Israeli Settlement

• "Israel, the homeland of the Jews, was established in Palestine in 1948. The Palestine Liberation Organization, under Yasir Arafat, is committed to establishing a Palestinian state, which would include territory on the West Bank and Gaza Strip now partially occupied by Israel." Palestine, ''The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy'', Third Edition. 2002.


• "Though Israeli forces withdrew from Nablus and parts of Ramallah on Sunday, traversing war-torn West Bank territory still under partial occupation makes for a difficult trip to school." Taylor, Catherine. "Palestinian schools hit hard by conflict" , '' Christian Science Monitor '', April 23 , 2002.


• "Though under partial occupation, Palestinian society is one of the more democratic Arab societies today." Mohammed, Mima. "Palestinian Awareness Month aims to educate Stanford students" , '' Stanford Daily '', April 20 , 2006.


• "The IDF would continue with its partial occupation of the West Bank and incursions in the Gaza Strip." "Chronological Review of Events Relating to the Question of Palestine" , Monthly Media Monitoring Review, UNISPAL , Division for Palestinian Rights, March 2003. and partially under the control of the Palestinian National Authority , and in the Golan Heights , which are under Israeli civilian administration.

• East Jerusalem , which is incorporated within the municipal borders of Jerusalem , though this ''de facto'' annexation is not recognized by the international communityhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/middle_east/2001/israel_and_the_palestinians/issues/1682594.stm]http://www.btselem.org/English/Jerusalem/; and


• The Golan Heights , where military rule was revoked in 1981 and has since been under Israeli civil law, administration and jurisdiction under the Golan Heights Law .

• Settlement or '''community''': there is broad agreement that the term settlement implies that these are recently established places, and therein lies the controversy. Although many Israelis concede that the term "settlement" is apt for these reasons, others argue that these are re-established communities, built on Jewish towns and villages that were vacated by force as late as 1948 or much earlier. They also point out that these are highly dissimilar places, and that using one term is misleading.


• In movement, and other settler populations (such as the Haredi residents of Betar Illit and Modi'in Illit ) do not associate themselves with it.¹


• In Arabic , settlements are called ''mustawtanaat'' (Arabic: المستوطنات), and settlers are ''mustawtineen'' (مستوطنين). ''Mustamaraat'' (مستعمرات) is another term used among Palestinians which translates literally as ''colonies''; from the Palestinian point of view, most “settlers” were foreigners. The word ''mustamaraat'' was popularized by Arab leaders and carries a political connotation denoting the feelings of Palestinians toward the Jewish arrivals. [http://www.poica.org/glossary/glossary.php [http://www.palestinemonitor.org/settlements/israels_latest_colonization.htm [http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/08/29/colony-demolished]


• ''' controlled the area in question (1948-1967), but is still by far the most common name used in the English-speaking world and by international organizations such as the United Nations . The terms "Judea and Samaria" are historical terms that relate to the political geography of the Roman-era Jewish dominion in the area. Palestinians strongly object to the term, deeming it to reflect Israeli expansionist aims. Among Palestinians, the specific area is referred to as the West Bank .


• "Occupied" or "'''disputed'''": the legal status of the areas is a debated question, and drives the choice of qualifier for the territories in question.

• From Jordan , Israel gained control of the entire western bank of the Jordan River , including parts of Jerusalem previously controlled by Jordan - East Jerusalem , and the West Bank .


• From Egypt , Israel gained control of the entire Sinai Peninsula up to the Suez Canal , and the Gaza strip.


• From Syria , Israel gained control of most of the Golan Heights , since 1981 , administered under the Golan Heights Law .

• In 1967, the municipal borders of Jerusalem were extended to include all of the Old City as well as other areas. Residents within the new municipal borders were offered the choice between citizenship (subject to a few restrictions) and permanent residency (if they wished to retain their Jordanian passports). This annexation has not been recognized by any foreign country.


• The Sinai, Gaza Strip, and West Bank were put under Israeli military occupation. Residents were not offered citizenship or residency, though they typically had de facto work permits within Israel and freedom of travel there.


• In 1978, Israel forcibly evacuated its citizens from the Sinai and demolished their homes when the area was returned to Egypt pursuant to the Camp David Accords . The last Israeli community in the area, Yamit , was evacuated in early 1982.


