Are Israeli settlements legalernational law?
Most states and international bodies have long recognized that Israeli settlements are illegal under international law.
What are the Israeli settlements?
Israeli settlements are Israeli civilian communities in the Israeli-occupied territories (lands that were captured from Egypt, Jordan, and Syria by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War). Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. The latter two areas are governed under Israeli civil law but are considered to be under military occupation by the ...
Are Israeli settlements legal?
Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory are illegal under international law. The last time settlement units were approved in October, the Biden administration released a similar statement, condemning continued settlement building publicly.
When did Israel occupy West Bank?
The West Bank is a chunk of land east of Israel. Israel took control of it in 1967 and has allowed Jewish settlers to move in, but Palestinians (and most of the international community) consider it illegally occupied Palestinian land. In 1967, Israel fought a war with Egypt, Syria, and Jordan.
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How many Israeli settlements are there in the West Bank?
As of 2022, there are 140 Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including 12 in East Jerusalem. In addition, there are over 100 Israeli illegal outposts in the West Bank.
How much of the West Bank is under Israeli control?
Presently, most of the West Bank is administered by Israel though 42% of it is under varying degrees of autonomous rule by the Fatah-run Palestinian Authority.
Is Israel building settlements on West Bank?
Israel has continued to support settlement initiatives through financial incentives and security support by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Today, there are upwards of 450,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem.
Has Israel occupied West Bank?
During the 1967 war, Israel occupied the West Bank and established a military administration throughout the area, except in East Jerusalem, which Israel incorporated into itself, extending Israeli citizenship, law, and civil administration to the area.
Is Israel occupying Palestine land?
BACKGROUND: Palestinian territory – encompassing the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including East Jerusalem – has been illegally occupied by Israel since 1967.
How much land has Palestine lost to Israel?
During and immediately following the state's creation in 1948, Israel expropriated approximately 4,244,776 acres of Palestinian land. In the process, more than 400 Palestinian cities and towns were systematically destroyed by Israeli forces or repopulated with Jews.
Why are there Israeli settlements in the West Bank?
Settlements are communities of Jews that have been moving to the West Bank since it came under Israeli occupation in 1967. Some of the settlers move there for religious reasons, some because they want to claim the West Bank territory as Israeli land, and some because the housing there tends to be cheap and subsidized.
Why is Israel entitled to the land?
Jewish religious belief defines the land as where Jewish religious law prevailed and excludes territory where it was not applied. It holds that the area is a God-given inheritance of the Jewish people based on the Torah, particularly the books of Genesis and Exodus, as well as on the later Prophets.
What was Israel before 1948?
In 1517, the Ottoman Empire conquered the region, ruling it until the British conquered it in 1917. The region was ruled under the British Mandate for Palestine until 1948, when the Jewish State of Israel was proclaimed in part of the ancient land of Israel.
Why did Britain give Palestine to Israel?
In 1917, in order to win Jewish support for Britain's First World War effort, the British Balfour Declaration promised the establishment of a Jewish national home in Ottoman-controlled Palestine.
Are people in the West Bank Israeli citizens?
East Jerusalem Palestinians are governed directly by Israel; while a small minority of them have Israeli citizenship, most have a special residency status that denotes a restricted set of rights compared with those of Israeli citizens.
Is West Bank Safe?
West Bank (excluding Bethlehem, Jericho and Ramallah) Maintain a high level of vigilance and personal security awareness, monitor local developments and follow the advice of local authorities. Tensions in some areas of the West Bank are high. Violent clashes, demonstrations and military operations occur.
Who owns the Gaza Strip?
IsraelIsrael maintains direct external control over Gaza and indirect control over life within Gaza: it controls Gaza's air and maritime space, as well as six of Gaza's seven land crossings. It reserves the right to enter Gaza at will with its military and maintains a no-go buffer zone within the Gaza territory.
Who collects the population statistics for Israeli settlements in the West Bank?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The population statistics for Israeli settlements in the West Bank are collected by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. As such, the data contains only population of settlements recognized by the Israeli authorities.
How many settlers were there in 2012?
The total number of settlers east of the barrier lines in 2012 was at least 67,702, plus 11,528 in the Jordan Valley. By comparison, the number of Gaza Strip settlers in 2005 who refused to move voluntarily and be compensated, and that were forcibly evicted during the Israeli disengagement from Gaza was around 9,000.
Is the population of the Nahal settlement tracked?
Israeli outposts are not tracked, and their population is hard to establish. In addition to these, Nahal settlements are formally considered military outposts, and their population is counted, but not reported. Once a Nahal settlement becomes a civilian locality, it starts to be reported.
Where are the settlements in the West Bank?
