revenue it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, causing the PA to reduce salaries and lay off workers.
One of these employees is Ibrahim Sider, who left his teaching job in a PA school and has been trying his luck in commerce.
He said the "unbearable" economic conditions were putting Palestinians in a desperate position, from which they could be under pressure to sell land.
Ibrahim Sider says Palestinians are in a "desperate position". (ABC News: MIchael Franchi)
"They have totally exhausted the Palestinian people," Mr Sider said.
"Starved them, impoverished them, and they will take all the land on a silver platter without shooting one bullet, unfortunately."
He said as Ramadan approached, people were thinking about how they would feed their families.
"What do you want me to do? Confront a settler, or spend on my children?" Mr Sider said.
Ms Michaeli said she believed Israel's plan was designed to capitalise on the economic hardship of Palestinians.
"I'm sure this is one of their intentions," she said.
"Private ownership of land has been one of the extremely rare, very meagre measures Palestinians enjoyed … against Israeli encroachment."
Settlements accelerate
Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to the ABC's request for comment, but said on social media the decision was about establishing "equality".
"The Cabinet's decision corrected a racist distortion based on Jordanian law — a law that discriminated against Jews, Americans, Europeans, and anyone who is not Arab regarding real estate purchases in Judea and Samaria," the statement said.
Shlomo Lecker, an Israeli human rights lawyer, said Palestinians enjoyed no such property ownership rights in Israel.
Shlomo Lecker is an Israeli human rights lawyer. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)
"What are the rights of Palestinians to buy land in Israel?" he asked.
"They cannot buy land in Israel."
Mr Lecker said the security cabinet's plan represented "one more step" towards Israel's annexation of the West Bank.
According to Peace Now, an anti-settlement activist group, there were 141 Israeli settlements in the West Bank in 2023, plus hundreds of smaller outposts.
According to the Israeli government, at least 69 additional settlements have been approved or recognised since.
Nayef Ghawanme now lives in a tent after "day and night" harassment from settlers forced his family to leave their home in Ras Ein Al Auja, in the Jordan Valley.
"Patience has a limit. It was unbearable," the 50-year-old said.
He said the plan to allow Israelis to purchase West Bank land would further erode hopes of a Palestinian state.
Nayef Ghawanme says his family was being harassed by settlers at their home in Ras Ein Al Auja. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)
"There will never be a Palestinian state," he said.
"The decisions, [of the Israeli cabinet] … will destroy the project."
"You can't have a Palestinian state and tell the settler to come and buy land from the owner directly.
"All the talk about a state is empty words."
Israel shrugs off criticism
The UK, European Union and eight Muslim-majority countries, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have condemned Israel's latest West Bank plan.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was "gravely concerned".
However, Israel's ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon said Israel was "here to stay".
A settler outpost near Duyuk al-Tahta. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)
"The history of the Jewish people is full of attempts to detach the Jewish people from the land of Israel," he said.
"It did not happen in the past, and it will not happen in the future."
Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said settlements were "illegal under international law" and that altering the demographic composition of Palestine was "unacceptable".
"A two-state solution remains the only viable path to long-term peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike," the statement said.
Giv'at Ze'ev is a long-established settlement in the West Bank. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)
However, Mr Lecker said words alone were unlikely to change the Israeli government's course.
"The state is now ruled by extremist, right-wing parties," he said.
"We wanted to believe there would be more involvement of foreign states, including friends of Israel … to put pressure on the state … [to] not continue with the way [it] acts in the West Bank."
Ms Michaeli said the idea of a two-state solution was evaporating as the world watched on.
"As long as the international community continues to repeat this mantra of a two-state solution, while not taking any action that could enable Palestinian territorial contiguity … we are going to live in a totally unrealistic fantasy."
Sarit Michaeli is uncertain about what the future holds for the West Bank. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)
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