Israeli settlement

Jewish civilian communities built on lands occupied by Israel

File:West Bank Access Restrictions.pdf

West Bank settlements (2020)

File:Greater Jerusalem May 2006 CIA remote-sensing map 3500px.jpg

East Jerusalem settlements (2006)

File:Golan 92.jpg

Golan Heights settlements (1992)

Israeli settlements, or Israeli colonies,[1][2][3][4] are civilian communities inhabited by Israeli citizens, overwhelmingly of Jewish ethnicity,[5][6] built on lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.[7] The international community considers Israeli settlements to be illegal under international law,[8][9][10][11] though Israel disputes this.[12][13][14][15]

Israeli settlements currently exist in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), claimed by the State of Palestine as its sovereign territory, and in the Golan Heights, widely viewed as Syrian territory. East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights have been effectively annexed by Israel, though the international community has rejected any change of status in both territories and continues to consider each occupied territory. Although the West Bank settlements are on land administered under Israeli military rule rather than civil law, Israeli civil law is "pipelined" into the settlements, such that Israeli citizens living there are treated similarly to those living in Israel.

As of 2022, there are 140 Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including 12 in East Jerusalem.[16] In addition, there are over 100 Israeli illegal outposts in the West Bank. In total, over 450,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank excluding East Jerusalem, with an additional 220,000 Jewish settlers residing in East Jerusalem.[17][18] Additionally, over 25,000 Israeli settlers live in the Golan Heights.[19][20]

Israeli settlements had previously been built within the Egyptian territory of the Sinai Peninsula, and within the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip; however, Israel evacuated and dismantled the 18 Sinai settlements following the 1979 Egypt–Israel peace agreement and all of the 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip, along with four in the West Bank, in 2005 as part of its unilateral disengagement from Gaza.[21]

Israel has established Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem and in the Israeli-occupied portion of the Golan Heights, both of which Israel has effectively annexed, and as such Israel does not consider the developments there to be settlements. The international community regards both territories as held under Israeli occupation and the localities established there to be illegal settlements. The International Court of Justice found the settlements to be illegal in its 2004 advisory opinion on the West Bank barrier.[22][23][24] In the West Bank, Israel continues to expand its remaining settlements as well as settling new areas,[25][26][27][28][29] despite pressure from the international community to desist.

The transfer by an occupying power of its civilian population into the territory it occupies is a war crime,[30][31][32] although Israel disputes that this applies to the West Bank.[14][15] On 20 December 2019, the International Criminal Court announced an International Criminal Court investigation in Palestine into alleged war crimes. The presence and ongoing expansion of existing settlements by Israel and the construction of settlement outposts is frequently criticized as an obstacle to the Israeli–Palestinian peace process by the Palestinians,[33] and third parties such as the OIC,[34] the United Nations,[35] Russia,[36] the United Kingdom,[37] France,[38] and the European Union have echoed those criticisms.[39] The international community considers the settlements to be illegal under international law,[40] and the United Nations has repeatedly upheld the view that Israel's construction of settlements constitutes a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.[41][42] The United States for decades considered the settlements to be "illegitimate"[35] until the Trump Administration in November 2019 shifted its position[43] declaring "the establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law."[44]

## Contents

* 1 Housing costs and state subventions
* 2 Number of settlements and inhabitants
* 3 Character: rural and urban
* 4 History
* 4.1 Occupied territories
* 4.2 Settlement policy
* 5 Geography and municipal status
* 6 Types of settlement
* 7 Resettlement of former Jewish communities
* 8 Demographics
* 9 Administration and local government
* 9.1 West Bank
* 9.2 East Jerusalem
* 9.3 Golan Heights
* 9.4 Sinai Peninsula
* 9.5 Gaza Strip
* 10 Legal status
* 10.1 Illegality arguments
* 10.2 Legality arguments
* 11 Land ownership
* 12 Effects on Palestinian human rights
* 13 Economy
* 13.1 Export to EU
* 13.2 Palestinian economy and resources
* 14 Palestinian labour
* 15 Violence
* 15.1 Israeli settler violence
* 15.2 Olive trees
* 15.3 Palestinian violence against settlers
* 15.3.1 Pro-Palestinian activist violence
* 16 Environmental issues
* 17 Impact on Palestinian demographics
* 18 Educational institutions
* 19 Strategic significance
* 20 Dismantling of settlements
* 21 Palestinian statehood bid of 2011
* 22 Impact on peace process
* 22.1 Proposals for land swap
* 22.2 Proposal of dual citizenship
* 23 Settlement expansion
* 23.1 Pre Resolution 2334
* 23.2 Resolution 2334 and quarterly reports
* 23.3 Regularization and outpost method
* 23.4 Updates and related matters
* 24 See also
* 25 Notes
* 26 References
* 27 Further reading
* 28 External links

## Housing costs and state subventions[edit | edit source]

Settlement has an economic dimension, much of it driven by the significantly lower costs of housing for Israeli citizens living in Israeli settlements compared to the cost of housing and living in Israel proper.[45] Government spending per citizen in the settlements is double that spent per Israeli citizen in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, while government spending for settlers in isolated Israeli settlements is three times the Israeli national average. Most of the spending goes to the security of the Israeli citizens living there.[46]

## Number of settlements and inhabitants[edit | edit source]

Main article: List of Israeli settlements

As of 2022, there are 140 Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including 12 in East Jerusalem.[16] In addition, there are over 100 Israeli illegal outposts in the West Bank. In total, over 450,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank excluding East Jerusalem, with an additional 220,000 Jewish settlers residing in East Jerusalem.[17][18]

Additionally, over 20,000 Israeli citizens live in settlements in the Golan Heights.[47][48][20]

## Character: rural and urban[edit | edit source]

Settlements range in character from farming communities and frontier villages to urban suburbs and neighborhoods. The four largest settlements, Modi'in Illit, Ma'ale Adumim, Beitar Illit and Ariel, have achieved city status. Ariel has 18,000 residents, while the rest have around 37,000 to 55,500 each.

## History[edit | edit source]

See also: Israeli settlement timeline

### Occupied territories[edit | edit source]

Following the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel occupied a number of territories.[49] It took over the remainder of the Palestinian Mandate territories of the West Bank including East Jerusalem, from Jordan which had controlled the territories since the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, and the Gaza Strip from Egypt, which had held Gaza under occupation since 1949. From Egypt, it also captured the Sinai Peninsula and from Syria it captured most of the Golan Heights, which since 1981 has been administered under the Golan Heights Law.

### Settlement policy[edit | edit source]

As early as September 1967, Israeli settlement policy was progressively encouraged by the Labor government of Levi Eshkol. The basis for Israeli settlement in the West Bank became the Allon Plan,[50][51] named after its inventor Yigal Allon. It implied Israeli annexation of major parts of the Israeli-occupied territories, especially East Jerusalem, Gush Etzion and the Jordan Valley.[52] The settlement policy of the government of Yitzhak Rabin was also derived from the Allon Plan.[53]

The first settlement was Kfar Etzion, in the southern West Bank,[50][54] although that location was outside the Allon Plan. Many settlements began as Nahal settlements. They were established as military outposts and later expanded and populated with civilian inhabitants. According to a secret document dating to 1970, obtained by Haaretz, the settlement of Kiryat Arba was established by confiscating land by military order and falsely representing the project as being strictly for military use while in reality, Kiryat Arba was planned for settler use. The method of confiscating land by military order for establishing civilian settlements was an open secret in Israel throughout the 1970s, but publication of the information was suppressed by the military censor.[55][56]

The Likud government of Menahem Begin, from 1977, was more supportive to settlement in other parts of the West Bank, by organizations like Gush Emunim and the Jewish Agency/World Zionist Organization, and intensified the settlement activities.[53][57][58] In a government statement, Likud declared that the entire historic Land of Israel is the inalienable heritage of the Jewish people and that no part of the West Bank should be handed over to foreign rule.[59] Ariel Sharon declared in the same year (1977) that there was a plan to settle 2 million Jews in the West Bank by 2000.[60] The government abrogated the prohibition from purchasing occupied land by Israelis; the "Drobles Plan", a plan for large-scale settlement in the West Bank meant to prevent a Palestinian state under the pretext of security became the framework for its policy.[61][A] The "Drobles Plan" from the World Zionist Organization, dated October 1978 and named "Master Plan for the Development of Settlements in Judea and Samaria, 1979–1983", was written by the Jewish Agency director and former Knesset member Matityahu Drobles. In January 1981, the government adopted a follow up-plan from Drobles, dated September 1980 and named "The current state of the settlements in Judea and Samaria", with more details about settlement strategy and policy.[62][B]

File:2012.01.16.HebronGilbertCheckpoint.2.JPG

Golani soldiers searching a Palestinian in Tel Rumeida, 2012

Since 1967, government-funded settlement projects in the West Bank are implemented by the "Settlement Division" of the World Zionist Organization.[63] Though formally a non-governmental organization, it is funded by the Israeli government and leases lands from the Civil Administration to settle in the West Bank. It is authorized to create settlements in the West Bank on lands licensed to it by the Civil Administration.[50] Traditionally, the Settlement Division has been under the responsibility of the Agriculture Ministry. Since the Oslo Accords, it was always housed within the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). In 2007, it was moved back to the Agriculture Ministry. In 2009, the Netanyahu Government decided to subject all settlement activities to additional approval of the Prime Minister and the Defense Minister. In 2011, Netanyahu sought to move the Settlement Division again under the direct control of (his own) PMO, and to curtail Defense Minister Ehud Barak's authority.[63]

At the presentation of the Oslo II Accord on 5 October 1995 in the Knesset, PM Yitzhak Rabin expounded the Israeli settlement policy in connection with the permanent solution to the conflict. Israel wanted "a Palestinian entity, less than a state, which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank". It wanted to keep settlements beyond the Green Line including Ma'ale Adumim and Givat Ze'ev in East Jerusalem. Blocs of settlements should be established in the West Bank. Rabin promised not to return to the 4 June 1967 lines.[64]

In June 1997, the Likud government of Benjamin Netanyahu presented its "Allon Plus Plan". This plan holds the retention of some 60% of the West Bank, including the "Greater Jerusalem" area with the settlements Gush Etzion and Ma'aleh Adumim, other large concentrations of settlements in the West Bank, the entire Jordan Valley, a "security area", and a network of Israeli-only bypass roads.[65][66]

In the Road map for peace of 2002, which was never implemented, the establishment of a Palestinian state was acknowledged. Outposts would be dismantled. However, many new outposts appeared instead, few were removed. Israel's settlement policy remained unchanged. Settlements in East Jerusalem and remaining West Bank were expanded.

While according to official Israeli policy no new settlements were built, at least some hundred unauthorized outposts were established since 2002 with state funding in the 60% of the West Bank that was not under Palestinian administrative control and the population growth of settlers did not diminish.

In 2005, all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four in the northern West Bank were forcibly evacuated as part of Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip, known to some in Israel as "the Expulsion".[21] However, the disengagement was more than compensated by transfers to the West Bank.[67]

After the failure of the Roadmap, several new plans emerged to settle in major parts of the West Bank. In 2011, Haaretz revealed the Civil Administration's "Blue Line"-plan, written in January 2011, which aims to increase Israeli "state-ownership" of West Bank land ("state lands") and settlement in strategic areas like the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea area.[68] In March 2012, it was revealed that the Civil Administration over the years covertly allotted 10% of the West Bank for further settlement. Provisional names for future new settlements or settlement expansions were already assigned. The plan includes many Palestinian built-up sites in the Areas A and B.[69]

## Geography and municipal status[edit | edit source]

File:Westbankjan06-modiin-jerusalem-etzion.jpg

Upper left: Modiin bloc | Upper middle: Mountain ridge settlements outside barrier | Right: Jordan Valley

|
|

L above center: Latrun salient | Center: Jerusalem envelope, Ma'ale Adumim at right
Lower L of center: Etzion bloc | Lower center: Judean Desert | Lower right: Dead Sea

File:Westbankjan06-samaria.jpg

Upper L: 3 are outside barrier | Top L of center: part of Israel's unilateral disengagement | Whole right: Jordan Valley

|
|

L: W. Samaria bloc to Kedumim | Center: hills around Nablus/Shechem
Lower L: W. Samaria bloc to Ariel | Lower middle: E. Trans-Samaria Hwy outside barrier

Some settlements are self-contained cities with a stable population in the tens of thousands, infrastructure, and all other features of permanence. Examples are Beitar Illit (a city of close to 45,000 residents), Ma'ale Adumim, Modi'in Illit, and Ariel (almost 20,000 residents). Some are towns with a local council status with populations of 2,000–20,0000, such as Alfei Menashe, Eli, Elkana, Efrat and Kiryat Arba. There are also clusters of villages governed by a local elected committee and regional councils that are responsible for municipal services. Examples are Kfar Adumim, Neve Daniel, Kfar Tapuach and Ateret. Kibbutzim and moshavim in the territories include Argaman, Gilgal, Niran and Yitav. Jewish neighborhoods have been built on the outskirts of Arab neighborhoods, for example in Hebron. In Jerusalem, there are urban neighborhoods where Jews and Arabs live together: the Muslim Quarter, Silwan, Abu Tor, Sheikh Jarrah and Shimon HaTzadik.

Under the Oslo Accords, the West Bank was divided into three separate parts designated as Area A, Area B and Area C. Leaving aside the position of East Jerusalem, all of the settlements are in Area C which comprises about 60% of the West Bank.

## Types of settlement[edit | edit source]

* Cities/towns: Ariel, Betar Illit, Modi'in Illit and Ma'ale Adumim.
* Urban suburbs, such as Har Gilo.
* Block settlements, such as Gush Etzion and settlements in the Nablus area.
* Frontier villages, such as those along the Jordan River.
* Outposts, small settlements, some authorized and some unauthorized, often on hilltops. The Sasson Report, commissioned by Ariel Sharon's administration, found that several government ministries had cooperated to establish illegal outposts, spending millions of dollars on infrastructure.[70]

## Resettlement of former Jewish communities[edit | edit source]

Some settlements were established on sites where Jewish communities had existed during the British Mandate of Palestine or even since the First Aliyah or ancient times.[71]

* Golan Heights – Bnei Yehuda, founded in 1890,[72] abandoned because of Arab attacks in 1920, rebuilt near the original site in 1972.
* Jerusalem – Jewish presence alongside other peoples since biblical times, various surrounding communities and neighborhoods, including Kfar Shiloah, also known as Silwan—settled by Yemenite Jews in 1884, Jewish residents evacuated in 1938, a few Jewish families move into reclaimed homes in 2004.[73] Other communities: Shimon HaTzadik, Neve Yaakov and Atarot which in post-1967 was rebuilt as an industrial zone.
* Gush Etzion – four communities, established between 1927 and 1947, destroyed 1948, reestablished beginning 1967.[74]
* Hebron – Jewish presence since biblical times, forced out in the wake of the 1929 Hebron massacre, some families returned in 1931 but were evacuated by the British, a few buildings resettled since 1967.[75]
* Dead Sea, northern area – Kalia and Beit HaArava – the former was built in 1934 as a kibbutz for potash mining. The latter was built in 1943 as an agricultural community. Both were abandoned in 1948, and subsequently destroyed by Jordanian forces,[76] and resettled after the Six-Day War.
* Gaza City had a Jewish community for many centuries that was evacuated following riots in 1929.[77] After the Six-Day War, Jewish communities weren't built in Gaza City, but in Gush Katif in the southwestern part of the Gaza Strip, f.e. Kfar Darom – established in 1946, evacuated in 1948 after an Egyptian attack,[78] resettled in 1970, evacuated in 2005 as part of the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.[79]

## Demographics[edit | edit source]

See also: List of Israeli settlements and Population statistics for Israeli West Bank settlements

File:IsraeliSettlementGrowthLineGraph.png

Settler population by year in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and Golan Heights 1972–2007[80][81]

At the end of 2010, 534,224 Jewish Israeli lived in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. 314,132 of them lived in the 121 authorised settlements and 102 unauthorised settlement outposts on the West Bank, 198,629 were living in East Jerusalem, and almost 20,000 lived in settlements in the Golan Heights.

