Amnesty International has accused Israel of carrying out an “ethnic cleansing” campaign against Bedouin and herding communities in the occupied West Bank, alleging that the effort is aimed at accelerating the annexation of Palestinian territory.
In a report released on Wednesday, the human rights organisation said Palestinian Bedouin and herding communities have been disproportionately affected by settler violence, land seizures, and forced displacement.
“Israeli authorities are accelerating annexation through a state-driven campaign of ethnic cleansing targeting Palestinian Bedouin and herding communities” of the West Bank, the report stated.
According to Amnesty, its research found that 27 Bedouin and herding communities, comprising hundreds of Palestinians, were either forcibly displaced between 2023 and 2025 or remain at risk of displacement in Area C of the West Bank. Area C covers around 60 per cent of the territory and remains under full Israeli control under the Oslo Accords.
The report, titled “Erasing anything Palestinian: Israel’s ethnic cleansing of West Bank Bedouin and herding communities”, accused the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of advancing policies aligned with the religious nationalist agenda of the settler movement.
“It has accelerated settlement expansion and land grabs, increased financial and logistical support to settlements, and it has armed settlers, thereby enabling a brutal state-sanctioned campaign of settler violence,” the report said.
Amnesty also highlighted what it described as explicit calls by Israeli officials for expanding settlements and measures designed to reduce the Palestinian presence in Area C.
The organisation concluded that the alleged “ethnic cleansing campaign is state-led, and state-sponsored, not driven by rogue settlers or so-called extremist ministers”.
The report comes amid growing international concern over developments in the occupied Palestinian territories. In May 2026, the United Nations human rights office also raised alarm over signs of “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza and the West Bank.
Amnesty further argued that Israel, as the occupying power in the West Bank, has legal obligations under international humanitarian law, which it says are being violated.
“These violations include the war crime of unlawful deportation and transfer and the crime against humanity of deportation or forcible transfer of population,” the report stated.
The organisation noted that Bedouin and herding communities are especially vulnerable due to their isolated locations and limited access to protection or public services.
Since 2023, several Bedouin communities have reportedly left their homes under pressure from settler groups. Among them was the community of Ras Ein al-Auja, whose residents departed earlier this year.
Reflecting on the situation, resident Farhan Jahaleen said in January: “What is happening today is the complete collapse of the community as a result of the settlers’ continuous and repeated attacks.”
