Daily Life in the Occupied West Bank: A Strategy of Coercive Displacement

• Palestinians in the West Bank face a systematic policy of administrative and physical friction designed to make daily life unsustainable.
• Critical infrastructure, financial systems, and freedom of movement are restricted, creating a structural environment that discourages long-term presence.

Energy and Economic Siege

• Fuel shortages are persistent; Israel has reduced daily quotas from 4.5 million liters to 3.5 million liters, causing systemic transport and municipal service failures.
• Since October 2023, the withholding of tax clearance revenues by Israel has left over 140,000 public sector workers without full salaries for nearly three years.
• A "shekel trap" exists where billions of physical banknotes cannot be cleared through the Israeli banking system, causing liquidity crises and forcing bank deposit limits.

Infrastructure and Resource Control

• Water access is characterized by severe inequality; Palestinians receive an average of 70 liters per day compared to 300 liters for Israeli domestic users and up to 800 liters for settlers.
• Municipalities like Hebron and Jenin face routine water throttling, leaving residents to rely on expensive, private water tankers.
• Over 560 physical obstacles—checkpoints, iron gates, and earth mounds—restrict movement, turning short commutes into multi-hour ordeals.

Movement and Displacement

• Travel abroad is restricted to the Al-Karameh crossing to Jordan, which has faced reduced operating hours and complex bureaucratic barriers.
• Settler violence and unauthorized incursions into Palestinian villages are on the rise, often under the protection of armed forces.
• The cumulative effect of these policies constitutes a form of coercive displacement, targeting the survival of the Palestinian population to encourage emigration.