The Balasan Initiative for Human Rights convened a diplomatic briefing on 4 December 2025, at the Wonder Cabinet in Bethlehem, to mark the launch of its new report: “Israel’s Annexation by Stealth: Bethlehem as a Blueprint”. The briefing, which was attended by multiple diplomatic missions and partners, including the EU, Spain, the UK, and Australia, sought to engage with the report’s findings and discuss the accelerating impact of Israel’s annexation policies on Bethlehem and the broader occupied Palestinian territory.
The newly published report offers an in-depth analysis of Israel’s accelerated annexation policies, including settlement expansion, land seizures, intensified military and settler violence, forcible displacement and increased movement restrictions in the Bethlehem Governorate as a microcosm for the West Bank, and how they have systematically reshaped Bethlehem’s geography and demography, transforming it into a replicable model of territorial fragmentation slated for Israeli annexation. It also examines the specific impacts on the remaining fragmented Palestinian Christian presence, centered in Bethlehem, and provides recommendations to key decision-makers in this regard.
The briefing featured expert speakers, including Dr. Tahani Mustafa, who presented the new report, its main findings, and recommendations, and Mr. Suhail Khalilieh, who demonstrated the illegal settlement plans in the area, their specific impacts, and their use as a tool for reshaping the geography and demography in the service of annexation. In his intervention, Mr. Xavier Abu Eid elaborated on the specific impacts of Israeli annexation policies on the remaining Palestinian Christian presence, which is currently focused in the Governorate, followed by the intervention of BIHR’s founding Director, Adv. Dalia Qumsieh, who addressed international accountability mechanisms to counter the Israeli policies of annexation.
The briefing was concluded by a screening of BIHR’s recent short movie, “The Hidden War on Palestinian Women: Israeli Checkpoints as Sites of Systematic Gender-Based Violence Against Palestinian Women,” which highlights first-hand testimonies illustrating the gendered dimensions of Israel’s checkpoint regime. The screening underscored the human impact of structural violence experienced daily by Palestinian women navigating the checkpoint system.