By 2011, the number of Jewish settlers in the West Bank excluding East Jerusalem had increased to 328,423 people.[67]

In June 2014, the number of Israeli settlers in the West Bank excluding East Jerusalem had increased to 382,031 people, with over 20,000 Israeli settlers in the Golan Heights.[82][48][20]

In January 2015, the Israeli Interior Ministry gave figures of 389,250 Israeli citizens living in the West Bank outside East Jerusalem.[83]

By the end of 2016, the West Bank Jewish population had risen to 420,899, excluding East Jerusalem, where there were more than 200,000 Jews.[84]

In 2019, the number of Israeli settlers in the West Bank excluding East Jerusalem had risen to 441,600 individuals,[17] and the number of Israeli settlers in the Golan Heights had risen to 25,261.[19]

In 2020, the number of Israeli settlers in the West Bank excluding East Jerusalem had reportedly risen to 451,700 individuals, with an additional 220,000 Jews living in East Jerusalem.[17]

Based on various sources,[67][85][86][87][88][89][90][91] population dispersal can be estimated as follows:

Settler population  | 1948  | 1972  | 1977  | 1980  | 1983  | 1993  | 2004  | 2007  | 2010  | 2014  | 2018  | 2019  | 2020

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

West Bank (excluding Jerusalem)  | 480 (see Gush Etzion) | 1,182 | 3,200[92]

-4,400[93]

| 17,400 | 22,800 | 111,600 | 234,500 | 276,500[94] | 314,100[67] | 400,000[85] | 427,800[95] | 441,600[96] | 451,700[96]
Gaza Strip 2 | 30 (see Kfar Darom) | 700 1 |  |  | 900 | 4,800 | 7,826 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0
East Jerusalem  | 2,300 (see Jewish Quarter, Atarot, Neve Yaakov) | 8,649 |  |  | 76,095 | 152,800 | 181,587 | 189,708 | 198,629 |  | 218,000[95] |  | 220,000[97]
Total  | 2,810  | 10,531  |  |  | 99,795  | 269,200  | 423,913  | 467,478  | 512,769  |  | 645,800  |  | 671,700
Golan Heights  | 0 | 77 |  |  | 6,800 | 12,600 | 17,265 | 18,692 | 19,797 | 21,000[91] |  | 25,261[19]

1 including Sinai
2 Janet Abu-Lughod mentions 500 settlers in Gaza in 1978 (excluding Sinai), and 1,000 in 1980[98]

In addition to internal migration, in large though declining numbers, the settlements absorb annually about 1000 new immigrants from outside Israel. The American Kulanu organization works with such right-wing Israeli settler groups as Amishav and Shavei Israel to settle "lost" Jews of color in such areas where local Palestinians are being displaced.[99] In the 1990s, the annual settler population growth was more than three times the annual population growth in Israel.[100] Population growth has continued in the 2000s.[101] According to the BBC, the settlements in the West Bank have been growing at a rate of 5–6% since 2001.[102] In 2016, there were sixty thousand American Israelis living in settlements in the West Bank.[103]

The establishment of settlements in the Palestinian territories is linked to the displacement of the Palestinian populations as evidenced by a 1979 Security Council Commission which established a link between Israeli settlements and the displacement of the local population. The commission also found that those who remained were under consistent pressure to leave to make room for further settlers who were being encouraged into the area. In conclusion the commission stated that settlement in the Palestinian territories was causing "profound and irreversible changes of a geographic and demographic nature".[104]

## Administration and local government[edit | edit source]

### West Bank[edit | edit source]

Main article: Judea and Samaria Area

File:Palestine Map 2007 (Settlements).gif

Map of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with Israeli Settlements, 2007

File:PikiWiki Israel 18561 Geography of Israel.JPG

Yamit in the Sinai, between 1975 and 1980, evacuated by Israel in 1982

File:Gush Katif-N-Dekalim02.jpg

Neve Dekalim, Gaza Strip, evacuated by Israel in 2005

The Israeli settlements in the West Bank fall under the administrative district of Judea and Samaria Area. Since December 2007, approval by both the Israeli Prime Minister and Israeli Defense Minister of all settlement activities (including planning) in the West Bank is required.[105] Authority for planning and construction is held by the Israel Defense Forces Civil Administration.

The area consists of four cities, thirteen local councils and six regional councils.

* Cities: Ariel, Betar Illit, Maale Adumim, Modi'in Illit;
* Local councils: Alfei Menashe, Beit Aryeh-Ofarim, Beit El, Efrat, Elkana, Giv'at Ze'ev, Har Adar, Immanuel, Karnei Shomron, Kedumim, Kiryat Arba, Ma'ale Efraim, Oranit;
* Regional councils: Gush Etzion (Ezion Bloc), Har Hebron (Mount Hebron), Matte Binyamin (Staff of Benjamin, named after the ancient Israelite tribe that dwelled in the area), Megilot (Scrolls, named after the Dead Sea scrolls, which were discovered in the area), Shomron Regional Council (Samaria), Biq'at HaYarden (Jordan valley).

The Yesha Council (Hebrew: מועצת יש"ע, Moatzat Yesha, a Hebrew acronym for Judea, Samaria and Gaza) is the umbrella organization of municipal councils in the West Bank.

The actual buildings of the Israeli settlements cover only 1 percent of the West Bank, but their jurisdiction and their regional councils extend to about 42 percent of the West Bank, according to the Israeli NGO B'Tselem. Yesha Council chairman Dani Dayan disputes the figures and claims that the settlements only control 9.2 percent of the West Bank.[106]

Between 2001 and 2007 more than 10,000 Israeli settlement units were built, while 91 permits were issued for Palestinian construction, and 1,663 Palestinian structures were demolished in Area C.[107]

West Bank Palestinians have their cases tried in Israel's military courts while Jewish Israeli settlers living in the same occupied territory are tried in civil courts.[108] The arrangement has been described as "de facto segregation" by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.[109] A bill to formally extend Israeli law to the Israeli settlements in the West Bank was rejected in 2012.[110] The basic military laws governing the West Bank are influenced by what is called the "pipelining" of Israeli legislation. As a result of "enclave law", large portions of Israeli civil law are applied to Israeli settlements and Israeli residents in the occupied territories.[111]

On 31 August 2014, Israel announced it was appropriating 400 hectares of land in the West Bank to eventually house 1,000 Israel families. The appropriation was described as the largest in more than 30 years.[112] According to reports on Israel Radio, the development is a response to the 2014 kidnapping and murder of Israeli teenagers.[112]

### East Jerusalem[edit | edit source]

East Jerusalem is defined in the Jerusalem Law as part of Israel and its capital, Jerusalem. As such it is administered as part of the city and its district, the Jerusalem District. Pre-1967 residents of East Jerusalem and their descendants have residency status in the city but many have refused Israeli citizenship. Thus, the Israeli government maintains an administrative distinction between Israeli citizens and non-citizens in East Jerusalem, but the Jerusalem municipality does not.

### Golan Heights[edit | edit source]

The Golan Heights is administered under Israeli civil law as the Golan sub-district, a part of the Northern District. Israel makes no legal or administrative distinction between pre-1967 communities in the Golan Heights (mainly Druze) and the post-1967 settlements.

### Sinai Peninsula[edit | edit source]

See also: Israeli occupation of the Sinai Peninsula and Category:Former Israeli settlements in Sinai

After the capture of the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt in the 1967 Six-Day War, settlements were established along the Gulf of Aqaba and in northeast Sinai, just below the Gaza Strip. Israel had plans to expand the settlement of Yamit into a city with a population of 200,000,[113] though the actual population of Yamit did not exceed 3,000.[114] The Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egypt in stages beginning in 1979 as part of the Egypt–Israel peace treaty. As required by the treaty, in 1982 Israel evacuated the Israeli civilian population from the 18 Sinai settlements in Sinai. In some instances evacuations were done forcefully, such as the evacuation of Yamit. All the settlements were then dismantled.

### Gaza Strip[edit | edit source]

See also: Population statistics for Israeli Gaza Strip settlements

Before Israel's unilateral disengagement plan in which the Israeli settlements were evacuated, there were 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip under the administration of the Hof Aza Regional Council. The land was allocated in such a way that each Israeli settler disposed of 400 times the land available to the Palestinian refugees, and 20 times the volume of water allowed to the peasant farmers of the Strip.[115]

## Legal status[edit | edit source]

Main article: International law and Israeli settlements

File:Gilocrossing.jpg

Gilo, East Jerusalem

File:PisgatzeevS.jpg

Pisgat Ze'ev, East Jerusalem

File:Katzrinlibrary.jpg

Katzrin, Golan Heights

The consensus view[116] in the international community is that the existence of Israeli settlements in the West Bank including East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights is in violation of international law.[117] The Fourth Geneva Convention includes statements such as "the Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies".[118] On 20 December 2019, International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced an International Criminal Court investigation in Palestine into alleged war crimes committed during the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.[119] At present, the view of the international community, as reflected in numerous UN resolutions, regards the building and existence of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights as a violation of international law.[120][121][122] UN Security Council Resolution 446 refers to the Fourth Geneva Convention as the applicable international legal instrument, and calls upon Israel to desist from transferring its own population into the territories or changing their demographic makeup. The reconvened Conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions has declared the settlements illegal[123] as has the primary judicial organ of the UN, the International Court of Justice.[124]

The position of successive Israeli governments is that all authorized settlements are entirely legal and consistent with international law.[125] In practice, Israel does not accept that the Fourth Geneva Convention applies de jure, but has stated that on humanitarian issues it will govern itself de facto by its provisions, without specifying which these are.[126][127] The scholar and jurist Eugene Rostow[128] has disputed the illegality of authorized settlements.

Under Israeli law, West Bank settlements must meet specific criteria to be legal.[129] In 2009, there were approximately 100[102] small communities that did not meet these criteria and are referred to as illegal outposts.[130][131][132]

In 2014 twelve EU countries warned businesses against involving themselves in the settlements. According to the warnings, economic activities relating to the settlements involve legal and economic risks stemming from the fact that the settlements are built on occupied land not recognized as Israel's.[133][134]

### Illegality arguments[edit | edit source]

The consensus of the international community – the vast majority of states, the overwhelming majority of legal experts, the International Court of Justice and the UN, is that settlements are in violation of international law.[135][40] After the Six-Day War, in 1967, Theodor Meron, legal counsel to the Israeli Foreign Ministry stated in a legal opinion to the Prime Minister,

> "My conclusion is that civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes the explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention."[136]

This legal opinion was sent to Prime Minister Levi Eshkol. However, it was not made public at the time. The Labor cabinet allowed settlements despite the warning. This paved the way for future settlement growth. In 2007, Meron stated that "I believe that I would have given the same opinion today."[137]

In 1978, the Legal Adviser of the Department of State of the United States reached the same conclusion.[130][138]

The International Court of Justice, in its advisory opinion, has since ruled that Israel is in breach of international law by establishing settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. The Court maintains that Israel cannot rely on its right of self-defense or necessity to impose a regime that violates international law. The Court also ruled that Israel violates basic human rights by impeding liberty of movement and the inhabitants' right to work, health, education and an adequate standard of living.[139]

International intergovernmental organizations such as the Conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention,[140] major organs of the United Nations,[141] the European Union, and Canada,[142] also regard the settlements as a violation of international law. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination wrote that "The status of the settlements was clearly inconsistent with Article 3 of the Convention, which, as noted in the Committee's General Recommendation XIX, prohibited all forms of racial segregation in all countries. There is a consensus among publicists that the prohibition of racial discrimination, irrespective of territories, is an imperative norm of international law."[143] Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch have also characterized the settlements as a violation of international law.

In late January 2013 a report drafted by three justices, presided over by Christine Chanet, and issued by the United Nations Human Rights Council declared that Jewish settlements constituted a creeping annexation based on multiple violations of the Geneva Conventions and international law, and stated that if Palestine ratified the Rome Accord, Israel could be tried for "gross violations of human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law." A spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry declared the report 'unfortunate' and accused the UN's Human Rights Council of a "systematically one-sided and biased approach towards Israel."[144]

According to Talia Sasson, the High Court of Justice in Israel, with a variety of different justices sitting, has repeatedly stated for more than 4 decades that Israel's presence in the West Bank is in violation of international law.[145]

### Legality arguments[edit | edit source]

Four prominent jurists cited the concept of the "sovereignty vacuum" in the immediate aftermath of the Six-Day War to describe the legal status of the West Bank and Gaza:[146] Yehuda Zvi Blum in 1968,[147] Elihu Lauterpacht in 1968,[148] Julius Stone in 1969[149] and 1981,[150] and Stephen M. Schwebel in 1970.[151] Eugene V. Rostow also argued in 1979 that the occupied territories' legal status was undetermined.[152]

* Stephen M. Schwebel[153] made three distinctions specific to the Israeli situation to claim that the territories were seized in self-defense and that Israel has more title to them than the previous holders.
* Professor Julius Stone also wrote that "Israel's presence in all these areas pending negotiation of new borders is entirely lawful, since Israel entered them lawfully in self-defense."[154] He argued that it would be an "irony bordering on the absurd" to read Article 49(6) as meaning that the State of Israel was obliged to ensure (by force if necessary) that areas with a millennial association with Jewish life, shall be forever "judenrein".[155]

Professor Ben Saul took exception to this view, arguing that Article 49(6) can be read to include voluntary or assisted transfers, as indeed it was in the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice which had expressed this interpretation in the Israeli Wall Advisory Opinion (2003).[156]

Israel maintains that a temporary use of land and buildings for various purposes is permissible under a plea of military necessity and that the settlements fulfilled security needs.[12] Israel argues that its settlement policy is consistent with international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, while recognising that some settlements have been constructed illegally on private land.[13] The Israeli Supreme Court has ruled that the power of the Civil Administration and the Military Commander in the occupied territories is limited by the entrenched customary rules of public international law as codified in the Hague Regulations.[157][158][159] In 1998 the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs produced "The International Criminal Court Background Paper".[160] It concludes

> International law has long recognised that there are crimes of such severity they should be considered "international crimes." Such crimes have been established in treaties such as the Genocide Convention and the Geneva Conventions.... The following are Israel's primary issues of concern [ie with the rules of the ICC]: The inclusion of settlement activity as a "war crime" is a cynical attempt to abuse the Court for political ends. The implication that the transfer of civilian population to occupied territories can be classified as a crime equal in gravity to attacks on civilian population centres or mass murder is preposterous and has no basis in international law.

A UN conference was held in Rome in 1998, where Israel was one of seven countries to vote against the Rome Statute to establish the International Criminal Court. Israel was opposed to a provision that included as a war crime the transfer of civilian populations into territory the government occupies.[161] Israel has signed the statute, but not ratified the treaty.[162]

## Land ownership[edit | edit source]

File:Elon Moreh.jpg

Elon Moreh, West Bank

A 1996 amendment to an Israeli military order, states that land privately owned can not be part of a settlement, unless the land in question has been confiscated for military purposes.[129] In 2006 Peace Now acquired a report, which it claims was leaked from the Israeli Government's Civil Administration, indicating that up to 40 percent of the land Israel plans to retain in the West Bank is privately owned by Palestinians.[163] Peace Now called this a violation of Israeli law.[164] Peace Now published a comprehensive report about settlements on private lands.[165][166] In the wake of a legal battle, Peace Now lowered the figure to 32 percent, which the Civil Administration also denied.[167] The Washington Post reported that "The 38-page report offers what appears to be a comprehensive argument against the Israeli government's contention that it avoids building on private land, drawing on the state's own data to make the case."[168]

In February 2008, the Civil Administration stated that the land on which more than a third of West Bank settlements was built had been expropriated by the IDF for "security purposes."[169] The unauthorized seizure of private Palestinian land was defined by the Civil Administration itself as 'theft.'[170] According to B'Tselem, more than 42 percent of the West Bank are under control of the Israeli settlements, 21 percent of which was seized from private Palestinian owners, much of it in violation of the 1979 Israeli Supreme Court decision.[106]

In 1979, the government decided to extend settlements or build new ones only on "state lands".[68][129]

A secret database, drafted by a retired senior officer, Baruch Spiegel, on orders from former defense minister Shaul Mofaz, found that some settlements deemed legal by Israel were illegal outposts, and that large portions of Ofra, Elon Moreh and Beit El were built on private Palestinian land. The "Spiegel report" was revealed by Haaretz in 2009. Many settlements are largely built on private lands, without approval of the Israeli Government.[171] According to Israel, the bulk of the land was vacant, was leased from the state, or bought fairly from Palestinian landowners.

Invoking the Absentee Property Law to transfer, sell or lease property in East Jerusalem owned by Palestinians who live elsewhere without compensation has been criticized both inside and outside of Israel.[172] Opponents of the settlements claim that "vacant" land belonged to Arabs who fled or collectively to an entire village, a practice that developed under Ottoman rule. B'Tselem charged that Israel is using the absence of modern legal documents for the communal land as a legal basis for expropriating it. These "abandoned lands" are sometimes laundered through a series of fraudulent sales.[173]

According to Amira Hass, one of the techniques used by Israel to expropriate Palestinian land is to place desired areas under a 'military firing zone' classification, and then issue orders for the evacuation of Palestinians from the villages in that range, while allowing contiguous Jewish settlements to remain unaffected.[174]

## Effects on Palestinian human rights[edit | edit source]

File:Settlements allocated land, January-2012.png

Parts of the West Bank allocated to the settlements, as of January 2012 (in pink and purple color). Access is prohibited or restricted to Palestinians.