• In 1980, the Knesset asserted Jerusalem's status as the nation's "eternal and indivisible capital" by passing the Jerusalem Law .


• In 1981, Israel extended its law to the Golan Heights, passing the Golan Heights Law , which granted permanent residency, ID cards, and Israeli citizenship to the residents, but did not formally annex the territory.


• In August 2005, all settlements in the Gaza Strip and four in the West Bank were forcibly evacuated as part of Israel's Unilateral Disengagement Plan .

• Self-contained towns and small cities with a stable population in the tens of thousands, infrastructure, and all other features of permanence, e.g. Ma'ale Adummim , Modi'in Illit , Ariel .


• Jewish neighborhoods adjacent to Arab neighborhoods in the same city, e.g. Hebron .


• Neighborhoods, where both Jews and Arabs live together, e.g. Jerusalem.


• Suburbs to other population centers, especially Jerusalem (e.g. Gilo ), and the Sharon area (e.g. Karnei Shomron ).


• Settlement blocs, e.g. Gush Etzion , the vicinity of Ariel , the Shechem / Nablus area.


• Frontier villages, such as those parallel to the Jordan River .


• Residential outposts, consisting of campers, trailers, and even tents; these are often referred to as "wildcat" outposts. Most of these settlements are the results of recent construction, but some are based on Jewish communities that were forced to leave or abandoned in 1948 or earlier. Newly constructed developments are largely on hilltops, at some distance from Arab communities, which are typically found in valleys. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/04/AR2006010402151_pf.html

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• Jerusalem – Jewish presence since biblical times, various surrounding communities and neighborhoods, including Kfar Shiloah - settled by Yemeni Jews in 1884, Jewish residents evacuated in 1938, settled again in 2004


• Gush Etzion communities - established between 1927–1947, destroyed 1948, reestablished beginning 1967


• Hebron - Jewish presence since biblical times, forced out in 1929 (because of Hebron Massacre ), some families return to the ruins in 1931 but the British have them evacuate again to "prevent another massacre"; resettled in 1967


• Kfar Darom - established in 1946, evacuated in 1948, resettled in 1970, evacuated in 2005 as part of the Withdrawal from the Gaza Strip .

• including Sinai

• Prior to the eruption of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the late eighties, even until the signing of the Israeli-Jordanian 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. Other supporters of the settlements also cite these reasons [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4436739.stm [http://experts.about.com/q/Israel-Middle-East-352/settlements-1.htm [http://www.jcpa.org/jl/jordanvalley-dg.htm


• Many Israelis assert the historical Jewish connection to at least some of the areas in dispute, arguing that their claim is at least equal to that of the Palestinians . Since many Jews in these areas were killed or forced out violently, they argue that the Palestinians, whom they consider the aggressors in this case, should not be rewarded with land they seized .


• Many religious Jews assert the biblical Jewish connection to the areas in dispute, arguing that their claim to build is equal to the biblical Jewish connection to the other areas in Israel.

Where the prior holder of territory had seized that territory unlawfully, the state which subsequently takes that territory in the lawful exercise of self-defense has, against that prior holder, better title. {Link without Title} .

• " East Jerusalem " - Jerusalem and its surroundings were envisioned as an International Area Under United Nations Administration in the 1947 partition plan, accepted by Jews but rejected by Arabs. In 1948, Jordan captured and annexed the eastern half of Jerusalem, while Israel captured and annexed the west. Following the Six-Day War in 1967 Israel annexed the eastern part, together with several villages around it, awarding each religious group full administration of their holy sites.

• The Israeli Golan Heights Law of 1981 applied Israel's "laws, jurisdiction and administration" in the Golan Heights , which were captured from Syria in 1967 after a series of incursions and attacks on Israel from the region. Israel has not stated that it has "annexed" the area.


• The Gaza Strip and West Bank , a section of the areas awarded by the UN to a prospective Arab state of Palestine, remained in Arab hands while the rest of that area was taken by Israel. The former was administered by Egypt while the latter was annexed by Jordan .

nothing in the Nations Charter shall be construed ... to alter in any manner the rights whatsoever of any states or peoples or the terms of existing international instruments. BACKGROUNDER: Jewish Settlements and the Media

There is no rule of international law according to which the Fourth Convention applies in each and every armed conflict whatever the status of the parties.... The whole idea of the restriction of military government powers is based on the assumption that there has been a sovereign who was ousted and that he was a legitimate sovereign. Any other conception would lead to the conclusion, for example, that France should have acted in Alsace-Lorraine according to rule 42-56 of the Hague Rules Of 1907 , until the signing of a peace treaty.