Facts About Jewish Settlements in the West Bank. The term “ Settlements ” usually refers to the towns and villages that Jews established in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and the Gaza Strip (prior to the disengagement) since Israel captured the area in the Six-Day War of 1967. In some cases, the settlements are in the same area ...
What percentage of the West Bank was annexed by Israel?
Instead of calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state in more than 90% of the West Bank, the plan envisioned a state in 70% and, rather than expecting Israel to dismantle and evacuate a majority of settlements, it approved of Israel’s annexation of all the settlements.
What did Israel do to Gaza?
Israel gave up all the territory it held in Gaza and evacuated some West Bank settlements without any agreement from the Palestinians , who now have complete authority over their population within Gaza. This offered the Palestinians an opportunity to prove that if Israel made territorial concessions, they would be prepared to coexist with their neighbor and to build a state of their own. Instead of trading land for peace, however, Israel exchanged territory for terror. Hamas came to power in the Palestinian Authority and instead of using the opportunity to build the infrastructure for statehood, the Gaza Strip became a scene of chaos as rival Palestinian factions vied for power. Terrorism from Gaza also continued unabated and Israeli towns have been repeatedly hit by rockets fired from the area Israel evacuated.
How many Jews will live in Israel in 2020?
In 2004, for example, Arnon Soffer, Israel’s most prominent demographer, forecast that in 2020 approximately 6,300,000 Jews would live in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza combined while the Palestinian population would be 8,740,000 leaving the Jews as the minority (42% – down from the current 74%) in their own country.
How much of the West Bank is built up?
The overall area in dispute is very small. According to one organization critical of settlements, the built-up areas constitute only 1.7% of the West Bank. That is less than 40 square miles. Even if you add the unbuilt areas falling within the municipal boundaries of the settlements, the total area is only 152 square miles.
How many settlements are there in Israel in 2021?
The estimate for the Jewish population in 128 West Bank settlements at the beginning of 2021 was 475,481, roughly 5 percent of Israel’s total population.
What political parties supported Israel during the Six Day War?
Following Israel’s resounding victory over the Arab armies in the Six-Day War, strategic concerns led both of Israel’s major political parties - the Labor and Likud - to support and establish settlements at various times. The first settlements were built by Labor governments from 1968 to 1977, with the explicit objective to secure a Jewish majority in key strategic regions of the West Bank - such as the Tel Aviv - Jerusalem corridor - that were the scene of heavy fighting in several of the Arab-Israeli wars. In 1968, only five sparsely populated settlements existed beyond the Green Line.
What was the occupation of the West Bank in 1967?
During the 1967 war, Israel occupied the West Bank and established a military administration throughout the area, except in East Jerusalem, which Israel incorporated into itself, extending Israeli citizenship, law, and civil administration to the area.
When did the West Bank become a permanent feature?
In 1988 Jordan’s King Hussein renounced all administrative responsibility for the West Bank, thereby severing his country’s remaining connections with the area. Meanwhile, anti-Israeli protests broke out among the Palestinians of the West Bank in December 1987 and became virtually a permanent feature of West Bank life for the next few years, despite the Israeli army’s continued attempts to suppress the disorders.
Which two countries split in the Gaza Strip?
The increasingly violent power struggle between Hamas and Fatah resulted in a split between the West Bank, run by Fatah through the emergency PA government, and the Gaza Strip, controlled by Hamas.
How many Palestinians were displaced after the 1948 war?
Many Palestinians were displaced after the 1948 and 1967 wars. About 300,000 Palestinians (most of whom were originally from territory captured by Israel in 1948) left the impoverished West Bank for Transjordan (later Jordan) during the year after the 1948 war; and about 380,000 Palestinians fled the West Bank after it was captured by the Israelis in 1967. Between 1967 and 1977 an estimated 6,300 Palestinians were evicted from East Jerusalem and replaced by Jewish immigrants, and many others lost their residency rights under the 1992–96 government of Benjamin Netanyahu.
What countries occupied Palestine in 1948?
Upon the departure of the British occupying forces in May 1948 and the proclamation of the State of Israel, the armies of five Arab countries entered Palestine. In the ensuing conflict—the first of the Arab-Israeli wars —Israel expanded beyond the territory contemplated by the partition plan. The West Bank, as demarcated by the Jordanian-Israeli armistice of 1949, was broadly similar to (but smaller than) one of the zones designated as an Arab state by the United Nations (UN) partition plan for Palestine in 1947 ( see United Nations Resolution 181 ). According to that plan, Jerusalem was to have been an international zone. However, the city was instead divided into Israeli (west) and Jordanian (east) sectors. The Arab state whose creation was envisioned by the 1947 UN partition plan never came into being, and the West Bank was formally annexed by Jordan on April 24, 1950, although this annexation was recognized only by Great Britain and Pakistan.
