With global attention shifted toward Iran since the U.S.-Israeli attacks, escalations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in the West Bank, largely remain outside of international focus. Yet, Palestinians face an unprecedented surge of settler attacks, night raids, land grabs, displacement and political measures that further entrench Israel’s illegal occupation and annexation of Palestinian territory. While Israeli settler violence displaced more Palestinians in the first three months of 2026 than in all of 2025, it barely made international headlines.
These dynamics are interconnected: shifting geopolitical priorities reduce international attention and create conditions which are exploited by Israeli actors to intensify violence and annexation policies in Palestine with little scrutiny.
At the center of the discussion is Dalia Qumsieh, LL.M., Palestinian human rights lawyer and director of the Balasan Initiative for Human Rights based in Palestine. Drawing on her work on the ground, she will provide first-hand insights and legal analysis of recent developments in the West Bank and the Occupied Palestinian Territory as a whole. The event will also address its effects on human rights work in Palestine, and the possibilities and limits for pursuing policy change and accountability under the current political conditions.
In conversation with Chantal Meloni, senior legal advisor at ECCHR and professor of international criminal law at the University of Milan, the event situates these developments within broader legal debates while grounding them in Dalia’s extensive research and policy experience in Palestine.
