Israeli Settlements in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (Including Jerusalem)

Fact Sheet
October 6th, 2001

The issue of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian
territories is not only a decisive factor within the context of the
Palestinian-Israeli peace process, but equally a determining element in
the future of peace in the region altogether.

The concept of Israeli settlements is driven by political and
ideological considerations. In practical terms, this dictates that the
very existence of Israeli settlements serves the strategic, military, and
economic interests of Israel as well as its advocacy of national
assertiveness.

The establishment of Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip and the
West Bank (including east Jerusalem) began in 1967 as a means of
controlling and annexing Palestinian land occupied during the "1967 War."

On 28 th of June 1967 Israel unilaterally expanded the borders of
east Jerusalem from 6.5 km² (the boundaries as designated by Jordan) to 70.5
km² to include lands from many West Bank villages while avoiding populated
Palestinian areas.

The West Bank, including east Jerusalem, covers an area of 5,854
km², while Gaza strip covers an area of 365 km².

According to Israeli data there are 141 settlements in the West Bank
and Gaza. However, satellite images show 282 Jewish built-up areas in the
West Bank including east Jerusalem and 26 in Gaza. This is excluding
military sites. These built-up areas cover 150.5 km² (GIS database, ARIJ,
2000). Israeli sources consider those Jewish built-up areas in east
Jerusalem as neighborhoods of the municipal Jerusalem and not as
settlements.

"Expansion" of exisiting settlements is a policy adopted by the
Israeli government. These expansions are in many cases larger than the
settlements themselves. Expansions take place on confiscated Palestinian
land.

An aerial survey conducted by the Peace Now movement shows that at
least 10 new settlement sites, including a total of 65 structures, have
been established in the West Bank during the period July-September 2001.

A total of 25 new settlement sites have been established in the West
Bank since the prime ministerial election in February. This does not
include the Gaza Strip.

Table 4: The growth of Settlement Area in the West Bank alone:
       Year Settlement Area (km²) Percent of the West Bank
       1997 108.9 1.9 %
       1999 147.8 2.6 %
       2000 150.5 2.7 %
       2001 222.2 4.0%

In November last year the government announced it planned to spend
1.2 Billion NIS (300 million US dollars) in 2001 on the settlers. At the
same time, it was reported that in Atarot industrial settlement near Qalandia
60 factories (of a total 200) closed down (Al Quds 24-3-2001). Hence the
growth in the settlements is by no means spontaneous or self-perpetuating
but rather funded, supported and maintained by the Israeli government
despite it being an economic burden.

The Israeli authorities have already approved over 40 outposts that
were erected since 1996. These outposts are scattered all over the West
Bank and serve as nuclei for new settlements.

Most recently, the Israeli Jerusalem Municipality's approval of the
new Jewish settlement of E-1 located adjacent to Ma'ale Adumim colony,
the initiation of a settlement in the Ras al-Amoud neighborhood of east
Jerusalem and the continued construction of Har Homa colony on Jabal Abu
Ghneim have all created more explosive realities on the ground.

Israel has created different construction regulations for
Palestinians and Jewish settlers. These regulations are strikingly biased towards the
interests of the latter.

The issue of settlement activity in the east Jerusalem area is
particularly significant and controversial. The installation of
settlements around Jerusalem has left the mostly Arab-populated eastern part of the
city almost completely isolated from the West Bank. The implications of this
are gradually undermining the long envisaged concept of Jerusalem being the
capital of a future Palestinian state.

Figures released recently by the Israeli Housing and Construction
Ministry show the public construction of 1,943 housing units in the
occupied territories in the year 2000, while Labour Prime Minister Barak was in
power. This is the highest number since the now Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon (Likud) served as housing and construction minister in 1992 (Haaretz
March 5th 2001).

Currently, the total number of settlers in the West Bank and the
Gaza Strip number around 400,000 of which nearly 200,000 are in east Jerusalem
alone.

The total number of east Jerusalem residents is close to 550,000.
The number of Palestinian Jerusalem residents in 2001 is 367,003 with a
growth rate of 3.2%.

The average growth rate for Jews in Israel is 2.0% per year (the
rate including non-Jews is 2.5% per year). However, the population of the
Jewish settlements grows at around 8.5% per year, which amounts to over four
times the Israeli growth rate.

Between 1996-98 there were 130 settlements that had an average
annual growth of over 2%. That means that over 80% of the settlements grow at
rates higher than the overall Israeli average.

