Fact Sheet
Israeli Settlements in Gaza Strip and the West Bank (including Jerusalem) (21 June 1999)

  • The issue of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories is not only a decisive factor within the context of the current 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 Gaza Strip and the West Bank (including Jerusalem) began in 1967 as a means of controlling and annexing Palestinian land captured during the “1967 War.”

  • There has been a consistency in the increase and expansion of Israeli settlements from 1967 to the present day. By the end of 1967, there were only 3 settlements in total (concentrated in the West Bank), whereas now, this figure has risen to 195. 18 settlements have been established in Gaza Strip, and 177 in the West Bank (including Jerusalem).

  • Israeli government spending on the construction of settlements has been very significant over the years. Israeli figures confirm that in 1995 an amount of USD 95 million was allocated for the construction of settlements in the West Bank alone (including Jerusalem). This is a clear indication that there has never been an Israeli intention of freezing settlement activity; even during the somewhat “favoured” Rabin term.

  • The settler “population” is equally striking in terms of size and distribution. The current number of settlers residing in Gaza Strip and the West Bank (including Jerusalem) has reached a total of 349,327; of which 163,161 are located in the West Bank, 180,000 in Jerusalem, and 6,166 in Gaza Strip (from which the Israelis were supposed to withdraw).

  • The climax of settlement activity took place during the Likud term from mid. 1976 to mid. 1985. During that period a total of 118 settlements were established.

  • A small number of settlements are established on “private” Palestinian land that was either acquired for military and public purposes or as “absentee” owned land. However, the majority of settlements are established on what could be referred to as “public” Palestinian land. Due to the lack of decent land registration mechanisms, a great part of Palestinian land was inappropriately considered “acquirable” by the Israeli authorities.

  • Since 1967, Israel has confiscated almost 750,000 acres of land from the 1.5 million acres comprising the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

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

  • 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. Such risks are, more often than not, followed by sweeping Israeli bulldozers. Hundreds of Palestinian houses are demolished every year. Since 1987, more than 2,000 houses have been demolished on the basis that they were not supported by the required construction permits.

  • The issue of settlement activity in the 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.

  • Since 1967, 15 settlements have been erected within the boundaries of East Jerusalem. These settlements occupy a total area of 24 Km² from the Arab-populated eastern part of the city (this is about 34% of East Jerusalem).

  • The settler population in East Jerusalem alone is 180,000; this is close to the population of Palestinian Jerusalemites residing in the eastern part of the city (which is 210,000).

  • 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 current peace process. This is being asserted here in light of a recent proposal 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.

  • 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 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)

  • 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.