A newly released human rights assessment describes a West Bank increasingly governed by separation, where law and policy combine to narrow daily life rather than protect it. The document portrays a territory operating under two distinct legal realities, with one population shielded by civilian rules and another bound by military orders that regulate movement, residence and access to essential services. It argues that this structure has hardened over time into a system incompatible with international legal standards.

The report details how routine activities have become contingent on permits and approvals that can be withdrawn without explanation. Travel between towns, access to farmland and water supplies, schooling, medical treatment and even family visits are all subject to layers of restriction. These controls, the assessment notes, have intensified in recent years, producing an environment in which inequality is embedded in administration and enforced through practice, leaving communities in a state of constant uncertainty.

Central to this reality is the rapid expansion of settlements regarded as unlawful under international law. Their growth, the report says, accelerates displacement and fuels intimidation, while violence linked to settlers has risen sharply. Accountability remains rare, reinforcing a dual system in which protection and enforcement are unevenly applied, and where harm is met with near-total impunity.

Since the genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023, conditions in the West Bank have deteriorated further. The assessment records a sharp increase in killings and injuries, alongside a surge in arbitrary detentions, ill-treatment of prisoners and sweeping restrictions on civil society and media activity. It concludes that without dismantling the legal and political framework sustaining this system of domination, the steady erosion of rights will continue unchecked.