Amnesty International argues that Israel's settlement policy is discriminatory and a violation of Palestinian human rights.[175] B'Tselem claims that Israeli travel restrictions impact on Palestinian freedom of movement[176] and Palestinian human rights have been violated in Hebron due to the presence of the settlers within the city.[177][178][179] According to B'Tselem, over fifty percent of West Bank land expropriated from Palestinians has been used to establish settlements and create reserves of land for their future expansion. The seized lands mainly benefit the settlements and Palestinians cannot use them.[180] The roads built by Israel in the West Bank to serve the settlements are closed to Palestinian vehicles'[181][182] and act as a barrier often between villages and the lands on which they subsist.[183]

Human Rights Watch and other human rights observer volunteer regularly file reports on "settler violence," referring to stoning and shooting incidents involving Israeli settlers.[184] Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and Hebron have led to violent settler protests and disputes over land and resources. Meron Benvenisti described the settlement enterprise as a "commercial real estate project that conscripts Zionist rhetoric for profit."[185]

The construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier has been criticized as an infringement on Palestinian human and land rights. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated that 10% of the West Bank would fall on the Israeli side of the barrier.[186][187]

In July 2012, the UN Human Rights Council decided to set up a probe into Jewish settlements. The report of the independent international fact-finding mission which investigated the "implications of the Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory" was published in February 2013.[188]

In February 2020, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights published a list of 112 companies linked to activities related to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.[189][190]

## Economy[edit | edit source]

File:Ma'ale adumim 01.jpg

Many residents of Ma'ale Adumim work in Mishor Adumim industrial park

Goods produced in Israeli settlements are able to stay competitive on the global market, in part because of massive state subsidies they receive from the Israeli government. Farmers and producers are given state assistance, while companies that set up in the territories receive tax breaks and direct government subsidies. An Israeli government fund has also been established to help companies pay customs penalties.[191] Palestinian officials estimate that settlers sell goods worth some $500 million to the Palestinian market.[192] Israel has built 16 industrial zones, containing roughly 1000 industrial plants, in the West Bank and East Jerusalem on acreage that consumes large parts of the territory planned for a future Palestinian state. According to Jodi Rudoren these installations both entrench the occupation and provide work for Palestinians, even those opposed to it. The 16 parks are located at Shaked, Beka'ot, Baran, Karnei Shomron, Emmanuel, Barkan, Ariel, Shilo, Halamish, Ma'ale Efraim, Sha'ar Binyamin, Atarot, Mishor Adumim, Gush Etzion, Kiryat Arba and Metarim (2001).[193]

In spite of this, the West Bank settlements have failed to develop a self-sustaining local economy. About 60% of the settler workforce commutes to Israel for work. The settlements rely primarily on the labor of their residents in Israel proper rather than local manufacturing, agriculture, or research and development. Of the industrial parks in the settlements, there are only two significant ones, at Ma'ale Adumim and Barkan, with most of the workers there being Palestinian. Only a few hundred settler households cultivate agricultural land, and rely primarily on Palestinian labor in doing so.[194]

Settlement has an economic dimension, much of it driven by the significantly lower costs of housing for Israeli citizens living in Israeli settlements compared to the cost of housing and living in Israel proper.[45] Government spending per citizen in the settlements is double that spent per Israeli citizen in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, while government spending for settlers in isolated Israeli settlements is three times the Israeli national average. Most of the spending goes to the security of the Israeli citizens living there.[46]

### Export to EU[edit | edit source]

According to Israeli government estimates, $230 million worth of settler goods including fruit, vegetables, cosmetics, textiles and toys are exported to the EU each year, accounting for approximately 2% of all Israeli exports to Europe.[191] A 2013 report of Profundo revealed that at least 38 Dutch companies imported settlement products.[195]

European Union law requires a distinction to be made between goods originating in Israel and those from the occupied territories. The former benefit from preferential custom treatment according to the EU-Israel Association Agreement (2000); the latter don't, having been explicitly excluded from the agreement.[191][196] In practice, however, settler goods often avoid mandatory customs through being labelled as originating in Israel, while European customs authorities commonly fail to complete obligatory postal code checks of products to ensure they have not originated in the occupied territories.[191][195]

In 2009, the United Kingdom's Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs issued new guidelines concerning labelling of goods imported from the West Bank. The new guidelines require labelling to clarify whether West Bank products originate from settlements or from the Palestinian economy. Israel's foreign ministry said that the UK was "catering to the demands of those whose ultimate goal is the boycott of Israeli products"; but this was denied by the UK government, who said that the aim of the new regulations was to allow consumers to choose for themselves what produce they buy.[196] Denmark has similar legislation requiring food products from settlements in the occupied territories to be accurately labelled.[191] In June 2022, Norway also stated that it would begin complying with EU regulation to label produce originating from Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Golan Heights as such.[197]

On 12 November 2019 the Court of Justice of the European Union in a ruling[198] covering all territory Israel captured in the 1967 war decided that labels on foodstuffs must not imply that goods produced in occupied territory came from Israel itself and must "prevent consumers from being misled as to the fact that the State of Israel is present in the territories concerned as an occupying power and not as a sovereign entity". In its ruling, the court said that failing to inform EU consumers they were potentially buying goods produced in settlements denies them access to "ethical considerations and considerations relating to the observance of international law".[199]

In January 2019 the Dail (Ireland's lower house) voted in favour, by 78 to 45, of the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) bill.[200] This piece of legislation prohibits the purchasing of any good and/or service from the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem or West Bank settlements. As of February 2019 the bill has some stages to be completed,once codified, either a five-year jail sentence or fines of up to €250,000 ($284,000) will affect anyone who breaks this law.[201][202][203]

A petition under the European Citizens' Initiative, submitted in September 2021, was accepted on 20 February 2022. The petition seeks the adoption of legislation to ban trade with unlawful settlements. The petition requires a million signatures from across the EU and has received support from civil society groups including Human Rights Watch.[204][205][206][207][208]

### Palestinian economy and resources[edit | edit source]

A Palestinian report argued in 2011 that settlements have a detrimental effect on the Palestinian economy, equivalent to about 85% of the nominal gross domestic product of Palestine, and that the "occupation enterprise" allows the state of Israel and commercial firms to profit from Palestinian natural resources and tourist potential.[209] A 2013 report published by the World Bank analysed the impact that the limited access to Area C lands and resources had on the Palestinian economy. While settlements represent a single axis of control, it is the largest with 68% of the Area C lands reserved for the settlements. The report goes on to calculate that access to the lands and resources of Area C, including the territory in and around settlements, would increase the Palestinian GDP by some $3.5 billion (or 35%) per year.[210]

The Israeli Supreme Court has ruled that Israeli companies are entitled to exploit the West Bank's natural resources for economic gain, and that international law must be "adapted" to the "reality on the ground" of long-term occupation.[211]

## Palestinian labour[edit | edit source]

Due to the availability of jobs offering twice the prevailing salary of the West Bank (as of August 2013[update]), as well as high unemployment, tens of thousands of Palestinians work in Israeli settlements.[212][213] According to the Manufacturers Association of Israel, some 22,000 Palestinians were employed in construction, agriculture, manufacturing and service industries.[214] An Al-Quds University study in 2011 found that 82% of Palestinian workers said they would prefer to not work in Israeli settlements if they had alternative employment in the West Bank.[212]

Palestinians have been highly involved in the construction of settlements in the West Bank. In 2013, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics released their survey showing that the number of Palestinian workers who are employed by the Jewish settlements increased from 16,000 to 20,000 in the first quarter.[213] The survey also found that Palestinians who work in Israel and the settlements are paid more than twice their salary compared to what they receive from Palestinian employers.[213]

In 2008, Kav LaOved charged that Palestinians who work in Israeli settlements are not granted basic protections of Israeli labor law. Instead, they are employed under Jordanian labor law, which does not require minimum wage, payment for overtime and other social rights. In 2007, the Supreme Court of Israel ruled that Israeli labor law does apply to Palestinians working in West Bank settlements and applying different rules in the same work place constituted discrimination. The ruling allowed Palestinian workers to file lawsuits in Israeli courts. In 2008, the average sum claimed by such lawsuits stood at 100,000 shekels.[215]

According to Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, 63% of Palestinians opposed PA plans to prosecute Palestinians who work in the settlements. However, 72% of Palestinians support a boycott of the products they sell.[216] Although the Palestinian Authority has criminalized working in the settlements, the director-general at the Palestinian Ministry of Labor, Samer Salameh, described the situation in February 2014 as being "caught between two fires". He said "We strongly discourage work in the settlements, since the entire enterprise is illegal and illegitimate...but given the high unemployment rate and the lack of alternatives, we do not enforce the law that criminalizes work in the settlements."[212]

## Violence[edit | edit source]

### Israeli settler violence[edit | edit source]

Main article: Israeli settler violence

File:Gas the Arabs painted in Hebron.jpg

"Gas the Arabs"; graffiti on the door of a home in Hebron, 2008

File:VandalisedOliveTree.jpg

Olive trees in the village of Burin allegedly vandalized by settlers from the settlement Yitzhar in November 2009

Gush Emunim Underground was a militant organization that operated in 1979–1984. The organization planned attacks on Palestinian officials and the Dome of the Rock.[217][218] In 1994, Baruch Goldstein of Hebron, a member of Kach carried out the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre, killing 29 Muslim worshipers and injuring 125. The attack was widely condemned by the Israeli government and Jewish community. The Palestinian leadership has accused Israel of "encouraging and enabling" settler violence in a bid to provoke Palestinian riots and violence in retaliation.[219] Violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers against Palestinians constitutes terrorism according to the U.S. Department of State, and former IDF Head of Central Command Avi Mizrahi stated that such violence constitutes "terror."[220]

In mid-2008, a UN report recorded 222 acts of Israeli settler violence against Palestinians and IDF troops compared with 291 in 2007.[221] This trend reportedly increased in 2009.[222] Maj-Gen Shamni said that the number had risen from a few dozen individuals to hundreds, and called it "a very grave phenomenon."[221] In 2008–2009, the defense establishment adopted a harder line against the extremists.[222] This group responded with a tactic dubbed "price tagging", vandalizing Palestinian property whenever police or soldiers were sent in to dismantle outposts.[223] From January through to September 2013, 276 attacks by settlers against Palestinians were recorded.[224]

Leading religious figures in the West Bank have harshly criticized these tactics. Rabbi Menachem Froman of Tekoa said that "Targeting Palestinians and their property is a shocking thing, ... It's an act of hurting humanity. ... This builds a wall of fire between Jews and Arabs."[225] The Yesha Council and Hanan Porat also condemned such actions.[226] Other rabbis have been accused of inciting violence against non-Jews.[227] In response to settler violence, the Israeli government said that it would increase law enforcement and cut off aid to illegal outposts.[228] Some settlers are thought to lash out at Palestinians because they are "easy victims."[229] The United Nations accused Israel of failing to intervene and arrest settlers suspected of violence.[230] In 2008, Haaretz wrote that "Israeli society has become accustomed to seeing lawbreaking settlers receive special treatment and no other group could similarly attack Israeli law enforcement agencies without being severely punished."[231]

In September 2011, settlers vandalized a mosque and an army base. They slashed tires and cut cables of 12 army vehicles and sprayed graffiti.[232] In November 2011, the United Nations Office for Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA) in the Palestinian territories published a report on settler violence that showed a significant rise compared to 2009 and 2010. The report covered physical violence and property damage such as uprooted olive trees, damaged tractors and slaughtered sheep. The report states that 90% of complaints filed by Palestinians have been closed without charge.[233]

According to EU reports, Israel has created an "atmosphere of impunity" for Jewish attackers, which is seen as tantamount to tacit approval by the state. In the West Bank, Jews and Palestinians live under two different legal regimes and it is difficult for Palestinians to lodge complaints, which must be filed in Hebrew in Israeli settlements.[234]

The 27 ministers of foreign affairs of the European Union published a report in May 2012 strongly denouncing policies of the State of Israel in the West Bank and denouncing "continuous settler violence and deliberate provocations against Palestinian civilians."[235] The report by all EU ministers called "on the government of Israel to bring the perpetrators to justice and to comply with its obligations under international law."[235]

In July 2014, a day after the burial of three murdered Israeli teens, Khdeir, a 16-year-old Palestinian, was forced into a car by 3 Israeli settlers on an East Jerusalem street. His family immediately reported the fact to Israeli Police who located his charred body a few hours later at Givat Shaul in the Jerusalem Forest. Preliminary results from the autopsy suggested that he was beaten and burnt while still alive.[236][237][238][239] The murder suspects explained the attack as a response to the June abduction and murder of three Israeli teens.[240][241] The murders contributed to a breakout of hostilities in the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.[242] In July 2015, a similar incident occurred where Israeli settlers made an arson attack on two Palestinian houses, one of which was empty; however, the other was occupied, resulting in the burning to death of a Palestinian infant; the four other members of his family were evacuated to the hospital suffering serious injuries.[243] These two incidents received condemnation from the United States, European Union and the IDF.[244] The European Union criticized Israel for "failing to protect the Palestinian population".[244]

### Olive trees[edit | edit source]

While the economy of the Palestinian territories has shown signs of growth, the International Committee of the Red Cross reported that Palestinian olive farming has suffered. According to the ICRC, 10,000 olive trees were cut down or burned by settlers in 2007–2010.[245][246] Foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the report ignored official PA data showing that the economic situation of Palestinians had improved substantially, citing Mahmoud Abbas's comment to The Washington Post in May 2009, where he said "in the West Bank, we have a good reality, the people are living a normal life."[245]

Haaretz blamed the violence during the olive harvest on a handful of extremists.[247] In 2010, trees belonging to both Jews and Arabs were cut down, poisoned or torched. In the first two weeks of the harvest, 500 trees owned by Palestinians and 100 trees owned by Jews had been vandalized.[248] In October 2013, 100 trees were cut down.[249]

Violent attacks on olive trees seem to be facilitated by the apparently systematic refusal of the Israeli authorities to allow Palestinians to visit their own groves, sometimes for years, especially in cases where the groves are deemed to be too close to settlements.[250]

### Palestinian violence against settlers[edit | edit source]

Israeli civilians[251] living in settlements have been targeted by violence from armed Palestinian groups. These groups, according to Human Rights Watch, assert that settlers are "legitimate targets" that have "forfeited their civilian status by residing in settlements that are illegal under international humanitarian law."[251] Both Human Rights Watch and B'tselem rejected this argument on the basis that the legal status of the settlements has no effect on the civilian status of their residents.[251][252] Human Rights Watch said the "prohibition against intentional attacks against civilians is absolute."[251] B'tselem said "The settlers constitute a distinctly civilian population, which is entitled to all the protections granted civilians by international law. The Israeli security forces' use of land in the settlements or the membership of some settlers in the Israeli security forces does not affect the status of the other residents living among them, and certainly does not make them proper targets of attack."[252]

Fatal attacks on settlers have included firing of rockets and mortars and drive-by shootings, also targeting infants and children. Violent incidents include the murder of Shalhevet Pass, a ten-month-old baby shot by a Palestinian sniper in Hebron,[253] and the murder of two teenagers by unknown perpetrators on 8 May 2001, whose bodies were hidden in a cave near Tekoa, a crime that Israeli authorities suggest may have been committed by Palestinian terrorists.[254] In the Bat Ayin axe attack, children in Bat Ayin were attacked by a Palestinian wielding an axe and a knife. A 13-year-old boy was killed and another was seriously wounded.[255] Rabbi Meir Hai, a father of seven, was killed in a drive-by shooting.[256][257] In August 2011, five members of one family were killed in their beds. The victims were the father Ehud (Udi) Fogel, the mother Ruth Fogel, and three of their six children—Yoav, 11, Elad, 4, and Hadas, the youngest, a three-month-old infant. According to David Ha'ivri,[258] and as reported by multiple sources,[259] the infant was decapitated.[260]

#### Pro-Palestinian activist violence[edit | edit source]

File:Itamar2.jpg

Itamar, West Bank. Itamar's residents have been the target of deadly attacks by Palestinian militants and have themselves committed violent acts against local Palestinians

File:Bodies wrapped in tallit at funeral in Givat Shaul (Fogel family).jpg

Funeral of Fogel family, killed in Itamar attack

Pro-Palestinian activists who hold regular protests near the settlements have been accused of stone-throwing, physical assault and provocation.[261][262][263] In 2008, Avshalom Peled, head of the Israel Police's Hebron district, called "left-wing" activity in the city dangerous and provocative, and accused activists of antagonizing the settlers in the hope of getting a reaction.[264]

## Environmental issues[edit | edit source]

Municipal Environmental Associations of Judea and Samaria, an environmental awareness group, was established by the settlers to address sewage treatment problems and cooperate with the Palestinian Authority on environmental issues.[265] According to a 2004 report by Friends of the Earth Middle East, settlers account for 10% of the population in the West Bank but produce 25% of the sewage output.[265] Beit Duqqu and Qalqilyah have accused settlers of polluting their farmland and villagers claim children have become ill after swimming in a local stream. Legal action was taken against 14 settlements by the Israeli Ministry of the Environment. The Palestinian Authority has also been criticized by environmentalists for not doing more to prevent water pollution.[265][266] Settlers and Palestinians share the mountain aquifer as a water source, and both generate sewage and industrial effluents that endanger the aquifer. Friends of the Earth Middle East claimed that sewage treatment was inadequate in both sectors. Sewage from Palestinian sources was estimated at 46 million cubic meters a year, and sources from settler sources at 15 million cubic meters a year. A 2004 study found that sewage was not sufficiently treated in many settlements, while sewage from Palestinian villages and cities flowed into unlined cesspits, streams and the open environment with no treatment at all.[265][267]

In a 2007 study, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection, found that Palestinian towns and cities produced 56 million cubic meters of sewage per year, 94 percent discharged without adequate treatment, while Israeli sources produced 17.5 million cubic meters per year, 31.5 percent without adequate treatment.[268]

According to Palestinian environmentalists, the settlers operate industrial and manufacturing plants that can create pollution as many do not conform to Israeli standards.[265][266] In 2005, an old quarry between Kedumim and Nablus was slated for conversion into an industrial waste dump. Pollution experts warned that the dump would threaten Palestinian water sources.[269]

## Impact on Palestinian demographics[edit | edit source]

File:Settlers-onlyRoad.jpg

Road to Kiryat Arba, Hebron, 2010

The Consortium for Applied Research on International Migration (CARIM) has reported in their 2011 migration profile for Palestine that the reasons for individuals to leave the country are similar to those of other countries in the region and they attribute less importance to the specific political situation of the occupied Palestinian territory.[270] Human Rights Watch in 2010 reported that Israeli settlement policies have had the effect of "forcing residents to leave their communities".[271][272]

In 2008, Condoleezza Rice suggested sending Palestinian refugees to South America, which might reduce pressure on Israel to withdraw from the settlements.[273] Sushil P. Seth speculates that Israelis seem to feel[weasel words] that increasing settlements will force many Palestinians to flee to other countries and that the remainder will be forced to live under Israeli terms.[274] Speaking anonymously with regard to Israeli policies in the South Hebron Hills, a UN expert said that the Israeli crackdown on alternative energy infrastructures like solar panels is part of a deliberate strategy in Area C.

> "From December 2010 to April 2011, we saw a systematic targeting of the water infrastructure in Hebron, Bethlehem and the Jordan valley. Now, in the last couple of months, they are targeting electricity. Two villages in the area have had their electrical poles demolished. There is this systematic effort by the civil administration targeting all Palestinian infrastructure in Hebron. They are hoping that by making it miserable enough, they [the Palestinians] will pick up and leave."