As paragraph 1 of Article 49 refers expressly to forcible transfers, it seems fair to conclude that the term "transfer" in paragraph 6 means both forcible and nonforcible transfers. This conclusion would seem to flow from the object of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which is to protect civilians in the occupied territory, and not the population of the occupied power. From the point of view of the protected persons, whether the transfer of outsiders into their territory is forcible or not would seem to be irrelevant."Kretzmer, David. "The Advisory Opinion: The Light Treatment of International Humanitarian Law" in ''American Journal of International Law'' Vol.99 No. 1 (Jan., 2005), pp.88-102, p.91.

The view has been advanced that a transfer is prohibited under paragraph 6 only to the extent that it involves the displacement of the local population. Although one respected authority, Lauterpacht, evidently took this view, it is otherwise unsupported in the literature, in the rules of international law or in the language and negotiating history of the Convention, and it seems clearly not correct. Displacement of protected persons is dealt with separately in the Convention and paragraph 6 would seem redundant if limited to cases of displacement. Another view of paragraph 6 is that it is directed against mass population transfers such as occurred in World War II for political, racial or colonization ends; but there is no apparent support or reason for limiting its application to such cases.

The British Mandate recognized the right of the Jewish people to "close settlement" in the whole of the Mandated territory. It was provided that local conditions might require Great Britain to "postpone" or "withhold" Jewish settlement in what is now Jordan. This was done in 1922. But the Jewish right of settlement in Palestine west of the Jordan river, that is, in Israel, the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, was made unassailable. That right has never been terminated and cannot be terminated except by a recognized peace between Israel and its neighbors. And perhaps not even then, in view of Article 80 of the U.N. Charter, "the Palestine article," which provides that "nothing in the Charter shall be construed ... to alter in any manner the rights whatsoever of any states or any peoples or the terms of existing international instruments...."

Lauterpacht has offered a cogent legal analysis leading to the conclusion that sovereignty over Jerusalem has already vested in Israel. His view is that when the partition proposals were immediately rejected and aborted by Arab armed aggression, those proposals could not, both because of their inherent nature and because of the terms in which they were framed, operate as an effective legal re-disposition of the sovereign title. They might (he thinks) have been transformed by agreement of the parties concerned into a consensual root of title, but this never happened. And he points out that the idea that some kind of title remained in the United Nations is quite at odds, both with the absence of any evidence of vesting, and with complete United Nations silence on this aspect of the matter from 1950 to 1967?…
In these circumstances, that writer is led to the view that there was, following the British withdrawal and the abortion of the partition proposals, a lapse or vacancy or vacuum of sovereignty. In this situation of sovereignty vacuum, he thinks, sovereignty could be forthwith acquired by any state that was in a position to assert effective and stable control without resort to unlawful means.

"The language of "occupation" has allowed Palestinian spokesmen to obfuscate this history. By repeatedly pointing to "occupation," they manage to reverse the causality of the conflict, especially in front of Western audiences. Thus, the current territorial dispute is allegedly the result of an Israeli decision "to occupy," rather than a result of ''a war imposed on Israel'' by a coalition of Arab states in 1967".

Where the prior holder of territory had seized that territory unlawfully, the state which subsequently takes that territory in the lawful exercise of self-defense has, against that prior holder, better title.

