During the Gaza war, Israel moved quickly to redraw control and access across the occupied West Bank, instituting new checkpoints, closed military “seam” zones and expanded land seizures that Palestinians say amount to annexation. Israel says the measures are security steps, not a formal policy of annexation.
At a small Palestinian elementary school near Jerusalem, students assemble each morning to sing the national anthem while teachers arrive late, delayed at a new Israeli military checkpoint that has become part of shifting rules. “First, we needed ID cards. Now we need permits,” says teacher Sahar Mansour. She and colleagues commute from nearby villages that are now cut off by gates and permit requirements.
The town of Beit Iksa, where the school sits, was declared this fall part of a seam zone — a closed military area on the border between Jerusalem and the West Bank. The Israeli military confirmed that movement into or out of the zone now requires a permit, calling the change necessary “to safeguard the citizens of Israel.” Palestinians describe chaotic daily gridlock: construction workers, teachers and water tankers waiting to be processed at checkpoints controlled by soldiers whose rules can change without notice.
Hussein Habbabeh, the deputy mayor, says troubleshooting digital permits and frequent delays have left villages effectively isolated. “They want the land, and they don’t want the people,” he says through an interpreter. NPR asked the Israeli military about Habbabeh’s claim that these moves are the start of annexation; the military did not respond. In October, far-right lawmakers in Israel won a preliminary parliamentary vote to annex parts of the West Bank — a move denounced by some U.S. politicians as a political stunt — but the Israeli government says annexation is not official policy.
Many Palestinians say annexation began long ago, via checkpoints, movement restrictions and settlements, and that recent decisions are finalizing that process in a strategic crescent of villages around Jerusalem. About half a million Israeli settlers live in the West Bank; more than three million Palestinians live in the territory but are increasingly restricted from entering Jerusalem, the city Palestinians want as the capital of a future state.
On Road 60, a major north–south West Bank highway, Israeli construction crews have cleared terraced farmland and fenced buffer zones. Imad Basha stands in what remains of his family’s centuries-old olive grove and recalls how land was first seized in 1994 to build the road. He welcomed the road then, thinking it would raise property values. Instead, he says, the highway has exits only to Israeli settlements, not Palestinian towns. Recently, Israel expanded seizures to create a wider buffer alongside the road. “Little by little, I’ve been deprived of my land, my ability to move around and of my dignity,” he says, breaking down.
Official Palestinian figures show that during the two-year Gaza war, Israel seized tens of thousands of acres in the West Bank — roughly the same amount taken in the previous decade. The United Nations has urged Israel to stop expanding settlements, but settlement construction has accelerated, with new infrastructure such as large water pipes routed toward Israeli developments rather than Palestinian villages.
At the school in the seam zone, Principal Arwa Thaher struggles to run classes without teachers who are delayed or fearful of their commutes. English teacher Fatima Habbabeh worries the chaos is harming her daughter, a medical student who loses hours to checkpoint delays. “My children said to me, we want to leave this village,” Fatima says. Though she loves her village, she is considering moving to Ramallah so her family can live more freely and avoid daily time losses.
This year Israeli forces also displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians from refugee camps in the West Bank; alongside forced removals, many Palestinians are choosing to leave voluntarily as conditions worsen. From the school roof, residents point to new multi-story buildings in Jerusalem and to clusters of modern architecture on nearby hills — clear signs, they say, that the landscape has been reshaped in ways that favor settlers and tighten control over Palestinian movement.
Palestinians in these villages describe a daily life increasingly constrained by checkpoints, permits and the physical expansion of Israeli infrastructure. For many, what was once a view toward Jerusalem now looks out over settlements and roads that cut off access to the city. As changes accumulate while global attention focuses on Gaza, residents worry the map of the West Bank is being rewritten in ways that make a contiguous, sovereign Palestinian state harder to achieve.