Approximately 1,500 people in 16 communities are dependent on energy produced by these installations duct business are threatened with work stoppage orders from the Israeli administration on their installation of alternative power infrastructure, and demolition orders expected to follow will darken the homes of 500 people.[275][276]

## Educational institutions[edit | edit source]

File:Ariel University Center.jpg

Ariel University

Ariel University, formerly the College of Judea and Samaria, is the major Israeli institution of higher education in the West Bank. With close to 13,000 students, it is Israel's largest public college. The college was accredited in 1994 and awards bachelor's degrees in arts, sciences, technology, architecture and physical therapy.[277] On 17 July 2012, the Council for Higher Education in Judea and Samaria voted to grant the institution full university status.[278]

Teacher training colleges include Herzog College in Alon Shvut and Orot Israel College in Elkana. Ohalo College is located in Katzrin, in the Golan Heights.[277] Curricula at these institutions are overseen by the Council for Higher Education in Judea and Samaria (CHE-JS).[279]

In March 2012, The Shomron Regional Council was awarded the Israeli Ministry of Education's first prize National Education Award in recognizing its excellence in investing substantial resources in the educational system.[280] The Shomron Regional Council achieved the highest marks in all parameters (9.28 / 10). Gershon Mesika, the head of the regional council, declared that the award was a certificate of honour of its educators and the settlement youth who proved their quality and excellence.[281]

## Strategic significance[edit | edit source]

File:SettlersSoldiersIraqBurin.jpg

IDF soldiers and Israeli settlers, 2009

In 1983 an Israeli government plan entitled "Master Plan and Development Plan for Settlement in Samaria and Judea" envisaged placing a "maximally large Jewish population" in priority areas to accomplish incorporation of the West Bank in the Israeli "national system".[282] According to Ariel Sharon, strategic settlement locations would work to preclude the formation of a Palestinian state.[283]

Palestinians argue that the policy of settlements constitutes an effort to preempt or sabotage a peace treaty that includes Palestinian sovereignty, and claim that the presence of settlements harm the ability to have a viable and contiguous state.[284][285] This was also the view of the Israeli Vice Prime Minister Haim Ramon in 2008, saying "the pressure to enlarge Ofra and other settlements does not stem from a housing shortage, but rather is an attempt to undermine any chance of reaching an agreement with the Palestinians ..."[286]

The Israel Foreign Ministry asserts that some settlements are legitimate, as they took shape when there was no operative diplomatic arrangement, and thus they did not violate any agreement.[287][288][289] Based on this, they assert that:

* Prior to the signing of the Egypt–Israel peace treaty, the eruption of the First Intifada, down to the signing of the Israel–Jordan peace treaty in 1994, Israeli governments on the left and right argued that the settlements were of strategic and tactical importance. The location of the settlements was primarily chosen based on the threat of an attack by the bordering hostile countries of Jordan, Syria, and Egypt and possible routes of advance into Israeli population areas. These settlements were seen as contributing to the security of Israel at a time when peace treaties had not been signed.[290][291][292]

## Dismantling of settlements[edit | edit source]

Further information: Israel's unilateral disengagement plan

File:Yamit evacuation 3.jpg

IDF soldiers evacuating Yamit, 1982

An early evacuation took place in 1982 as part of the Egypt–Israel peace treaty, when Israel was required to evacuate its settlers from the 18 Sinai settlements. Arab parties to the conflict had demanded the dismantlement of the settlements as a condition for peace with Israel. The evacuation was carried out with force in some instances, for example in Yamit. The settlements were demolished, as it was feared that settlers might try to return to their homes after the evacuation.

Israel's unilateral disengagement plan took place in 2005. It involved the evacuation of settlements in the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank, including all 21 settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank, while retaining control over Gaza's borders, coastline, and airspace. Most of these settlements had existed since the early 1980s, some were over 30 years old;[293] the total population involved was more than 10,000.[citation needed] There was significant opposition to the plan among parts of the Israeli public, and especially those living in the territories. George W. Bush said that a permanent peace deal would have to reflect "demographic realities" in the West Bank regarding Israel's settlements.[294]

Within the former settlements, almost all buildings were demolished by Israel, with the exception of certain government and religious structures, which were completely emptied. Under an international arrangement, productive greenhouses were left to assist the Palestinian economy but about 30% of these were destroyed within hours by Palestinian looters.[295] Following the withdrawal, many of the former synagogues were torched and destroyed by Palestinians.[296] The Palestinian leadership "maintained" that the synagogues were "symbols of Israeli occupation." Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the United Nations at the time, said the Palestinian Authority had a "moral responsibility to protect the synagogues as places with religious significance."[297]

Some believe that settlements need not necessarily be dismantled and evacuated, even if Israel withdraws from the territory where they stand, as they can remain under Palestinian rule. These ideas have been expressed both by left-wing Israelis,[298] and by Palestinians who advocate the two-state solution, and by extreme Israeli right-wingers and settlers[299] who object to any dismantling and claim links to the land that are stronger than the political boundaries of the state of Israel.

The Israeli government has often threatened to dismantle outposts. Some have actually been dismantled, occasionally with use of force; this led to settler violence.

## Palestinian statehood bid of 2011[edit | edit source]

American refusal to declare the settlements illegal was said to be the determining factor in the 2011 attempt to declare Palestinian statehood at the United Nations, the so-called Palestine 194 initiative.[300]

Israel announced additional settlements in response to the Palestinian diplomatic initiative and Germany responded by moving to stop deliveries to Israel of submarines capable of carrying nuclear weapons.[301]

Finally in 2012, several European states switched to either abstain or vote for statehold in response to continued settlement construction.[302] Israel approved further settlements in response to the vote, which brought further worldwide condemnation.[303][304]

## Impact on peace process[edit | edit source]

Main article: Israeli–Palestinian peace process

File:Ariel3.JPG

Ariel, one of the four biggest settlements in the West Bank

File:Beitar Ilit.jpg

Betar Illit, one of the four biggest settlements in the West Bank

File:MaaleAdumim7335.JPG

Ma'ale Adumim, one of the four biggest settlements in the West Bank, industrial area, 2012

File:Kiryatsefer.jpg

Modi'in Illit, one of the four biggest settlements in the West Bank

File:Trump Peace Plan Map.jpg

Trump's peace plan for the creation of the State of Palestine.

The settlements have been a source of tension between Israel and the U.S. Jimmy Carter regarded the settlements as illegal and tactically unwise. Ronald Reagan stated that they were legal but an obstacle to negotiations.[305] In 1991, the U.S. delayed a subsidized loan to pressure Israel on the subject of settlement-building in the Jerusalem-Bethlehem corridor. In 2005, U.S. declared support for "the retention by Israel of major Israeli population centers as an outcome of negotiations,"[306] reflecting the statement by George W. Bush that a permanent peace treaty would have to reflect "demographic realities" in the West Bank.[307] In June 2009, Barack Obama said that the United States "does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements."[308]

Palestinians claim that Israel has undermined the Oslo accords and peace process by continuing to expand the settlements. Settlements in the Sinai Peninsula were evacuated and razed in the wake of the peace agreement with Egypt. The 27 ministers of foreign affairs of the European Union published a report in May 2012 strongly denouncing policies of the State of Israel in the West Bank and finding that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal and "threaten to make a two-state solution impossible."[235] In the framework of the Oslo I Accord of 1993 between the Israeli government and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), a modus vivendi was reached whereby both parties agreed to postpone a final solution on the destination of the settlements to the permanent status negotiations (Article V.3). Israel claims that settlements thereby were not prohibited, since there is no explicit interim provision prohibiting continued settlement construction, the agreement does register an undertaking by both sides, namely that "Neither side shall initiate or take any step that will change the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip pending the outcome of the permanent status negotiations" (Article XXX1 (7)), which has been interpreted as, not forbidding settlements, but imposing severe restrictions on new settlement building after that date.[309] Melanie Jacques argued in this context that even 'agreements between Israel and the Palestinians which would allow settlements in the OPT, or simply tolerate them pending a settlement of the conflict, violate the Fourth Geneva Convention.'[309]

Final status proposals have called for retaining long-established communities along the Green Line and transferring the same amount of land in Israel to the Palestinian state. The Clinton administration proposed that Israel keep some settlements in the West Bank, especially those in large blocs near the pre-1967 borders of Israel, with the Palestinians receiving concessions of land in other parts of the country.[310] Both Clinton and Tony Blair pointed out the need for territorial and diplomatic compromise based on the validity of some of the claims of both sides.[311][312]

Fayed Mustafa, Palestinian ambassador to Russia, called for the return of Palestinian territories to Egypt and Jordan if talks failed.[313]

As Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak approved a plan requiring security commitments in exchange for withdrawal from the West Bank.[314] Barak also expressed readiness to cede parts of East Jerusalem and put the holy sites in the city under a "special regime."[315]

On 14 June 2009, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as an answer to U.S. President Barack Obama's speech in Cairo, delivered a speech setting out his principles for a Palestinian-Israeli peace, among others, he alleged "... we have no intention of building new settlements or of expropriating additional land for existing settlements."[316] In March 2010, the Netanyahu government announced plans for building 1,600 housing units in Ramat Shlomo across the Green Line in East Jerusalem during U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Israel causing a diplomatic row.[317]

On 6 September 2010, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that Israel would need to withdraw from all of the lands occupied in 1967 in order to achieve peace with the Palestinians.[318]

Bradley Burston has said that a negotiated or unilateral withdraw from most of the settlements in the West Bank is gaining traction in Israel.[319]

In November 2010, the United States offered to "fight against efforts to delegitimize Israel" and provide extra arms to Israel in exchange for a continuation of the settlement freeze and a final peace agreement, but failed to come to an agreement with the Israelis on the exact terms.[320][321]

In December 2010, the United States criticised efforts by the Palestinian Authority to impose borders for the two states through the United Nations rather than through direct negotiations between the two sides.[322] In February 2011, it vetoed a draft resolution to condemn all Jewish settlements established in the occupied Palestinian territory since 1967 as illegal.[323] The resolution, which was supported by all other Security Council members and co-sponsored by nearly 120 nations,[324] would have demanded that "Israel, as the occupying power, immediately and completely ceases all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem and that it fully respect its legal obligations in this regard."[325] The U.S. representative said that while it agreed that the settlements were illegal, the resolution would harm chances for negotiations.[325] Israel's deputy Foreign Minister, Daniel Ayalon, said that the "UN serves as a rubber stamp for the Arab countries and, as such, the General Assembly has an automatic majority," and that the vote "proved that the United States is the only country capable of advancing the peace process and the only righteous one speaking the truth: that direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians are required."[326] Palestinian negotiators, however, have refused to resume direct talks until Israel ceases all settlement activity.[325]

In November 2009, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu issued a 10-month settlement freeze in the West Bank in an attempt to restart negotiations with the Palestinians. The freeze did not apply to building in Jerusalem in areas across the green line, housing already under construction and existing construction described as "essential for normal life in the settlements" such as synagogues, schools, kindergartens and public buildings. The Palestinians refused to negotiate without a complete halt to construction.[327][328] In the face of pressure from the United States and most world powers supporting the demand by the Palestinian Authority that Israel desist from settlement project in 2010, Israel's ambassador to the UN Meron Reuben said Israel would only stop settlement construction after a peace agreement is concluded, and expressed concern were Arab countries to press for UN recognition of a Palestinian state before such an accord. He cited Israel's dismantlement of settlements in both the Sinai which took place after a peace agreement, and its unilateral dismantlement of settlements in the Gaza Strip. He presumed that settlements would stop being built were Palestinians to establish a state in a given area.[329]

### Proposals for land swap[edit | edit source]

See also: Settlement blocs

The Clinton Parameters, a 2000 peace proposal by then U.S. President Bill Clinton, included a plan on which the Palestinian State was to include 94–96% of the West Bank, and around 80% of the settlers were to be under Israeli sovereignty, and in exchange for that, Israel will concede some territory (so called 'Territory Exchange' or 'Land Swap') within the Green Line (1967 borders). The swap would consist of 1–3% of Israeli territory, such that the final borders of the West Bank part of the Palestinian state would include 97% of the land of the original borders.[330]

In 2010, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that the Palestinians and Israel have agreed on the principle of a land swap. The issue of the ratio of land Israel would give to the Palestinians in exchange for keeping settlement blocs is an issue of dispute, with the Palestinians demanding that the ratio be 1:1, and Israel insisting that other factors be considered as well.[331]

Under any peace deal with the Palestinians, Israel intends to keep the major settlement blocs close to its borders, which contain over 80% of the settlers. Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin, Ariel Sharon, and Benjamin Netanyahu have all stated Israel's intent to keep such blocs under any peace agreement. U.S. President George W. Bush acknowledged that such areas should be annexed to Israel in a 2004 letter to Prime Minister Sharon.[332]

The European Union position is that any annexation of settlements should be done as part of mutually agreed land swaps, which would see the Palestinians controlling territory equivalent to the territory captured in 1967.[333] The EU says that it will not recognise any changes to the 1967 borders without an agreement between the parties.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has proposed a plan which would see settlement blocs annexed to Israel in exchange for heavily Arab areas inside Israel as part of a population exchange.

According to Mitchell G. Bard: "Ultimately, Israel may decide to unilaterally disengage from the West Bank and determine which settlements it will incorporate within the borders it delineates. Israel would prefer, however, to negotiate a peace treaty with the Palestinians that would specify which Jewish communities will remain intact within the mutually agreed border of Israel, and which will need to be evacuated. Israel will undoubtedly insist that some or all of the "consensus" blocs become part of Israel".[332]

### Proposal of dual citizenship[edit | edit source]

A number of proposals for the granting of Palestinian citizenship or residential permits to Jewish settlers in return for the removal of Israeli military installations from the West Bank have been fielded by such individuals[334] as Arafat,[335] Ibrahim Sarsur[336] and Ahmed Qurei.[337] In contrast, Mahmoud Abbas said in July 2013 that "In a final resolution, we would not see the presence of a single Israeli—civilian or soldier—on our lands."[338]

Israeli Minister Moshe Ya'alon said in April 2010 that "just as Arabs live in Israel, so, too, should Jews be able to live in Palestine." ... "If we are talking about coexistence and peace, why the [Palestinian] insistence that the territory they receive be ethnically cleansed of Jews?".[339]

The idea has been expressed by both advocates of the two-state solution[298] and supporters of the settlers and conservative or fundamentalist currents in Israeli Judaism[299] that, while objecting to any withdrawal, claim stronger links to the land than to the State of Israel.

## Settlement expansion[edit | edit source]

### Pre Resolution 2334[edit | edit source]

On 19 June 2011, Haaretz reported that the Israeli cabinet voted to revoke Defense Minister Ehud Barak's authority to veto new settlement construction in the West Bank, by transferring this authority from the Agriculture Ministry, headed by Barak ally Orit Noked, to the Prime Minister's office.[340]

In 2009, newly elected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "I have no intention of building new settlements in the West Bank... But like all the governments there have been until now, I will have to meet the needs of natural growth in the population. I will not be able to choke the settlements."[341] On 15 October 2009, he said the settlement row with the United States had been resolved.[342]

In April 2012, four illegal outposts were retroactively legalized by the Israeli government.[343] In June 2012, the Netanyahu government announced a plan to build 851 homes in five settlements: 300 units in Beit El and 551 units in other settlements.[344][345]

Amid peace negotiations that showed little signs of progress, Israel issued on 3 November 2013, tenders for 1,700 new homes for Jewish settlers. The plots were offered in nine settlements in areas Israel says it intends to keep in any peace deal with the Palestinians.[346] On 12 November, Peace Now revealed that the Construction and Housing Ministry had issued tenders for 24,000 more settler homes in the West Bank, including 4,000 in East Jerusalem.[347] 2,500 units were planned in Ma'aleh Adumim, some 9,000 in the Gush Etzion Region, and circa 12,000 in the Binyamin Region, including 1,200 homes in the E1 area in addition to 3,000 homes in previously frozen E1 projects.[348] Circa 15,000 homes of the 24,000 plan would be east of the West Bank Barrier and create the first new settlement blocs for two decades, and the first blocs ever outside the Barrier, far inside the West Bank.[349]

As stated before, the Israeli government (as of 2015) has a program of residential subsidies in which Israeli settlers receive about double that given to Israelis in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. As well, settlers in isolated areas receive three times the Israeli national average. From the beginning of 2009 to the end of 2013, the Israeli settlement population as a whole increased by a rate of over 4% per year. A New York Times article in 2015 stated that said building had been "at the heart of mounting European criticism of Israel."[46]

### Resolution 2334 and quarterly reports[edit | edit source]

United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 "Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Council every three months on the implementation of the provisions of the present resolution;"[350][351] In the first of these reports, delivered verbally at a security council meeting on 24 March 2017, United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, noted that Resolution 2334 called on Israel to take steps to cease all settlement activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, that "no such steps have been taken during the reporting period" and that instead, there had been a marked increase in statements, announcements and decisions related to construction and expansion.[352][353][354]

### Regularization and outpost method[edit | edit source]

See also: Regulation Law and Israeli outpost

The 2017 Settlement Regularization in "Judea and Samaria" Law permits backdated legalization of outposts constructed on private Palestinian land. Following a petition challenging its legality, on June 9, 2020, Israel's Supreme Court struck down the law that had retroactively legalized about 4,000 settler homes built on privately owned Palestinian land.[355] The Israeli Attorney General has stated that existing laws already allow legalization of Israeli constructions on private Palestinian land in the West Bank.[356] The Israeli Attorney General, Avichai Mandelblit, has updated the High Court on his official approval of the use of a legal tactic permitting the de facto legalization of roughly 2,000 illegally built Israeli homes throughout the West Bank.[C] The legal mechanism is known as "market regulation" and relies on the notion that wildcat Israeli homes built on private Palestinian land were done so in good faith.[357]

In a report of 22 July 2019, PeaceNow notes that after a gap of 6 years when there were no new outposts, establishment of new outposts recommenced in 2012, with 32 of the current 126 outposts set up to date. 2 outposts were subject to eviction, 15 were legalized and at least 35 are in process of legalization.[358][359][360]

### Updates and related matters[edit | edit source]

The Israeli government announced in 2019 that it has made monetary grants available for the construction of hotels in Area C of the West Bank.[361]

According to Peace Now, approvals for building in Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem expanded by 60% between 2017, when Donald Trump became US president, and 2019.[362]

On 9 July 2021, Michael Lynk, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, addressing a session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, said "I conclude that the Israeli settlements do amount to a war crime," and "I submit to you that this finding compels the international community...to make it clear to Israel that its illegal occupation, and its defiance of international law and international opinion, can and will no longer be cost-free." Israel, which does not recognize Lynk's mandate, boycotted the session.[363][364][365]

A new Israeli government, formed on 13 June 2021, declared a "status quo" in the settlements policy. According to Peace Now, as of 28 October this has not been the case. On October 24, 2021, tenders were published for 1,355 housing units plus another 83 in Givat HaMatos and on 27 October 2021, approval was given for 3,000 housing units including in settlements deep inside the West Bank.[366] These developments were condemned by the U.S.[367] as well as by the United Kingdom, Russia and 12 European countries.[368][369] while UN experts, Michael Lynk, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967 and Mr. Balakrishnan Rajagopal (United States of America), UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing said that settlement expansion should be treated as a "presumptive war crime".[370][371]

## See also[edit | edit source]

* Israeli settlement timeline
* Jewish land purchase in Palestine
* List of Israeli settlements
* Neo-Zionism
* Palestinian Land Law
* Population statistics for Israeli West Bank settlements
* Proposed Israeli annexation of the West Bank
* State of Judea
* Development town
* Unrecognized Bedouin villages in Israel
* Kibbutz

## Notes[edit | edit source]

i. | ^ Statistics for the West Bank ("Judea and Samaria") from the Statistical Abstract of Israel 2013 No. 64.

