In 2025 alone, Israel legalized around 50 settlements against international law — more than ever before. DW's Jan-Philipp Scholz reports from the recently established settlement of Shdema.
00:00For 50 years, Abu Mohammed has been keeping his flock around Bayt Zahur, a rural community in the south of the occupied West Bank.
00:09But recently, he has started to encounter more and more difficulties.
00:15They no longer allow us to cross the valley. They don't let us graze our goats.
00:21They even took a donkey away from me. I don't know why they're doing this to us.
00:25They just want to take our land away.
00:27Less than 100 meters away, a small group of Israelis has begun constructing a new settlement named Shetma.
00:37Settlements are illegal under international law, but in December it received official approval by the government.
00:45Shetma is one of 19 recently approved settlements.
00:48The decision has drawn massive criticism.
00:51Many argue it's not only illegal and immoral, but it makes life for many Palestinians almost impossible.
00:59Settlers argue it's only in Israel's security interests.
01:03We tried to contact the settlers in Shetma directly, but were turned away.
01:07One settler-friendly think tank in Jerusalem was eventually willing to talk to us.
01:15It makes perfect sense in terms of security, in terms of the fight against jihadist and extremist forces in the region for Israel to create civilian communities in these areas.
01:28That is the only way that the territory can actually be maintained, controlled and normal, some sort of peaceful existence for both sides be guaranteed.
01:39Expert drawer Etkes has been analyzing Israel's settlement policies for years and comes to a very different conclusion.
01:47It's done deliberately in the deepest part of the West Bank, in order to basically destroy the Palestinian fabric of life everywhere.
02:01In only two years, Israel has approved almost as many settlements as in several decades before.
02:08Some of these settlements already existed, some are completely new.
02:12Drawer says this requires more than just a verbal condemnation by the international community.
02:19Start holding Israel responsible for what Israel actually is doing, which is this.
02:24Many observers expect the situation in the West Bank to worsen further in 2026.
02:30Shepherd Abu Mohammed fears that soon there will be no land left for his animals and therefore no more livelihood for his family.
02:42Eventually, he can also repeat the situation.
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