​​​​​​​RAMALLAH, Palestine 

A Palestinian organization released a map Friday that showed that 44.5% of the West Bank is now under Israeli control.

The map, included in a report from the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Negotiations Affairs Department, highlights the escalating settlement expansion in the area, showing that in 2024, Israel established five new settlements and 50 new outposts.

According to the map, 44.5% of the West Bank is under direct Israeli control or has been incorporated behind the separation wall. The report noted that the illegal settler population in the West Bank has tripled since 1995, reaching approximately 740,000 in 2024.

The department warned that Israel’s policies are rapidly and irreversibly eliminating the viability of a two-state solution. The report said if settlement construction and expansion continue at the current pace, settlements could expand fivefold on confiscated land.

The UN considers settlement activity in occupied territories illegal and has demanded a halt for decades, warning it undermines efforts to resolve the conflict based on the two-state solution.

Since the beginning of the genocide in the Gaza Strip in October 2023, Tel Aviv has accelerated settlement expansion in the West Bank and has intensified discussions about annexing the area to Israel, while rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has urged US President Donald Trump to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, with Trump stating Feb. 4 that his administration would “issue a decision soon.”

For decades, Israel has occupied land in Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, refusing to withdraw and allow for the creation of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, based on the pre-1967 borders.