* 2.16 Localities and Population, by District, Sub-District, Religion and Population Group
* Total population = 341,400 in 123 "Jewish localities"
* Jews = 334,200 in 123 "Jewish localities"
* Arabs = 0 in 0 "Non-Jewish localities"

|

1. ^ Citations from the Drobles Plan (October 1978): [1]

"Settlement throughout the entire Land of Israel is for security and by right. A strip of settlements at strategic sites enhances both internal and external security alike, as well as making concrete and realizing our right to Eretz Israel."

"The disposition of the settlements must be carried out not only around the settlements of the minorities, but also in between them." [Note: "minorities" refers to the Arab population in Israel and the Palestinian territories. The West Bank had some 98% Arabs in 1978.]

"New settlements will be established only on State-owned land, and not on private Arab-owned land which is duly registered. We should ensure that there is no need for the expropriation of private plots from the members of the minorities."

"As is known, it is the task of the land settlement department to initiate, plan and implement the settlement enterprise according to the decisions of the Government and of the joint Government-World Zionist Organization Committee for Settlement."

"This will enable us to bring about the dispersion … to the presently empty areas of J&S."

2. ^ Citations from the Matityahu Drobles follow up-plan (September 1980): [2] Archived 3 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine

THE SETTLEMENT STRATEGY IN JUDEA AND SAMARIA

"In light of the current negotiations on the future of Judea and Samaria, it will now become necessary for us to conduct a race against time. During this period, everything will be mainly determined by the facts we establish in these territories and less by any other considerations. This is therefore the best time for launching an extensive and comprehensive settlement momentum, particularly on the Judea and Samaria hilltops which are not easily passable by nature and which preside over the Jordan Valley on the cast and over the Coastal Plain on the west." "It is therefore significant to stress today, mainly by means of actions, that the autonomy does not and will not apply to the territories but only to the Arab population thereof. This should mainly find expression by establishing facts on the ground. Therefore, the state-owned lands and the uncultivated barren lands in Judea and Samaria ought to be seized right away, with the purpose of settling the areas between and around the centers occupied by the minorities so as to reduce to the minimum the danger of an additional Arab state being established in these territories. Being cut off by Jewish settlements the minority population will find it difficult to form a territorial and political continuity." "There mustn't be even the shadow of a doubt about our intention to keep the territories of Judea and Samaria for good. Otherwise, the minority population may get into a state of growing disquiet which will eventually result in recurrent efforts to establish an additional Arab state in these territories. The best and most effective way of removing every shadow of a doubt about our intention to hold on to Judea and Samaria forever is by speeding up the settlement momentum in these territories." SETTLEMENT POLICY IN JUDEA AND SAMARIA

"Thus, it is necessary to establish additional settlements near every existing settlement in Judea and Samaria, so as to create settlement clusters in homogenous settlement regions ..." "Over the next 5 years it is necessary to establish 12–15 rural and urban settlements per annum in Judea and Samaria, so that in five years from now the number of settlements will grow by 60–75 and the Jewish population thereof will amount to between 120,000 and 150,000 people."

3. ^ The Regularization law, opposed by Mandelblit, would allow the state to expropriate private Palestinian land where some 4,000 illegal settler homes have been built, provided that they were established "in good faith" or had government support, and that the Palestinian owners receive 125 percent financial compensation for the land.

## References[edit | edit source]

1. ^ Matar, Ibrahim (1981). "Israeli Settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip". Journal of Palestine Studies. 11 (1): 93–110. doi:10.2307/2536048. ISSN 0377-919X. JSTOR 2536048. "The pattern and process of land seizure for the purpose of constructing these Israeli colonies..."
2. ^ Isaac, Jad; Hilal, Jane (2011). "Palestinian landscape and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict". International Journal of Environmental Studies. 68 (4): 413–429. doi:10.1080/00207233.2011.582700. ISSN 0020-7233. S2CID 96404520. "The continuous construction of Israeli colonies and bypass roads all over the Palestinian land..."
3. ^ Thawaba, Salem (2019). "Building and planning regulations under Israeli colonial power: a critical study from Palestine". Planning Perspectives. 34 (1): 133–146. doi:10.1080/02665433.2018.1543611. ISSN 0266-5433. S2CID 149769054. "Moreover in 1995 38,500 housing units were built in Jewish settlements (colonies)..."
4. ^ Abu-Laban, Yasmine; Bakan, Abigail B. (2019). Israel, Palestine and the Politics of Race: Exploring Identity and Power in a Global Context. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-83860-879-8. "The ongoing occupation has been heavily shaped by the issues of land confiscation and the building of Israeli Jewish settlements (or what Palestinians often refer to less euphemistically as "colonies")."
5. ^ Haklai, O.; Loizides, N. (2015). Settlers in Contested Lands: Territorial Disputes and Ethnic Conflicts. Stanford University Press. p. 19\. ISBN 978-0-8047-9650-7. Retrieved 2018-12-14. "the Israel settlers reside almost solely in exclusively Jewish communities (one exception is a small enclave within the city of Hebron)."
6. ^ Dumper, M. (2014). Jerusalem Unbound: Geography, History, and the Future of the Holy City. Columbia University Press. p. 85\. ISBN 978-0-231-53735-3. Retrieved 2018-12-14. "This is despite huge efforts by successive governments to fragment and encircle Palestinian residential areas with exclusively Jewish zones of residence – the settlements."
7. ^ Rivlin, P. (2010). The Israeli Economy from the Foundation of the State through the 21st Century. Cambridge University Press. p. 143\. ISBN 978-1-139-49396-3. Retrieved 2018-12-14. "In the June 1967 Six Day War, Israel occupied the Golan Heights, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Sinai Peninsula. Soon after, it began to build the first settlements for Jews in those areas."
8. ^ Roberts, Adam (1990). "Prolonged Military Occupation: The Israeli-Occupied Territories Since 1967" (PDF). The American Journal of International Law. 84 (1): 85–86. doi:10.2307/2203016. JSTOR 2203016. S2CID 145514740. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-02-15. "The international community has taken a critical view of both deportations and settlements as being contrary to international law. General Assembly resolutions have condemned the deportations since 1969, and have done so by overwhelming majorities in recent years. Likewise, they have consistently deplored the establishment of settlements, and have done so by overwhelming majorities throughout the period (since the end of 1976) of the rapid expansion in their numbers. The Security Council has also been critical of deportations and settlements; and other bodies have viewed them as an obstacle to peace, and illegal under international law... Although East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights have been brought directly under Israeli law, by acts that amount to annexation, both of these areas continue to be viewed by the international community as occupied, and their status as regards the applicability of international rules is in most respects identical to that of the West Bank and Gaza."
9. ^ Pertile, Marco (2005). "'Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory': A Missed Opportunity for International Humanitarian Law?". In Conforti, Benedetto; Bravo, Luigi (eds.). The Italian Yearbook of International Law. Vol. 14\. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. p. 141\. ISBN 978-90-04-15027-0. "the establishment of the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory has been considered illegal by the international community and by the majority of legal scholars."
10. ^ Barak-Erez, Daphne (2006). "Israel: The security barrier—between international law, constitutional law, and domestic judicial review". International Journal of Constitutional Law. 4 (3): 548. doi:10.1093/icon/mol021. "The real controversy hovering over all the litigation on the security barrier concerns the fate of the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. Since 1967, Israel has allowed and even encouraged its citizens to live in the new settlements established in the territories, motivated by religious and national sentiments attached to the history of the Jewish nation in the land of Israel. This policy has also been justified in terms of security interests, taking into consideration the dangerous geographic circumstances of Israel before 1967 (where Israeli areas on the Mediterranean coast were potentially threatened by Jordanian control of the West Bank ridge). The international community, for its part, has viewed this policy as patently illegal, based on the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention that prohibit moving populations to or from territories under occupation."
11. ^ Drew, Catriona (1997). "Self-determination and population transfer". In Bowen, Stephen (ed.). Human rights, self-determination and political change in the occupied Palestinian territories. International studies in human rights. Vol. 52\. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. pp. 151–152. ISBN 978-90-411-0502-8. "It can thus clearly be concluded that the transfer of Israeli settlers into the occupied territories violates not only the laws of belligerent occupation but the Palestinian right of self-determination under international law. The question remains, however, whether this is of any practical value. In other words, given the view of the international community that the Israeli settlements are illegal under the law if belligerent occupation, what purpose does it serve to establish that an additional breach of international law has occurred?"
12. ^ a b Kretzmer, David The occupation of justice: the Supreme Court of Israel and the Occupied Territories, SUNY Press, 2002, ISBN 0-7914-5337-5, ISBN 978-0-7914-5337-7, page 83
13. ^ a b Harel, Amos (24 October 2006). "Settlements grow on Arab land, despite promises made to U.S." Haaretz 24 October 2006. Haaretz. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
14. ^ a b Stone, Julius (2004). Lacey, Ian (ed.). International Law and the Arab-Israel Conflict: Extracts from "Israel and Palestine Assault on the Law of Nations" by Professor Julius Stone (2nd ed.). Jirlac Publications. ISBN 978-0-975-10730-0.
15. ^ a b Byron, Christine (2013). War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-847-79275-4.
16. ^ a b Role, Iran's Regional. "Israel's Rush to 'Apply Sovereignty' in the West Bank: Timing and Potential Consequences". The Washington Institute. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
17. ^ a b c d "Growth rate of settlements plummets to all-time low". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
18. ^ a b "Population". Peace Now. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
19. ^ a b c "Population in the Localities 2019" (XLS). Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
20. ^ a b c "Facts About Jewish Settlements in the West Bank". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org.
21. ^ a b
* Gershom Gorenberg (2007). The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967–1977. Macmillan. p. 363\. ISBN 9780805082418. "So argued the government of Israel before the country's Supreme Court in the spring of 2005, defending its decision to dismantle all Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip and four in the northern West Bank."
22. ^ "Summary of the Advisory Opinion of 9 July 2004" (PDF). International Court of Justice. 9 July 2004. p. 10\. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 August 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
23. ^ "fco.gov.uk". Archived from the original on 30 August 2010.
24. ^ Regarding international organizations and courts of law, see "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 September 2014. Retrieved 2014-03-01.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link); regarding the UN, see UN General Assembly resolution 39/146, 14 December 1984; UN Security Council Resolution 446, 22 March 1979; and International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion, 9 July 2004, Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, para 120; Regarding the European Union position, see The Syrian Golan
25. ^ Anthony Cordesman, Jennifer Moravitz, The Israeli–Palestinian War: Escalating to Nowhere, Greenwood Publishing Group, Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2005 p. 432: 'Between 1993 and 1999, settlers established 42 "unofficial" settlements, only four of which were subsequently dismantled. More than a dozen new settlements were established between the 1998 Wye Accord [sic: it's the Wye River Memorandum, but Oslo Accords] and the outbreak of war, although former Prime Minister Netanyahu supposedly promised Clinton that he would halt expansion.'
26. ^ Zeev Maoz Defending the Holy Land: A Critical Analysis of Israel's Security & Foreign Policy, University of Michigan Press, 2006 p. 472: 'As can be seen from the table, in 1993 there were about 110,000 settlers in the occupied territories. In 2001 there were 195,000 (Note that the number of settlers increased by 18 percent during the Al Aqsa Intifada). This was an increase of 73 percent'
27. ^ Marwan Bishara, Palestine/Israel: Peace or Apartheid Zed Books, 2003 p. 133: 'The settlement expansion has continued unabated...and accelerated after the launch of the peace process.' p. 133.
28. ^ Baylis Thomas, The Dark Side of Zionism: Israel's Quest for Security Through Dominance Lexington Books, 3011 p. 137: "Six years after the agreement there were more Israeli settlements, less freedom of movement, and worse economic conditions." Settlement building and roads for Jewish settlers proceeded at a frenetic pace under Barak – the classic Zionist maneuver of creating of facts on the ground to preclude a Palestinian state.' p. 137.
29. ^ Barahona, Ana (2013). Bearing Witness: Eight weeks in Palestine. London: Metete. p. 49\. ISBN 978-1-908099-02-0.
30. ^ Robert Cryer, Hakan Friman, Darryl Robinson, Elizabeth Wilmshurst, An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure, Cambridge University Press 2010 p.308
31. ^ Ghislain Poissonnier, Eric David, 'Israeli Settlements in the West Bank, a War Crime?,' Revue des droits de l'homme, 2020.
32. ^ 'Status of Settlements Under Internationasl Law,' Archived 25 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine Amnesty International pp.8,29f.
33. ^ "Palestinians condemn settlements plan". The Financial Times. 20 May 2011.
34. ^ "OIC Secretary General hails EU decision on Israeli settlements" Archived 2 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine. United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine – OIC Statement to UN. Accessed 14 March 2015.
35. ^ a b "Israeli settlement plan denounced". BBC. 8 November 2009. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
36. ^ "Russia urges Israel to halt settlement construction". RIA Novosti. 2 November 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
37. ^ "Britain: Israeli settlements are 'illegal' and 'obstacle' to peace". Haaretz. 4 November 2009. Archived from the original on 15 January 2010. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
38. ^ "France condemns Israel over settlement building decision". Business Standard. 21 March 2014. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
39. ^ "EU's Ashton SAYS Israeli settlement plans hurt peace moves". Reuters. 15 March 2010. Archived from the original on 1 February 2011. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
40. ^ a b
* Roberts, Adam (1990). "Prolonged Military Occupation: The Israeli-Occupied Territories Since 1967". The American Journal of International Law. American Society of International Law. 84 (1): 85–86. doi:10.2307/2203016. JSTOR 2203016. S2CID 145514740. "The international community has taken a critical view of both deportations and settlements as being contrary to international law. General Assembly resolutions have condemned the deportations since 1969, and have done so by overwhelming majorities in recent years. Likewise, they have consistently deplored the establishment of settlements, and have done so by overwhelming majorities throughout the period (since the end of 1976) of the rapid expansion in their numbers. The Security Council has also been critical of deportations and settlements; and other bodies have viewed them as an obstacle to peace, and illegal under international law."
* Pertile, Marco (2005). "'Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory': A Missed Opportunity for International Humanitarian Law?". In Conforti, Benedetto; Bravo, Luigi (eds.). The Italian Yearbook of International Law. Vol. 14\. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. p. 141\. ISBN 978-90-04-15027-0. "the establishment of the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory has been considered illegal by the international community and by the majority of legal scholars."
* Barak-Erez, Daphne (2006). "Israel: The security barrier—between international law, constitutional law, and domestic judicial review". International Journal of Constitutional Law. Oxford University Press. 4 (3): 548. doi:10.1093/icon/mol021. "The real controversy hovering over all the litigation on the security barrier concerns the fate of the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. Since 1967, Israel has allowed and even encouraged its citizens to live in the new settlements established in the territories, motivated by religious and national sentiments attached to the history of the Jewish nation in the land of Israel. This policy has also been justified in terms of security interests, taking into consideration the dangerous geographic circumstances of Israel before 1967 (where Israeli areas on the Mediterranean coast were potentially threatened by Jordanian control of the West Bank ridge). The international community, for its part, has viewed this policy as patently illegal, based on the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention that prohibit moving populations to or from territories under occupation."
* Drew, Catriona (1997). "Self-determination and population transfer". In Bowen, Stephen (ed.). Human rights, self-determination and political change in the occupied Palestinian Hkterritories. International studies in human rights. Vol. 52\. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. pp. 151–152. ISBN 978-90-411-0502-8. "It can thus clearly be concluded that the transfer of Israeli settlers into the occupied territories violates not only the laws of belligerent occupation but the Palestinian right of self-determination under international law. The question remains, however, whether this is of any practical value. In other words, given the view of the international community that the Israeli settlements are illegal under the law if belligerent occupation..."
* International Labour Organization (2005). "The situation of workers of the occupied Arab territories" (PDF). p. 14\. "The international community considers Israeli settlements within the occupied territories illegal and in breach of, inter alia, United Nations Security Council resolution 465 of 1 March 1980 calling on Israel "to dismantle the existing settlements and in particular to cease, on an urgent basis, the establishment, construction and planning of settlements in the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem"."
* Civilian and military presence as strategies of territorial control: The Arab-Israel conflict, David Newman, Political Geography Quarterly Volume 8, Issue 3, July 1989, Pages 215–227
41. ^ "UN Security Council Resolution 465". Archived from the original on 19 September 2015.
42. ^
* "What next for Gaza and West Bank?". BBC. 30 August 2005. Retrieved 5 January 2010. "Most Israelis support the pullout, but some feel the government has given in to Palestinian militant groups, and worry that further withdrawals will follow. Palestinian critics point out that Gaza will remain under Israeli control, and that they are being denied a political say in the disengagement process."
* Yearbook of the United Nations 2005. United Nations Publications. 2007. p. 514\. ISBN 9789211009675. "The Israeli Government was preparing to implement an unprecedented initiative: the disengagement of all Israeli civilians and forces from the Gaza Strip and the dismantling of four settlements in the northern West Bank."
* Yael Yishai (1987). Land Or Peace. Hoover Press. p. 58\. ISBN 9780817985233. "During 1982 Israel's government stuck to its territorial policy in word and deed. All the settlements in Sinai were evacuated in accordance with the Camp David Accords, but settlement activity in the other territories continued uninterrupted. A few days after the final withdrawal from Sinai had been completed, Begin announced that he would introduce a resolution barring future governments from dismantling settlements, even as a result of peace negotiations."
43. ^ "Jewish settlements no longer illegal – US". 2019-11-18. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
44. ^ "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announces reversal of Obama-era stance on Israeli settlements". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
45. ^ a b 'The economics at the heart of Israel's illegal settlements,' Archived 7 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine Ma'an News Agency 7 January 2015.
46. ^ a b c Jodi Rudoren, Jeremy Ashkenas,'Netanyahu and the Settlements,' The New York Times, 12 March 2015: 'the government spent about $950 supporting each West Bank resident in 2014, more than double its investment in people living in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem; in isolated settlements, it was $1,483 per capita.'
47. ^ "Israel okays 2,610 homes for Jews and Arabs in E. Jerusalem". The Times of Israel.
48. ^ a b Sherwood, Harriet (26 July 2012). "Population of Jewish settlements in West Bank up 15,000 in a year". The Guardian. London.
49. ^ "Report on Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories". Foundation for Middle East Peace. Retrieved 2012-08-05.[permanent dead link]
50. ^ a b c Separate and Unequal, Chapter IV. Human Rights Watch, 19 December 2010
51. ^ Akiva Eldar, "A matter of a few dozen meters" Archived 22 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Haaretz, 1 June 2008
52. ^ Ian S. Lustick, For the land and the Lord: Jewish fundamentalism in Israel, chapter 3, par. Early Activities of Gush Emunim. 1988, the Council on Foreign Relations
53. ^ a b Knesset Website, Gush Emunim. Retrieved 27-02-2013
54. ^ Donald Macintyre, "Secret memo shows Israel knew Six Day War was illegal". Independent, 26 May 2007. (on web.archive)
55. ^ Berger, Yotam (2016-07-28). "Secret 1970 document confirms first West Bank settlements built on a lie". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 2019-11-12. Retrieved 2021-05-24. "In minutes of meeting in then defense minister Moshe Dayan's office, top Israeli officials discussed how to violate international law in building settlement of Kiryat Arba, next to Hebron […] The system of confiscating land by military order for the purpose of establishing settlements was an open secret in Israel throughout the 1970s"
56. ^ Yotam Berger (7 September 2016). "Israel Used Military Censor to Conceal First Settlements From Public, Document Reveals". Haaretz. "'The seizure for military needs can easily be defended from a legal point of view,' Ben Horin writes. 'Civilian enterprises are another thing entirely.'"
57. ^ Division for Palestinian Rights (DPR), Israeli settlements in Gaza and the West Bank, Part II Archived 3 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine, chapter III. "The magnitude of settlements". 1 July 1984. Part I Archived 9 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
58. ^ Ian S. Lustick, For the land and the Lord: Jewish fundamentalism in Israel, chapter 3, par. "Gush Emunim and the Likud". 1988, the Council on Foreign Relations
59. ^ Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 23\. "Government statement on recognition of three settlements". 26 July 1977
60. ^ Robin Bidwell, Dictionary Of Modern Arab History, Routledge, 2012 p. 442
61. ^ Division for Palestinian Rights/CEIRPP, SUPR Bulletin No. 9-10 Archived 3 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine (letters of 19 September 1979 and 18 October 1979).
Original UNGA/UNSC publication of the "Drobles Plan" in pdf: Letter dated 18 October 1979 from the Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People addressed to the Secretary-General, see ANNEX (doc.nrs. A/34/605 and S/13582 d.d. 22-10-1979).
62. ^ UNGA/UNSC, Letter dated 19 June 1981 from the Acting Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People to the Secretary-General Archived 3 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine (A/36/341 and S/14566 d.d.19-06-1981).

