Briefing to UN Security Council on the Situation in the West Bank
Max Rodenbeck, Crisis Group’s Project Director for Israel-Palestine, spoke to the UN Security Council about what is happening in the West Bank – including Israel’s accelerating de facto annexation, rising Israeli settler violence and mounting economic pressure – and why the world must pay attention.
In this recording of his “Arria formula” briefing to the UN Security Council, Max Rodenbeck, Crisis Group’s Project Director for Israel-Palestine, outlines how developments in the West Bank are converging toward a more volatile and unsustainable status quo.
Israel continues to expand settlements, building more illegal outposts and fragmenting Palestinian areas into increasingly disconnected enclaves. Israel is making administrative changes that transfer authority from military to civilian bodies, weakening the application of international legal frameworks and reducing oversight over settler activity. Settler violence has intensified, with growing impunity, while Israeli restrictions on Palestinians’ movement, access to land and employment have tightened. Economic pressures have deepened markedly, including Israel’s suspension of most Palestinian labour access, the withholding of Palestinian Authority revenues and constraints on the banking sector. Together, these dynamics are accelerating territorial fragmentation, undermining Palestinian governance, increasing the risk of further instability and closing off pathways to a viable political settlement.