• Road blocks, which the Israeli human rights center Btselem and other sources argue exist to "protect the settlers", are scattered inside the West Bank between Palestinian cities and villages and have had a significant impact on freedom of movement. These road blocks are said to also protect Israelis within Israel. According to Btselem, the (siege) "imprisons entire populations within their communities or in a small geographic area and limits their access to other parts of the West Bank."⁴⁵⁶⁷


• In Hebron, where a few hundred settlers live among 150,000 Palestinians, B'Tselem argues that there have been "grave violations" of Palestinian human rights because of the "presence of the settlers within the city." The organization cites regular incidents of "almost daily physical violence and property damage by settlers in the city", curfews and restrictions of movement that are "among the harshest in the Occupied Territories", and violence and by Israeli border policemen and the IDF against Palestinians who live in the city's H2 .⁸⁹¹⁰


• Human Rights Watch reports on physical violence of settlers against Palestinians, including "frequently stoning and shooting at Palestinian cars. In many cases, settlers abuse Palestinians in front of Israeli soldiers or police with little interference from the authorities."¹¹ Btselem also documents settler actions against Palestinians that include "blocking roadways, so as to impede Palestinian life and commerce. The settlers also shoot solar panels on roofs of buildings, torch automobiles, shatter windowpanes and windshields, destroy crops, uproot trees, abuse merchants and owners of stalls in the market. Some of these actions are intended to force Palestinians to leave their homes and farmland, and thereby enable the settlers to gain control of them."¹²


• According to B'Tselem, more than fifty percent of the land of the West Bank has been expropriated from Palestinian owners "mainly to establish settlements and create reserves of land for the future expansion of the settlements." While the seized lands mainly benefit the settlements, the Palestinian public is prohibited from using them in any way.¹³


• Settlers are particularly active during the Palestinian olive harvest season.¹⁴ Olive farmers and families are targeted by settlers while on their fields, and are assaulted or shot-at. Numerous organizations have documented serious abuses by settlers during this season, and many international and Israeli organizations organize campaigns to protect Palestinians on the fields during the harvest.^1516171819


• Israel has established a series of modern roads throughout the West Bank which bypass Palestinian areas, some of which are closed to vehicles with Palestinian license-plates in varying degrees, and which can fluctuate based on Israeli security concerns: some roads (mostly leading into Israel) are closed to all Palestinian traffic; many roads are closed to private traffic but allow public and commercial transportation; some roads are fully open to all Palestinian traffic and are shared completely with Israeli motorists. At the same time, Palestinian areas and roads are closed to vehicles with Israeli markings. Israel argues that such a system is needed for security because of many incidents in which Israelis who entered such areas were endangered or killed, and that it generally reduces tension between the two populations. Btselem has described this system as nevertheless 'discriminatory': "Rather than use the main roads between the cities, most of the population is forced to use long and winding alternate routes. The regime has forced most Palestinians to leave their cars at home and travel by public transportation, in part because private cars are not allowed to cross some of the checkpoints." Btselem lists the effects of this separate roads regime, including: Wasted (additional) time to reach destinations, tardiness or inability to reach destinations, exhaustion, increased cost of travel, and increased wear and tear on vehicles resulting from travel on worn down or dirt roads.²⁰


• The recent construction of a Barrier is routed inside the green line to encompass a variety of settlements. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs indicates that 10% of the West Bank will fall on the Israeli side of the barrier.²¹²²

• Sasson Report


• Turkish Settlement


• Chinese Settlement


• Sri Lankan Settlement

• The Humanitarian Impact on Palestinians of Israeli Settlements and Other Infrastructure in the West Bank , UN OCHA OPt .


• Bregman, Ahron ''Elusive Peace: How the Holy Land Defeated America''.


• Diplomatic and Legal Aspects of the Settlement Issue


• BACKGROUNDER: The Debate About Settlements History, legal aspects


• BACKGROUNDER: Jewish Settlements and the Media Coverage, false assertions, facts


• Jewish Virtual Library:


• --- Myths about the settlements


• --- A compilation of facts on the settlements


• Analysis by former U.S. president Jimmy Carter


• Discusses the legal status of Israeli settlements under International Humanitarian Law


• The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories


• Occupation and Settlement: The Myth and Reality


• Jewish Communities in Yesha


• Jewish Settlements in "the Territories" Aren't the Problem by Chaim Herzog .


• "At Israeli Outpost, Showdown Looms for Settlers, Government" article by Gershom Gorenberg, January 27, 2006, Forward Online


• Ottoman Land Registration Law as a Contributing Factor in the Israeli-Arab Conflict by Rabbi Jon-Jay Tilsen


• BBC News : Settlements 'violate Israeli law'


• FROM "OCCUPIED TERRITORIES" TO "DISPUTED TERRITORIES"