The UN fears that 2022 could end up being the deadliest year for West Bank Palestinians in nearly two decades.

Oct. 29 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, has estimated that 2022 could end up becoming the deadliest year for the Palestinian population of the West Bank since the beginning of the records of the international institution in 2005.

Wennesland has recalled the wave of Israeli operations in the West Bank to arrest terror suspects. These raids, declared the mediator, are the origin of most of the violence generated against the West Bank population.

According to the balance declared by Wennesland itself, at least 32 Palestinians, including six children, were killed by Israeli forces during demonstrations, clashes, search and seizure operations or alleged attacks against Israelis.

The number of injured has risen to 311, including a woman and eight children, while at least 106 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians have been recorded, causing 63 injuries or damage to their property.

On the Israeli side, two Army soldiers have died, while 25 civilians have been injured, including five women and three children. Likewise, at least 13 soldiers from the security forces have been injured by Palestinian attacks with shots, attacks, stones, Molotov cocktails or other means.

Wennesland has highlighted that, in total, there have been 115 recorded attacks against Israeli civilians, 100 of which were stone-throwing incidents, resulting in injuries or damage to Israeli property.

For all these reasons, and if we continue at this pace, “this year is on track to be the deadliest for Palestinians in the West Bank since the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs began recording the number of Palestinian deaths there in 2005. “, he made known during the open debate held on Friday within the UN Security Council.

Wennesland lamented that “too many people, overwhelmingly Palestinians, have been killed or injured in daily acts of violence.” As a consequence, “despair, anger and tension have erupted once again in the form of a deadly cycle of violence that is becoming increasingly difficult to contain.”

The mediator recalled that these tensions “have been particularly intense” in the city of Nablus, where he lamented that Israeli settlers tend to “block the main access routes for the population” and have even entered southern cities such as Huwwara, where “They have damaged Palestinian property and incited fights against residents, in some cases in the presence of the Israel Security Force.”

Wennesland has also reported that so far this year “Israeli authorities have demolished, or appropriated” 38 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C of the West Bank — where Israeli settlements are located — and other three in East Jerusalem. In total, 81 Palestinians have been expelled.

“These demolitions have been carried out when the Palestinians could not obtain building permits issued by Israel, something almost impossible to obtain,” he said.

Expressing his alarm at the intensity of the violence in the West Bank and deploring that children continue to be victims of violence, Wennesland reiterated that the perpetrators of all such acts must be held accountable and once again called on the security forces to act with the maximum moderation.

On a positive note, Wennesland applauded the signing on October 13 of the Algeria Declaration, where 14 Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Fatah, agreed, among other things, to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization as the sole legitimate representative of the people. Palestinian Authority and hold elections for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinian Legislative Council and the Palestinian National Council.

Still, Wennesland explained that “unless fundamental political issues are addressed, mistrust and hostility will continue to grow.” “I clearly perceive the growing frustration and anger of Palestinians in the face of decades of Israeli occupation,” she added.

“The Palestinian Authority urgently needs economic support and political space to fully exercise its authority, including security, in the areas under its control,” he stressed before, once again, “committing the support of the UN to resolve the conflict by ending the occupation and achieving a two-state solution along the 1967 lines, in line with the relevant United Nations resolutions”.