63. ^ a b "Cabinet seeks to limit Barak's say on settlements". Tovah Lazaroff and Herb Keinon, Jerusalem Post, 20 June 2011
64. ^ Presentation of the Oslo II Accord in the Knesset by Rabin: MFA, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin: Ratification of the Israel–Palestinian Interim Agreement—The Knesset October 5, 1995.
65. ^ The origins and evolution of the Palestine problem Archived 21 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Part V (1989–2000), chap. III, E. CEIRPP, 2014.
66. ^ "Netanyahu Presents His 'Allon-Plus' Final Status Map"[permanent dead link]. Settlement Report, Vol. 7 No. 4, July–August 1997. On [3]
67. ^ a b c d "Comprehensive Settlement Population 1972–2010". Foundation for Middle East Peace. Archived from the original on 15 March 2010. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
68. ^ a b Akiva Eldar, "IDF Civil Administration pushing for land takeover in West Bank" Haaretz, 22 July 2011
69. ^ Akiva Eldar, "Israel Defense Ministry plan earmarks 10 percent of West Bank for settlement expansion". Haaretz, 30 March 2012.
70. ^ Erlanger, Steve (9 March 2005). "Israeli Report Condemns Support for Settlement Outposts". The New York Times.
71. ^ "Twenty-three Jewish settlements werde destroyed during the 1948 fighting. Arab forces ... held onto the remains ... and the land on which they had stood was incorporated into the West Bank and Gaza after the war. These were ..." A list of these settlements follows. (Fischbach, Michael R. (2008). Jewish Property Claims against Arab Countries. Columbia University Press, New York. p. 109\. ISBN 978-0-231-13538-2. (= Fischbach)) (Another list at p. 84.)
72. ^ Gilbert, Martin (1996). The Routledge Atlas of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Routledge London. p. 3 ("Jewish Settlement in Palestine 1880–1914"). ISBN 0-415-15130-9. (= Gilbert)
73. ^ Hasson, Nir; Kyzer, Liel (23 March 2010). "Silwan settlers plan Passover festival in bid to curry favor with public". Haaretz. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
74. ^ Katz, Yossi; Lehr, John C. (1 January 1995). "Symbolism and Landscape: The Etzion Bloc in the Judean Mountains". Middle Eastern Studies. 31 (4): 730–743. doi:10.1080/00263209508701077. JSTOR 4283758.
75. ^ "The hostility of Hebron". BBC News. 18 February 2003. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
76. ^ Gilbert, p.45 ("The Arab Invasion of the State of Israel")
77. ^ Gilbert, p.2 ("The Jews of Palestine 636 A.D. to 1880), p.3 ("1880 – 1914") and p.17 ("Riots in Palestine 1921 – 1947")
78. ^ Fischbach, p.87
79. ^ "Seventeen Gaza Settlements Evacuated". Fox News. 18 August 2005. Archived from the original on 26 October 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
80. ^ "Israeli Settler Population 1972–2006". Foundation for Middle East Peace. Archived from the original on 18 November 2008. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
81. ^ "Population by year in West Bank settlements". B'Tselem. Archived from the original on 23 February 2010. Retrieved 14 March 2010.
82. ^ staff, T. O. I. "Israel okays 2,610 homes for Jews and Arabs in E. Jerusalem". www.timesofisrael.com.
83. ^ Balofsky, Ahuva (5 January 2015). "Jewish Population in Judea, Samaria Growing Significantly – Israel News". Israel365 News | Latest News. Biblical Perspective.
84. ^ "Settler leader: Population growth is end of 2-state solution". Associated Press. 26 March 2017.
85. ^ a b "Housing minister sees 50% more settlers in West Bank by 2019". Haaretz. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
86. ^ Israel Central Bureau of Statistics: [4] "Oops, Something is wrong" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 June 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-04. [5] Archived 7 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine
87. ^ "מכון ירושלים לחקר ישראל". Retrieved 28 July 2016.
88. ^ Foundation for Middle East Peace Archived 8 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine: "Foundation for Middle East Peace -- Settler Population 1972-2005, Graph". Archived from the original on 1 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-01. "Foundation for Middle East Peace -- Israeli Settler Population 1972-2006". Archived from the original on 11 November 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-12.
89. ^ "Palestine-Israel Journal: Settlements: A Geographic and Demographic Barrier to Peace". Retrieved 28 July 2016.
90. ^ By Hook and by Crook, pp. 9–10. B'Tselem
91. ^ a b "Residents in occupied Golan Heights fear creeping Israeli presence". middleeasteye.net. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
92. ^ "S/14268 Report of the Security Council Commission Established Under Resolution 446 (1979)". United Nations. para. 164. Archived from the original on 28 October 2013. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
93. ^ Largest Jewish settlements in the West Bank Archived 7 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Maan, 14 November 2010
94. ^ "Comprehensive Settlement Population 1972–2008—FMEP". Fmep.org. Archived from the original on 15 March 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.
95. ^ a b "Settlement Report: October 11, 2019". Foundation for Middle East Peace. 11 October 2019. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
96. ^ a b "Growth rate of settlements plummets to all-time low". Jerusalem Post. 5 September 2021. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
97. ^ "Six-Month Report on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem Reporting period January–July 2020" (PDF). Jerusalem Post. 8 March 2021. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
98. ^ Israeli Settlements in Occupied Arab Lands: Conquest to Colony[permanent dead link], p. 29. Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Winter, 1982), pp. 16–54. Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the Institute for Palestine Studies
99. ^ Noah Tamarkin, Genetic Afterlives:Black Jewish Indigeneity in South Africa, Duke University Press 2020 ISBN 978-1-478-01230-6 p.6: 'Nadia Abu El-Haj writes about how the American liberal multicultural Jewish organization Kulanu has partnered with right-wing Israeli groups like Amishav and Shavei Israel to settle "lost" Jews of color in the illegal settlements that have continued to displace Palestinians in recent decades. As Abu El-Haj explains, "Nonwhite Jews become the site for discussions of Jewish racism, which is viewed as an entirely internal Jewish problem. The question of Palestine, the realities of a colonial present, and its very violent forms of racism in a state structured around the distinction between Jew and non-Jew, subject andcitizen, and movement and enclosure are displaced".
100. ^ Sources of Population Growth: Total Israeli Population and Settler Population, 1991–2003 Archived 26 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Foundation for Middle East Peace.
101. ^ Settler Population Growth East and West of the Barrier, 2000–2007 Archived 18 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Foundation for Middle East Peace.
102. ^ a b "Palestinians shun Israeli settlement restriction plan". BBC. 25 November 2009. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
103. ^ Tobin, Andrew (2 November 2016). "Home > Jewish Times World Series ignites old passions among West Bank's American Jews". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
104. ^ Mélanie Jacques (20 September 2012). Armed Conflict and Displacement: The Protection of Refugees and Displaced Persons Under International Humanitarian Law. Cambridge University Press. pp. 77–124. ISBN 978-1-107-00597-6. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
105. ^ Entous, Adam (31 December 2007). "Olmert curbs WBank building, expansion and planning". Reuters. Retrieved 31 December 2007.
106. ^ a b CBS News, 2010 Jul 6, "Group: Israel Controls 42% of West Bank: Settlements Occupy Land Seized from Palestinians in Defiance of 1979 Court Ban, Israeli Human Rights Group Says" Archived 4 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine
107. ^ Phoebe Greenwood, 'Palestinians prepare to lose the solar panels that provide a lifeline,' at The Guardian, 14 March 2012.
108. ^ Detained, interrogated, beaten: Demand protection for Palestinian children (Amnesty USA, June 2015) Archived 22 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine "While Palestinian children and adults face Israeli military courts, Jewish Israeli settlers benefit from Israeli civil law. Israel gives Jewish settlers a different system of justice – even though they are living illegally in the very same occupied Palestinian territories."
109. ^ Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (Israel) (9 March 2012) (paragraph 24)
110. ^ Jonathan Lis (13 May 2012). "In about-face, Israeli ministers block bill to annex West Bank settlements". Haaretz. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
111. ^ Ben-Naftali, Sfard & Viterbo 2018, p. 52.
112. ^ a b "Israel launches massive new West Bank settlement plans". Israel Herald. 31 August 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
113. ^ The Arab–Israeli Dilemma (Contemporary Issues in the Middle East), Syracuse University Press; 3rd edition (August, 1985 ISBN 0-8156-2340-2
114. ^ "Kintera.org—The Giving Communities". Archived from the original on 1 March 2006. Retrieved 10 April 2006.
115. ^ Jean-Pierre Filiu, Gaza: A History, Oxford University Press, 2014 p. 196.
116. ^ Israel must withdraw all settlers or face ICC, says UN report (The Guardian, 31 January 2013) "Israel (...) was in violation of article 49 of the fourth Geneva convention, which forbids the transfer of civilian populations to occupied territory (...) The UNHRC report broadly restated international consensus on the illegality of Israeli settlements"
117. ^ "Jewish settlers in West Bank building curb protest". BBC. 9 December 2009. Retrieved 12 December 2009.
118. ^ GC4 Part III : Status and treatment of protected persons #Section III : Occupied territories "the Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies" International Committee of the Red Cross.
119. ^ Ahren, Raphael (23 December 2019). "The Hague vs. Israel: Everything you need to know about the ICC Palestine probe". Times of Israel. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
120. ^ Emma Playfair, ed. (1992). International Law and the Administration of Occupied Territories. USA: Oxford University Press. p. 396\. ISBN 0-19-825297-8.
121. ^ Cecilia Albin (2001). Justice and Fairness in International Negotiation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 150\. ISBN 0-521-79725-X.
122. ^ Mark Gibney; Stanlislaw Frankowski (1999). Judicial Protection of Human Rights: Myth or Reality?. Westport, CT: Praeger/Greenwood. p. 72\. ISBN 0-275-96011-0.
123. ^ "Point 12 icrc.org". 3 October 2013.
124. ^ "paragraphs 95–101 and 120" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 July 2010.
125. ^ Gregory S. Mahler (2004). Politics and government in Israel: the maturation of a modern state. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 314\. ISBN 978-0-7425-1611-3.
126. ^ Gerson, Allan. Israel, the West Bank, and International law, Routledge, 28 September 1978, ISBN 0-7146-3091-8, p. 82.
127. ^ Roberts, Adam, "Decline of Illusions: The Status of the Israeli-Occupied Territories over 21 Years" in International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944–), Vol. 64, No. 3. (Summer, 1988), pp. 345–359., p. 350
128. ^ Rostow, Eugene V., The New Republic 23 April 1990 The Historical Approach to the Issue of the Legality of Jewish Settlement Activity
129. ^ a b c Peace Now, Hagit Ofran and Dror Etkes, "And Thou Shalt Spread ..." Construction and development of settlements beyond the official limits of jurisdiction Archived 13 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine; pp. 3–5. June 2007
130. ^ a b "Letter of the State Department Legal Advisor, Mr. Herbert J. Hansell, Concerning the Legality of Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Territories", cited in Progress report—The human rights dimensions of population transfer including the implantation of settler prepared by Mr. Awn Shawhat Al-Khasawneh.
131. ^ fmep.org Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 13 May 2007.
132. ^ "7" (PDF).
133. ^ Sallon, Hélène (28 June 2014). "La France durcit sa position face à la colonisation israélienne". Le Monde.fr. Retrieved 28 July 2016 - via Le Monde.
134. ^ "EU states promote settler boycott amid Israel crisis". Retrieved 28 July 2016.
135. ^ 'The charge that israeli settlements violate international law is widely accepted in the international community. The UN, the ICJ, almost every state in the world, and the vast majority of legal experts all consider Israeli settlemnents to be illegal and, in fact, a war crime according to the Fourth Geneva Convention (specifically article 49, paragraph 6). The Israeli government and a small number of legal experts dispute this, arguing that the Geneva Convention is not applicable to the West Bank because Israel is not an occupying power there (since the territory had no legitimate sovereign and that, even if the Geneva Convention does apply, it only prohibits forcible population transfers (like the mass deportations..)'. Dov Waxman, The Israeli–Palestinian Conflict: What Everyone Needs to Know, Oxford University Press, 2019 ISBN 978-0-190-62534-4 p.179.
136. ^ Gorenberg, Gershom. "The Accidental Empire". New York: Times Books, Henry Holt and Company, 2006. p. 99.
137. ^ "Secret memo shows Israel knew Six Day War was illegal". The Independent. Archived from the original on 11 June 2008. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
138. ^ "The Carter Administration View: "Settlements are Inconsistent with International Law"". Archived from the original on 13 April 2009. Retrieved 17 February 2010.
139. ^ "Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory", para 120, 134, and 142 "Cour internationale de Justice – International Court of Justicee" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 July 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-06. and PAUL J. I. M. DE WAART (2005) International Court of Justice Firmly Walled in the Law of Power in the Israeli–Palestinian Peace Process. Leiden Journal of International Law, 18, pp 467–487, doi:10.1017/S0922156505002839
140. ^ Conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention: Declaration, GENEVA, 5 December 2001 [6] Archived 11 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine
141. ^ See UN General Assembly resolution 39/146, 14 December 1984; UN Security Council Resolution 446, 22 March 1979; and International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion, 9 July 2004, Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, para 120
142. ^ "Canadian Policy on Key Issues in the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict". Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Archived from the original on 18 February 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
143. ^ See CERD/C/SR.1250, 9 March 1998
144. ^ Nick Cumming-Bruce, 'U.N. Panel Says Israeli Settlement Policy Violates Law,' at The New York Times, 31 January 2013
145. ^ Tomer Zarchin, If Israel is not occupying the West Bank it must give up land held by the IDF at Haaretz, 9 July 2012: 'For 45 years, different compositions of the High Court of Justice stated again and again that Israel's presence in the West Bank violates international law, which is clearly opposed to Levy's findings.'
146. ^ Howard Grief, The Legal Foundation and Borders of Israel Under International Law, Mazo Publishers, p. 662. cf. p. 191.
147. ^ The Missing Reversioner: Reflections on the Status of Judea and Samaria, in Israel Law Review,3 1968 pp. 279–301.
148. ^ Jerusalem and the Holy Places, Anglo-Israel Association, London 1968.
149. ^ Julius Stone,No Peace-No War in the Middle East, Maitland Publications, Sydney 1969.
150. ^ Julius Stone, Israel and Palestine:Assault on the Law of Nations, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1981.
151. ^ Stephen M. Schwebel, What Weight to Conquest, in American Journal of International Law, vol.64, 1970 pp. 344–347.
152. ^ Palestinian Self-Determination: Possible Futures for the Unallocated Territories of the Palestine Mandate, Yale Studies in World Public Order, 147 (1978–1979) vol.5 1978 pp. 147–172.
153. ^ Stephen M. Schwebel (1994). Justice in International Law: Selected Writings (What Weight to Conquest?). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 521–526. ISBN 0-521-46284-3.
154. ^ Julius Stone (1982). Israel and Palestine: Assault on the Law of Nations. Dashing. p. 52\. ISBN 0-9751073-0-5.
155. ^ Illegal-Settlements Myth, Commentary magazine
156. ^ Ben Saul, Director, Sydney Centre for International Law, Faculty of Law, The University of Sydney, Julius Stone and the Question of Palestine in International Law p. 11. Retrieved 23 December 2011
157. ^ Kretzmer, David (2002). The occupation of justice: the Supreme Court of Israel and the Occupied Territories. SUNY Press. p. 87\. ISBN 0-7914-5337-5.
158. ^ Kretzmer, David (27 October 2008). "Israel Chapter for Book Entitled 'The Role of Domestic Courts in Treaty Enforcement: A Comparative Study'". SSRN 1290714.
159. ^ *Helmreich, Jeffrey. Diplomatic and Legal Aspects of the Settlement Issue, Jerusalem Issue Brief, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Vol. 2, No. 16, 19 January 2003.
* Disputed territories – Forgotten facts about the West Bank and Gaza strip, Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1 February 2003. Retrieved 29 January 2008.
160. ^ "30 July 1998, Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs produced "The International Criminal Court Background Paper" Retrieved 13 May 2007".
161. ^ "The International Criminal Court (CBC News (Canada), 9 July 2004)".
162. ^ "Israel and the International Criminal Court (Office of the Legal Adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel), June 2002)". Archived from the original on 16 May 2007.
163. ^ Erlanger, Steven (21 November 2006). "Israeli Map Says West Bank Posts Sit on Arab Land". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
164. ^ "Settlements 'violate Israeli law'". BBC News. 21 November 2006. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
165. ^ Peace Now, Breaking the Law in the West Bank – One Violation Leads to Another: Israeli Settlement Building on Private Palestinian Property. October 2006
166. ^ "Reports". Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
167. ^ שרגאי, נדב (14 March 2007). "דו"ח: 32% מההתנחלויות – על שטח פלשתיני פרטי". Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 28 July 2016 - via Haaretz.
168. ^ Wilson, Scott. "West Bank Settlements Often Use Private Palestinian Land, Study Says". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
169. ^ "Haaretz – Israel News – Haaretz.com". Retrieved 28 July 2016.
170. ^ "Court case reveals how settlers illegally grab West Bank lands". Haaretz. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
171. ^ "Stop the deceit and whitewashing". Haaretz, 30 January 2009
Haaretz, Uri Blau, "Secret Israeli database reveals full extent of illegal settlement". 30 January 2009.
The published document (in Hebrew): "Israeli Defense Ministry Comprehensive Settler Database — FMEP". Archived from the original on 22 March 2010. Retrieved 2013-02-19.. Part of it was translated in english by Yesh Din: "Spiegel Database" of West Bank settlements and outposts developed by the Israeli Ministry of Defense[permanent dead link]
172. ^ "Jerusalem land seizures 'illegal'". BBC News. 1 February 2005. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
173. ^ Levinson, Chaim (7 April 2013). "Israeli court orders settlers to return land to Palestinian owners". Haaretz. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
174. ^ Amira Hass, 'A proper Zionist live fire zone,' Haaretz, 20 August 2012
175. ^ Israel/Occupied Territories: Removing unlawful Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories: Time to act Archived 13 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine Amnesty International, 2005
176. ^ Barahona, Ana (2013). Bearing Witness: Eight Weeks in Palestine. London: Metete. p. 128\. ISBN 978-1-908099-02-0.
177. ^ "Restrictions on Movement". B'Tselem.
178. ^ "Report" (PDF).
179. ^ Barahona, Ana (2013). Bearing Witness: Eight Weeks in Palestine. London: Metete. p. 106\. ISBN 978-1-908099-02-0.
180. ^ "Land Expropriation and Taking Control of the Land". B'Tselem.
181. ^ "Forbidden Roads" (PDF). B'Tselem.
182. ^ Barahona, Ana (2013). Bearing Witness: Eight Weeks in Palestine. London: Metete. p. 31\. ISBN 978-1-908099-02-0.
183. ^ Barahona, Ana (2013). Bearing Witness: Eight Weeks in Palestine. London: Metete. p. 42\. ISBN 978-1-908099-02-0.
184. ^ Barahona, Ana (2013). Bearing Witness: Eight Weeks in Palestine. London: Metete. pp. 98 and following. ISBN 978-1-908099-02-0.
185. ^ "Who lost? The people of Israel". Haaretz. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
186. ^ "Guide to the West Bank barrier". BBC News. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
187. ^ "Q&A: What is the West Bank barrier?". BBC News. 15 September 2005. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
188. ^ Human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories (PDF; 538 kB). Report of the independent international fact-finding mission to investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, February 2013
189. ^ "UN lists 112 businesses linked to Israeli settlements". BBC.
190. ^ "UN lists firms linked to illegal Israeli settlements in West Bank". Al Jazeera.
191. ^ a b c d e Sydow, Christoph (2012-10-30). "Activists Seek Ban on Trade with Israeli Settlers". Spiegel. Retrieved 2012-11-02.
192. ^ Q&A-Palestinians boycott Israeli settler goods, Reuters, 27 May 2010
193. ^ Jodi Rudoren, 'In West Bank Settlements, Israeli Jobs Are Double-Edged Sword,' New York Times, 10 February 2014.
194. ^ "The Settlement Enterprise Has Failed". Haaretz. 17 November 2015.
195. ^ a b Profundo, Dutch economic links with the occupation Archived 21 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine. 20 April 2013. Available on Archived 21 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine
196. ^ a b Ian Black; Rory McCarthy (10 December 2009). "UK issues new guidance on labelling of food from illegal West Bank settlements". The Guardian. United Kingdom. Retrieved 5 January 2012.]
197. ^ "Israel bristles as Norway mandates labels for produce from West Bank, Golan". Times of Israel. 11 June 2022.
198. ^ https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2019-11/cp190140en.pdf[bare URL PDF]
199. ^ "EU court rules goods from Israeli settlements must be labeled". Reuters. 12 November 2019. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
200. ^ https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/bill/2018/6/eng/initiated/b0618s.pdf[bare URL PDF]
201. ^ "Ireland passes BDS bill banning Israel settlement goods". Middle East Monitor. 2019-01-25. Retrieved 2019-02-10.
