The Infrastructure of Apartheid: How Israel Builds to Segregate and Fragment Palestinian Communities in the West Bank
By Maria Francisca Ricardo da Costa / GICJ
Executive Summary
In 2022, the UN Special Rapporteur declared Israel was practicing apartheid in the occupied Palestinian territory. An advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice in 2024 finds that Israel's comprehensive restrictions on Palestinians constitute systemic discrimination based on race, religion, and ethnic origin.
Israel's segregated road networks, separation barrier, and settlement expansion isolate Palestinian communities while facilitating Israeli settler movement and territorial control. Palestinian movement in the West Bank is restricted by hundreds of obstacles, including checkpoints and roadblocks, with most major roads restricted or inaccessible to Palestinians. This regime limits Palestinians’ access to healthcare, education, and agricultural land, forcing continuous territorial fragmentation. Israel's policies are designed to remain indefinitely and create irreversible effects amounting to annexation, despite being framed as temporary security measures. The dual legal system whereby Palestinians face military law while Israeli settlers enjoy civil law protections further reinforces this apartheid structure.
The August 2025 approval of the E1 settlement plan exemplifies infrastructure as a strategic tool for Israel’s territorial annexation. By constructing 3,400 homes and extending Route 4370, Israel will physically divide the West Bank's north and south, severing East Jerusalem from the rest of the territory and eliminating the viability of a contiguous Palestinian state. This infrastructure project represents a deliberate land grab that violates international law.
This report examines how Israeli infrastructure serves as a tool to fragment Palestinian communities, facilitate settlement expansion, and entrench an apartheid regime in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Geneva International Centre for Justice condemns Israel's systematic segregation. We call upon the international community to halt the E1 project and hold Israel accountable for its violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. Apartheid constitutes a crime against humanity that demands immediate international action.
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