Table 6: The Growth in Population

                    Israel     Israeli Jews     Settlements
      1993 5,327,600    4,335,200      116,000
      1994 5,471,500    4,441,100      128,000
      1995 5,612,300    4,522,300      133,000
      1996 5,757,900    4,616,100      147,000
      1997 5,900,000    4,701,600      160,200
      1998 6,041,400    4,785,100      172,200

The frequent refusal of Israeli authorities to grant construction
permits to Palestinians who wish to build on privately owned land has
left the latter with no choice but to take extreme risks in building
regardless of the required Israeli approval. Sweeping Israeli bulldozers more often
than not, follow such risks. Hundreds of Palestinian houses are
demolished every year. (Please reffer to:
http://www.miftah.org/FactSheets/sheets/HouseDemolition.htm)

Since the signing of the Declaration of Principles in 1993, uptill
august 2001: more than 70,000 acres of land have been confiscated, over
674 houses demolished and 282,000 trees have been uprooted in the West Bank
alone. The reasons given for these activities include: building without a
permit, the Absentee Law (which states that land not in use for three
continuous years is subject to Israeli confiscation), and security
purposes.

The area occupied by the settlements in the West Bank doubled in the
seven years between 1992 and 1999 from 77 km² (which represented 1.3% of
the West Bank) to 150 km² (which represents 2.6% of the West Bank).

The term bypass roads came with the advent of the Oslo Accords and
were not present before. These roads are used by the Israelis to link
settlements with each other and with Israel. In the agreements they are
called "Lateral Roads" but people usually call them "bypass" roads
because they are meant to circumvent (i.e. bypass) Palestinian built up areas.
These roads are of course under Israeli control and entail a 50 to 75 meter
buffer zone on each side of the road in which no construction is allowed.

Table 7: Bypass roads' length and buffer area in the West Bank
         Bypass roads
                              Existing        Under construction   Total
       Total length     316.7 km       24.1 km                   340.8 km

The extension of Ma'ale Adumim in Jerusalem, which was approved by
former Israeli defence minister, Moshe Arens, has renewed worries
concerning the status of Jerusalem within the context of the final status agreement.
The extension of settlements adds more volatility to an already explosive
situation; however, the installation of "new" ones is disastrous in terms
of the peace process. This is being asserted here in light of proposals to
construct new housing units around the eastern part of Jerusalem (between
Al-Nabi Ya'acoob area and Adam settlement).

Israel has been neglecting the environmental effects that are
imposed by the settlements on neighbouring Palestinian communities. Most of the
settlements have not developed sewage treatment plants; which implies
that sewage is often allowed to run into the valleys, threatening neighbouring
Palestinian towns and villages in terms of agriculture and health.

Israel's legal responsibility towards the territories it occupied in
June 1967 is bound by the international consensus embodied within the
contexts of The Hague Convention of 1907 and The Geneva Convention of
1949.

It is clearly dictated by The Fourth Geneva Convention on the
Protection of Civilian Persons that "The occupying power shall not deport
or transfer parts of its own civilian population into territories it
occupies." (Article 49, Paragraph 6)

The very existence of Israeli settlements is a direct violation of
internationally binding agreements and regulations; international
humanitarian law explicitly prohibits the occupying state to make
permanent changes that are not, in the first place, intended to benefit the
population of the occupied.

Israel's colonisation policies towards Palestinian land have been
the subject of constant censure by several United Nations resolutions. The
most   recent resolution condemning Israel for continuing to build settlements
in   occupied territories was passed by the General Assembly on July 16, 1997.
Note: for deeper insight into UN resolutions on Israeli settlements,
please   refer to www.un.org/Depts/dpa/qpal/stml_f.htm

Former Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir, had commented once
that   if he had remained in power, he would have stretched peace negotiations
for   over ten years; his aim being to settle as many Jews in negotiable
Palestinian territories until there would be nothing to negotiate for. It
is, indeed, striking to the modern eye how such colonialist approaches
are   being advocated today by Israeli hardliners.

Works Sited (Sources)
ARIJ: Applied Research Insititue Jerusalem, www.arij.org

Monitering Israeli Colonizing Activities in West Bank & Gaza,
www.poica.org

PASSIA "Settlements" March 2001, www.passia.org

Peacenow, www.peacenow.org

Israeli settlements, American statements, and the future of peace.
www.miftah.org/keyissues/english/apr13.html

Israeli Settlements, American Statements (cont'd.)
www.miftah.org/keyissues/english/apr13.html

Something Rotten in the State of Peace-Settlements and Barak's Policy of
Prevarication
www.miftah.org/keyissues/english/aug15.html

Bulldozing the Peace Process
www.miftah.org/perspectives/mp33.htm

The Architect of Israeli Settlements
www.miftah.org/perspectives/mp85.htm

Settlements, Jerusalem, and the Peace Process
www.miftah.org/perspectives/mp37.htm