202. ^ "Occupied Territories Bill passes in Dáil despite government opposition". Irish Post. 24 January 2019. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
203. ^ "July 2019 Update: Occupied Territories Bill". Senator Frances Black. 22 July 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
204. ^ "Citizen-led petition calls on Europe to ban trade with Israeli settlements". Middle East Eye.
205. ^ "Petition seeks EU ban on Israeli settler products". EUobserver.
206. ^ "Court Takes up Bid for Boycott over Israel's Occupation of Palestine".
207. ^ "Europe: Ban Trade with Illegal Settlements". 21 February 2022.
208. ^ "Initiative detail | European Citizens' Initiative". europa.eu.
209. ^ Harriet Sherwood (29 September 2011). "Israeli occupation hitting Palestinian economy, claims report". The Guardian. United Kingdom. Retrieved 9 January 2012.]
210. ^ World Bank (2 October 2013). "West Bank and Gaza:Area C and the Future of the Palestinian Economy" (PDF). Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Department (Report No. AUS2922). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
211. ^ Harriet Sherwood (3 January 2011). "Israeli companies can profit from West Bank resources, court rules". The Guardian. United Kingdom. Retrieved 9 January 2012.]
212. ^ a b c Jihan Abdalla (18 February 2014). "A Palestinian contradiction: working in Israeli settlements". Al-Monitor. Archived from the original on 12 March 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
213. ^ a b c "20,000 Palestinians working in settlements, survey finds". Retrieved 28 July 2016.
214. ^ Harriet Sherwood, Palestinian boycott of Israeli settlement goods starts to bite, The Guardian, 29 June 2010
215. ^ "Palestinian workers in Israeli West Bank settlements – 2008". Kav LaOved. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 29 June 2009.
216. ^ "Palestinians oppose settlement labor ban". Retrieved 28 July 2016.
217. ^ Kershner, Isabel (25 September 2008). "Radical Settlers Take on Israel". The New York Times.
218. ^ Kraft, Dina (8 October 2008). "Radical settlers using violence against Jews". Archived from the original on 9 May 2012.
219. ^ "Erekat: Settler violence reflects Israeli policy". Retrieved 28 July 2016.
220. ^ "U.S. State Department defines settler violence as terrorism". Haaretz.
221. ^ a b "'Hundreds join' settler violence". 2 October 2008. Retrieved 28 July 2016 - via bbc.co.uk.
222. ^ a b Top IDF officer warns: Settlers' radical fringe growing Haaretz 20 October 2009
223. ^ Hider, James (15 October 2009). "West Bank settlers use 'price tag' tactic to punish Palestinians". The Times. London. Retrieved 16 October 2009.
224. ^ Amira Hass, 'Gambling on Blair's Palestinian casino,' at Haaretz 1 October 2013. The statistics included 527 residential demolitions and 862 Palestinians uprooted from their homes.
225. ^ Weiss, Efrat (1995-06-20). "Rabbi slams Jewish 'hooligans' – Israel News, Ynetnews". Ynetnews. Ynetnews.com. Retrieved 2016-06-10.
226. ^ Israel – Rabbi Harshly Condemns Violence by Jewish Hooligans Against Arabs, 2 June 2009
227. ^ "Login". Retrieved 28 July 2016.
228. ^ "Israel Acts to Cut Off Funds to Illegal Settlements" article by Isabel Kershner in The New York Times 2 November 2008.
229. ^ Gee, Robert W. (25 August 2008). "Settlers Increase Attacks on Palestinians in West Bank".[permanent dead link]
230. ^ "ISRAELI SETTLER VIOLENCE AND THE EVACUATION OF OUTPOSTS (UN OCHAOPT, November 2009)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 July 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
231. ^ "Defeat settler terror". Haaretz. 27 October 2008.
232. ^ Israeli settlers vandalize IDF base in first 'price tag' act against army, Haaretz
233. ^ United Nations, November 2011, [7] Archived 24 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 8 November 2011
234. ^ "EU report notes huge increase in Jewish settler attacks". Retrieved 28 July 2016.
235. ^ a b c "EU: Israel's policies in the West Bank endanger two-state solution". Haaretz.
236. ^ Kershner, Isabel (6 July 2014). "Suspects Arrested in Death of Palestinian Youth, Israeli Police Say". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
237. ^ "Official: Autopsy shows Palestinian youth burnt alive". Ma'an News Agency. 5 July 2014. Archived from the original on 8 July 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
238. ^ "Palestinian teen abducted, killed in suspected revenge attack". Ma'an News Agency. 2 July 2014. Archived from the original on 7 July 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
239. ^ Ben Zion, Ilan; Berman, Lazar (2 July 2014). "Arab teen killed in capital; revenge attack suspected". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 2014-07-02. Retrieved 2014-07-04.
240. ^ Assaf Sharon, "Failure in Gaza", New York Review of Books, 25 September 2014, pp. 20–24.
241. ^ Hoff, Mallory (3 July 2014). "Family of slain Palestinian teen lives in Sacramento". KCRA Television Sacramento. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
242. ^ Eranger, Steven; Kershner, Isabel (8 July 2014). "Israel and Hamas Trade Attacks as Tension Rises". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2022-01-03. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
243. ^ Heruti, Tali (2015-07-31). "Palestinian Infant Burned to Death in West Bank Arson Attack; IDF Blames 'Jewish Terror' – Israel". Haaretz. Retrieved 2016-06-10.
244. ^ a b Heruti, Tali (2015-07-31). "EU, U.S. State Department Condemn 'Vicious' West Bank Arson Attack – Diplomacy and Defense". Haaretz. Retrieved 2016-06-10.
245. ^ a b Israel makes life very hard for Palestinians, says ICRC (BBC, 17 February 2010)
246. ^ "29 October 06: B'Tselem Urges the Security Forces to Prepare for the Olive Harvest". B'Tselem. 29 October 2006.
247. ^ "Palestinians: Settlers attacked our olive trees". Haaretz.
248. ^ Current olive harvest most violent in years, defense document reveals Haaretz 19 October 2010.
249. ^ "Israeli settlers accused of destroying Palestinian olive trees". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
250. ^ Barahona, Ana (2013). Bearing Witness: Eight Weeks in Palestine. London: Metete. pp. 23, 26. ISBN 978-1-908099-02-0.
251. ^ a b c d Human Rights Watch (2002). "Civilian Residents of Illegal Settlements as "Legitimate Targets"". Erased in a moment: Suicide Bombing Attacks Against Israeli Civilians. ISBN 1-56432-280-7.
252. ^ a b "Attacks on Israeli Civilians by Palestinians". B'Tselem. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
253. ^ Sontag, Deborah (2 April 2001). "Israeli Baby's Funeral Becomes Focus of Settler Militancy". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 14 November 2013. Retrieved 17 February 2009.
254. ^ Dudkevitch, Margot; Herb Keinon (5 May 2001). "Casualties of war". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 15 July 2008.
255. ^ Teen killed in West Bank terror attack, Ynet News, 4 February 2009
256. ^ Father of seven shot dead in West Bank terror attack[permanent dead link], Jerusalem Post, 25 December 2009
257. ^ Ethan Bronner, Israeli Military Kills 6 Palestinians, New York Times, 26 December 2009
258. ^ "Rallies held around country in response to Itamar attacks". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
259. ^ "Fogel Family Murderers Arrested". World Jewish Daily. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
260. ^ Bagshawe, Louise (24 March 2011). "A family slaughtered in Israel – doesn't the BBC care?". The Daily Telegraph. UK. Archived from the original on 14 January 2013. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
261. ^ 3 Palestinians, left-wing activist suspected of uprooting trees at outpost, ynetnews
262. ^ Arabs, Left-Wing Extremists Uproot Jewish Vineyard, arutz sheva
263. ^ stone throwing Naalin protest, ynet
264. ^ Weiss, Efrat (16 June 2008). "Police: Leftists in Hebron more dangerous than right-wing counterparts". Ynetnews.
265. ^ a b c d e Winder, Rob (6 July 2005). "Pollution politics in the West Bank". BBC.
266. ^ a b Rinat, Zafrir (10 June 2005). "Settlement sewage kills off 200 olive trees grown by Palestinians". Haaretz.[dead link]
267. ^ Friends of the Earth Middle East, A Seeping Time Bomb: Pollution of the Mountain Aquifer by Sewage Archived 7 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine, pp. 6–8
268. ^ Results of Stream Monitoring in Judea and Samaria Published Archived 4 March 2021 at the Wayback Machine, Israel Ministry of Environmental Protection 23 September 2008
269. ^ Ratner, David (4 April 2005). "Israel to dump 10,000 tons of garbage a month in the West Bank". Haaretz.
270. ^ Anna Di Bartolomeo, Thibaut Jaulin, Delphine Perrin "CARIM Migration Report Palestine" Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, CARIM – Consortium for Applied Research on International Migration, 2011, p. 5
271. ^ "Israel/West Bank: Separate and Unequal." Human Rights Watch, 19 December 2010.
272. ^ Barahona, Ana (2013). Bearing Witness: Eight Weeks in Palestine. London: Metete. pp. 96&106\. ISBN 978-1-908099-02-0.
273. ^ Carroll, Rory. "Condoleezza Rice: send Palestinian refugees to South America." The Guardian, 24 January 2011.
274. ^ Seth, Sushil P. "Israel sinks the peace process."Daily Times, 24 December 2010. Archived 28 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine
275. ^ Akiva Eldarf, 'Israel demolishes West Bank villages as Jewish outposts remains untouched', Haaretz, 21 February 2012:'Children will revert to straining their eyes as they do their homework in the light of oil lamps, and the women will go back to churning butter and cheeses with blistered hands. ... During the first six months of 2011, the UN Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs recorded 342 demolitions of Palestinian structures in the area. That is almost five times the number razed during the same period in 2010. The report noted that for Palestinian villages in Area C, the Civil Administration did not manage to plan sufficiently, but all Jewish communities in the West Bank did receive detailed plans.'
276. ^ Phoebe Greenwood, 'Palestinians prepare to lose the solar panels that provide a lifeline' Wednesday, 14 March 2012: 'According to UN research, as the result of these policies, 10 of 13 Palestinian communities living in Area C surveyed by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in 2011 had already left their land as a result of Israeli policies.'
277. ^ a b Database of Institutions Archived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Council for Higher Education in Israel
278. ^ "Ariel gets university status, despite opposition". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
279. ^ Tamara Traubmann, Education council angry over decision to upgrade Ariel College status Haaretz, 10 October 2006
280. ^ "Shomron Regional Council Receives National Education Award". Israel National News. 22 February 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2012. "The award is an expression of our respect and appreciation for local authorities that are outstanding in the investment in education and in the importance they attach to fostering the local educational system."
281. ^ מועצה אזורית שומרון זכתה בפרס החינוך. Ma'ariv (in Hebrew). 21 February 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
282. ^ Bowen, Stephen (28 October 1997). Human Rights, Self-Determination and Political Change in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. ISBN 9041105026. Retrieved 28 July 2016 - via Google Books.
283. ^ Siegman, Henry (7 January 2010). "Imposing Middle East Peace". The Nation. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
284. ^ "Israel confirms settlement growth". BBC News. 21 March 2005. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
285. ^ "Gaza diary: Hakeem Abu Samra". BBC News. 12 August 2005. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
286. ^ Akiva Eldar, "Vice PM: Ofra settlement homes built on private Palestinian land". Haaretz, 8 April 2008
287. ^ Israeli Settlements and International Law, Israel Foreign Ministry website, 4 May 2001. Retrieved 11 July 2007.
288. ^ "Occupied Territories" to "Disputed Territories" by Dore Gold, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, 16 January 2002. Retrieved 29 September 2005.
289. ^ Diplomatic and Legal Aspects of the Settlement Issue, Jeffrey Helmreich, Institute for Contemporary Affairs, jcpa.org. Retrieved 11 July 2007.
290. ^ Kessler, Glenn (5 January 2006). "Bush at Risk of Losing Closest Mideast Ally". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
291. ^ "Israel 'to keep some settlements'". BBC News. 12 April 2005. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
292. ^ Dore Gold. "What Happened to Secure Borders for Israel? The U.S., Israel, and the Strategic Jordan Valley". Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
293. ^ Dromi, Shai M. (2014). "Uneasy Settlements: Reparation Politics and the Meanings of Money in the Israeli Withdrawal from Gaza". Sociological Inquiry. 48 (1): 294–315. doi:10.1111/soin.12028.
294. ^ "US will accept Israel settlements". BBC News. 25 March 2005.
295. ^ Looters strip Gaza greenhouses, NBC News, Associated Press, 13 September 2005.
296. ^ Freeman, Simon (12 September 2005). "Synagogues burn in Gaza". The Times. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
297. ^ "Myths & Facts – Human Rights in Israel and the Territories". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org.
298. ^ a b "A Cup of Tea in Old Jerusalem". Archived from the original on 6 October 1999.
299. ^ a b "Interview: Israeli settler Avi Farhan". Archived from the original on 1 November 2005. Retrieved 12 November 2005.
300. ^ "PA official: U.S. Mideast peace offer convinced Palestinians to seek statehood at UN." Haaretz, 17 September 2011.
301. ^ "Germany Threatens To Halt Submarine Sale to Israel." Der Spiegel, 31 October 2011.
302. ^ "Ahead of the UNGA vote // 'Germany abstaining at UN because Israel wouldn't budge on settlements'". Haaretz. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
303. ^ "Israel says will stick with settlement plan despite condemnation". Reuters. 3 December 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
304. ^ Pike, John. "UN Chief Warns Israeli Settlements Would Be 'Fatal Blow'". globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
305. ^ Rostow, Eugene. Bricks and stones: settling for leverage; Palestinian autonomy Archived 4 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine, The New Republic, 23 April 1990.
306. ^ 'US will accept Israel settlements', BBC News Online, 25 March 2005.
307. ^ 'UN Condemns Israeli settlements', BBC News Online, 14 April 2005.
308. ^ 'Obama Speech In Cairo: VIDEO, Full Text', The Huffington Post, 4 June 2009.
309. ^ a b Mélanie Jacques, Armed Conflict and Displacement: The Protection of Refugees and Displaced Persons Under International Humanitarian Law, Cambridge University Press 2012 pp. 96–97.
310. ^ Review of Dennis Ross book Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine, by Ray Hanania, hanania.com, 16 August 2004. Retrieved 11 July 2007.
311. ^ Remarks by Pres. Clinton, 7 January 2001. (Full transcript available at: cnn transcript)
312. ^ Tony Blair press conference, 17 April 2004, incl. comments on compromising on settlements, UK Foreign office. Retrieved 12 July 2007.
313. ^ Pike, John. "PNA to ask UN to reestablish 1967 border with Israel if Mideast talks fail – ambassador". globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
314. ^ "US may give Israel arms in exchange for concessions". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
315. ^ Barak: Israel ready to cede parts of Jerusalem in peace deal, Haaretz
316. ^ "Full Text: Netanyahu's Proposal for Palestinian-Israeli Peace (June 2009)" A Demilitarized Palestinian State With Limited Sovereignty by Pierre Tristam, About.com Guide.
317. ^ "Brazil President in West Bank: I dream of a free Palestine". Haaretz. 17 March 2010. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
318. ^ "Jordan and Syria call for Israeli withdrawal from all Arab lands". Haaretz. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
319. ^ Burston, Bradley Special Place in Hell / Breaking Israel to fix it – rightists rethink holding the West Bank Haaretz, 20 September 2010
320. ^ Ravid, Barak. "U.S.: We'll oppose delegitimization of Israel in exchange for settlement freeze." Haaretz, 13 November 2010
321. ^ "US asks Israel for 90-day settlement building moratorium". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
322. ^ Barak Ravid and Shlomo Shamir "U.S. criticizes PA bid to take settlement construction to UN." Haaretz, 24 December 2010.
323. ^ Charbonneau, Louis; Dunham, Will (18 February 2011). "U.S. vetoes U.N. draft condemning Israeli settlements". Reuters. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
324. ^ "Palestinian envoy: U.S. veto at UN 'encourages Israeli intransigence' on settlements". Haaretz. 18 February 2011. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
325. ^ a b c "United States vetoes Security Council resolution on Israeli settlements". UN News Centre. 18 February 2011. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
326. ^ "Deputy FM: Anti-settlement vote proves UN is a 'rubber stamp' for Arab nations". Haaretz. 20 February 2011. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
327. ^ Heruti, Tali (2009-11-25). "Netanyahu Declares 10-month Settlement Freeze 'To Restart Peace Talks'". Haaretz. Retrieved 2016-06-10.
328. ^ Keinon, Herb (2011-09-26). "'We won't renew settlement freeze to lure Palestinian Authority to talks'". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 9 February 2013. Retrieved 2016-06-10.
329. ^ 'Israel's UN envoy says only peace can halt settlements,' AFP/Ynet, 17 October 2010.
330. ^ Clinton Parameters Archived 17 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine, The Jewish Peace Lobby website, full text (English)
331. ^ Abu Toameh, Khaled. "Abbas: Land swap principle reached". The Jerusalem Post.
332. ^ a b "The "Consensus" Settlements". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org.
333. ^ "The European Union: Challenges for Israeli Diplomacy". Jewish Center for Public Affairs. Archived from the original on 17 September 2011. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
334. ^ "Let them stay in Palestine". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 17 January 2010. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
335. ^ "Arafat may allow Jewish settlers to stay in West Bank". Archived from the original on 18 May 2004. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
336. ^ "Haaretz – Israel News – Haaretz.com". Retrieved 28 July 2016.
337. ^ "PA: Settlers can become Palestinian citizens". Haaretz. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
338. ^ "Abbas: 'Not a single Israeli' in future Palestinian state". The Jerusalem Post. 2013-07-30. Retrieved 2016-12-23.
339. ^ Herb Keinon, 'No need to remove any settlements' Jerusalem Post, 16 April 2010
340. ^ Heruti, Tali (2011-06-19). "Cabinet Votes to Curtail Barak's Power to Veto West Bank Settlement Construction". Haaretz. Retrieved 2016-06-10.
341. ^ Netanyahu would let West Bank settlements expand. By Mark Levie. Yahoo! News. Published 26 January 2009.
342. ^ "Netanyahu: Israel and U.S. have resolved settlements row".
343. ^ Peace Now, 1 August 2012 The Government Secretly Approved another Outpost: Nofei Nehemia Archived 11 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
344. ^ Peace Now, 11 June 2012, The Compensation Package for the Settlers: 851 Units to Undermine the Two States Solution Archived 12 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
345. ^ "Israel to build more West Bank homes". Al Jazeera. 7 June 2012. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
346. ^ Israel Approves Construction of 1,700 New Settlement Homes. Reuters, 3 November 2013
347. ^ Israel Plans 24,000 New Homes for Jewish Settlers. Reuters, 12 November 2013
348. ^ Netanyahu instructs housing minister to 'reconsider' plans for 24,000 units beyond Green Line. Jerusalem Post, 13 November 2013
349. ^ Potential settlement plans would create first blocs outside barrier route. Tovah Lazaroff, Jerusalem Post, 14 November 2013
350. ^ "Resolution 2334 (2016) Adopted by the Security Council at its 7853rd meeting, on 23 December 2016". UN. 2016-12-16. Retrieved 2019-09-20.
351. ^ Noura Erakat (2019). Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine. Stanford University Press. p. 252\. ISBN 978-0-8047-9825-9.
352. ^ "Israel Markedly Increased Settlement Construction, Decisions in Last Three Months, Middle East Special Coordinator Tells Security Council". UN. 2017-03-24. Retrieved 2019-09-20.
353. ^ "Security Council Seventy-second year 7908th meeting Friday, 24 March 2017, 3 p.m. New York" (PDF). UN. 2017-03-24. Retrieved 2019-09-20.
354. ^ Seada Hussein Adem (2019). Palestine and the International Criminal Court. Springer. p. 144\. ISBN 978-94-6265-291-0.
355. ^ "Israel's Supreme Court strikes down law legalising settlements on private Palestinian land". Reuters. June 9, 2020. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
356. ^ "Situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 Note by the Secretary-General" (PDF). reliefweb. 2018-10-22. Archived from the original on 16 February 2022. Retrieved 2019-09-20.
357. ^ "AG urges court to strike Regulation Law, points to new ways to legalize outposts". The Times of Israel. 2018-12-18. Retrieved 2019-09-20.
358. ^ "Return of the Outpost Method 32 new unauthorized settlements under the Netanyahu government". PeaceNow. 2019-07-22. Retrieved 2019-09-20.
359. ^ "Resource: Tracking Israel's support for illegal outposts". trocaire. 2019-09-20. Retrieved 2019-09-20.
360. ^ "At Least 16 Israeli Unauthorized West Bank Outposts Established Since 2017". Haaretz. 2019-07-22. Retrieved 2019-09-20.
361. ^ Tovah Lazaroff (30 April 2019). "ISRAEL TO OFFER GRANTS TO BUILD HOTELS IN WEST BANK SETTLEMENTS".
362. ^ "New data shows Israeli settlement surge in east Jerusalem". AP. 2019-09-12. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
363. ^ "Israeli settlements amount to war crime – U.N. rights expert". Reuters. 9 July 2021.
364. ^ "Israeli settlements amount to war crime, UN rights official says". Haaretz.
365. ^ "OHCHR | Occupied Palestinian Territory: Israeli settlements should be classified as war crimes, says UN expert". www.ohchr.org.
366. ^ "A Government of Change (for the worse)". Peace Now. 28 October 2021.
367. ^ "U.S. Gives Harshest Public Rebuke Yet on Israeli Settlement Plans". Haaretz.
368. ^ "Russia, UK, top EU nations issue rebuke on settlement plans". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com.
369. ^ Heaney, Christopher. "Statement by EU Spokesperson on Further Settlement Expansion (Non-UN Document)".
370. ^ "Israel settlement expansion should be treated as 'presumptive war crime': UN experts". 4 November 2021.
371. ^ "OHCHR | UN experts say Israeli settlement expansion 'tramples' on human rights law". www.ohchr.org.

* Ben-Naftali, Orna; Sfard, Michael; Viterbo, Hedi (2018). The ABC of the OPT: A Legal Lexicon of the Israeli Control over the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-15652-4.

## Further reading[edit | edit source]

* Israeli Settlements interactive map and Israeli land use from The Guardian
* Israeli Settlements. Bloomberg News
* Israeli settlements: Where, when, and why they're built, Ilene R. Prusher, Christian Science Monitor, 15 September 2009
* Text of the Fourth 1949 Geneva Convention from icrc.org
* The legal status of Israeli settlements under IHL (International Humanitarian Law), Reuters ReliefWeb, 31 January 2004
* The Humanitarian Impact on Palestinians of Israeli Settlements and Other Infrastructure in the West Bank from UN OCHA, Palestinian territories
* Israeli Communities in Yesha & Jordan Valley
* The Illegal Settlements—slideshow by The First Post
* Barahona, Ana (2015). Bearing witness: eight weeks in Palestine. ISBN 978-1-908099-02-0. OCLC 900064194.

Viewpoints and commentary

* Monitoring Israeli Colonization Activities in the Palestinian Territory, The Applied Research Institute Jerusalem
* Land Expropriation and Settlements from B'tselem
* Israel and The Palestinian Territories, The Carter Center
* Israeli Confiscation and Settlement on Palestinian Land from If Americans Knew
* Settlements and Settlements and U.S. Policy, Americans for Peace Now
* Bregman, Ahron, Elusive Peace: How the Holy Land Defeated America
* "The Wye River Memorandum and Israeli Settlements", Geoffrey Aronson, The Jerusalem Fund, 4 August 1999
* For Israel, Land or Peace Jimmy Carter, The Carter Center, 26 November 2000
* Backgrounder: Jewish settlements and the Media from the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, 5 October 2001
* From "occupied territories" to "disputed territories", Dore Gold, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, 16 January 2002
* Ottoman Land Registration Law as a Contributing Factor in the Israeli-Arab Conflict by Rabbi Jon-Jay Tilsen, 2003
* Diplomatic and Legal Aspects of the Settlement Issue from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, 19 January 2003
* Occupation and Settlement: The Myth and Reality, David Meir-Levi, Think-Israel.org, 24 June 2005
* "At Israeli Outpost, Showdown Looms for Settlers, Government" Gershom Gorenberg, Jewish Daily Forward, 27 January 2006
* Settlements 'violate Israeli law', BBC News, 21 November 2006
* Backgrounder: The debate about settlements from the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, 13 June 2007
* "Israel's Settlers Are Here to Stay" op-ed by Dani Dayan in The New York Times 25 July 2012

## External links[edit | edit source]

* 2019 amnesty 2019 Think Twice: Can companies do business with Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories while respecting human rights?
* UNSC 2334 quarterly reports

Media related to Israeli settlements in occupied territories at Wikimedia Commons

* v
* t
* e

Zionism and the Land of Israel

| Land of Israel| Independent Israel| Modern Israel

|
|

Land of Israel

History

* * *

* Prehistory / History of the Levant
* History of ancient Israel and Judah
* Laws and customs of the Land of Israel in Judaism

The Jewish people

* * *

* Timeline of Jewish history
* History of the Jews and Judaism in the Land of Israel (leaders)
* Modern Jewish settlement
*     * History of Israel
* Israeli Jews
* Culture of Israel
* Law of Return

|

History to 1948

* * *

* Zionism (history * timeline)
* Aliyah
* Balfour Declaration
* Mandate document
* Mandatory Palestine

1949 cease-fire borders of Israel

History

* * *

* UN Partition Plan
* Declaration of Independence

Politics

* * *

Arab–Israeli conflict * Israeli–Palestinian conflict (Peace process * Disengagement from Gaza

Society and economy

* * *

Kibbutzim and Moshavim * Exodus from Arab countries * Development towns * Austerity * Agriculture technology

|

Contemporary Israel

Green Line

* Israeli settlements
Timeline
* International law

* West Bank
Judea and Samaria Area

* Gaza Strip
Geography
* Hof Aza Regional Council

* East Jerusalem
Status of Jerusalem

|

* v
* t
* e

Zionism

Concepts|

* Zion
* Land of Israel
* Aliyah
* Yerida
* Homeland (proposals)
* Jewish state
* Law of Return
* Yishuv
* Territorialism
* Promised Land
* Gathering of Israel
* Settlement
* Negation of the Diaspora
* Revival of the Hebrew language
* Hebraization of surnames
* Judaization

Theodor Herzl, Israel's flag and its declaration of independence

Ideologies|

* General
* Labor
* Revisionist
* Reform
* Religious
* Cultural
* Federal
* Post-Zionism
* Proto-Zionism
* Neo-Zionism
* Non-Zionism
* Green
* Christian

Organizations|

* Histadrut
* Hovevei Zion
* Bilu
* World Zionist Organization
* Zionist General Council
* Zionist Federation of Germany
* Zionist Organization of America
* Zionist Organization of Canada
* Religious Zionists of America
* Jewish National Fund
* Poale Zion
* Jewish Agency for Israel
* Jewish National Council
* Mizrachi
* Bnei Akiva
* Habonim Dror
* Hashomer Hatzair
* Haganah
* HaNoar HaTzioni
* World Agudath Israel
* Irgun
* Betar
* Lehi
* Jewish Party (Czechoslovakia)
* Jewish Party (Romania)
* Jewish Resistance Movement
* Palmach
* Women's International Zionist Organization
* Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America
* Aytzim
* American Zionist Movement
* Am Yisrael Foundation
* Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland
* Institute for Zionist Strategies
* International Fellowship of Christians and Jews
* Nefesh B'Nefesh
* Birthright Israel

History and
timelines

* History of Israel
* Chronology of Aliyah
* History of Zionism
* Balfour Declaration
* UN General Assembly Resolution 3379
* UN General Assembly Resolution 46/86
* Timeline of Zionism
* Israeli–Palestinian peace process
* Timeline of the Arab–Israeli conflict

Holidays|

* Yom HaZikaron
* Independence Day
* Jerusalem Day
* Yom HaAliyah
* Herzl Day
* Jabotinsky Day
* Ben-Gurion Day
* Rabin Day

Related topics|

* List of Zionists
* Anti-Zionism
* The Holocaust
* Antisemitism
* New antisemitism
* Not one inch
* Jewish Autonomism
* Jewish emancipation
* Jewish political movements
* Greater Israel
* Muscular Judaism
* Muslim supporters of Israel
* Progressive except Palestine
* Zionism as settler colonialism
* Zionist antisemitism
* Zionist political violence
* Ulpan

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template