What are the Palestinian towns in the West Bank?
The principal Palestinian municipalities of the West Bank are Janīn, Nāblus, and Ramallah north of Jerusalem and Bethlehem (Bayt Laḥm) and Hebron (Al-Khalīl) south of Jerusalem. Jericho (Arīḥā) is the chief municipality of the Jordan River valley. Several small universities on the West Bank (founded or attaining university status in the 1970s) enroll mostly Palestinian students.
What is the West Bank?
Geographically, the West Bank is mostly composed of north-south–oriented limestone hills (conventionally called the Samarian Hills north of Jerusalem and the Judaean Hills south of Jerusalem) having an average height of 2,300 to 3,000 feet (700 to 900 metres). The hills descend eastwardly to the low-lying Great Rift Valley of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. The West Bank does not lie entirely within the drainage system of the Jordan River, as elevated areas in the west give rise to the headwaters of streams flowing westward to the Mediterranean Sea.
What was the Geneva Convention?
The Geneva Convention was specially directed against a recurrence of Nazi and Soviet practices during World War II -- the transfer of people to occupied territory for political, racial or colonization reasons. Israel says it is not relevant to its own case: Israeli settlers have not been deported or transferred.
Is the West Bank a problem for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
It is a truth that should be universally acknowledged that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are not the central nor the only problem preventing a peace process to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Other factors -- Arab terrorism, refugees, Jerusalem, Iran -- can be considered as equal or more important.
Is Jewish settlement illegal in the West Bank?
Nevertheless, the conviction that Jewish settlements in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) are illegal and violate international law are "imprudent" is widespread in the international community.
Is the West Bank a state land?
A second is that any land that is uncultivated or uncultivable and is not private land is therefore state land; today 60% of the West Bank is not cultivable.
How many Israeli settlers are there in the West Bank?
(Additionally, there are more than 215,000 Israeli settlers living illegally on occupied Palestinian land in East Jerusalem.) Approximately 11,000 of the settlers in the West Bank are located in the Jordan Valley.
Where are the settlements in Israel?
Settlements are housing units for Jewish Israelis built by Israel’s government on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank and East Jerusalem ( and occupied Syrian land in the Golan Heights). Their purpose is to cement Israeli control over these occupied lands and to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The first settlements were established shortly after Israel’s army occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, during the 1967 War, and have been supported by successive Israeli governments of all political stripes ever since.
Is the West Bank a territorial unit?
Note: Under international law, the occupied Palestinian West Bank and adjoining occupied Palestinian East Jerusalem are considered one territorial unit. This fact sheet focuses specifically on the West Bank. In 1980, Israel officially annexed occupied East Jerusalem in a move that has been repeatedly rejected by the UN and rest of the international community as illegal.
When did Israel take over the West Bank?
There is no official overall figure for Israel’s spending on Jewish settlements since the June 1967 Six Day War, when Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, along with the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula.
How much did it cost to resettle Jews in Israel?
The Israeli economy has the means to finance the resettlement inside the country of 100,000 Jews, according to Gilad Sher, a former close aide to ex-prime minister Ehud Barak, estimating the cost at $10 billion .
How much did Israel cost in 1967?
Roby Nathanson, head of the Macro Center for Political Economics, which publishes reports on settlements, estimates the total costs since June 1967 as $20 billion.
How much did the Jewish population grow in the West Bank in 2020?
The West Bank settler population grew by 2.62% in 2020, according to his figures, compared to 1.7% in Israel as a whole. In 2016, the settler population grew 3.59%.
How many settlements will Israel build in 2020?
Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog, says Israel approved or advanced construction of over 12,000 settlement homes in 2020, the highest number in a single year since it began recording statistics in 2012.
Why are Israelis drawn to settlements?
Many settlers are religious Jews who tend to have larger families, driving population growth, and many Israelis are drawn to the settlements because they offer more affordable housing. Gordon expects growth to continue even if US President Joe Biden pressures Israel to rein it in.
What did the Palestinians want in 1967?
Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 war, and the Palestinians want both as part of their future state. The Palestinians and much of the international community view the settlements as illegal and as an obstacle to creating a viable, contiguous Palestinian state. Advertisement.
How much did the West Bank population grow in 2020?
The West Bank settler population grew by 2.62% in 2020, according to his figures, compared to 1.7% in Israel as a whole. In 2016, the settler population grew 3.59%.
What is streetwise Hebrew?
In Streetwise Hebrew for the Times of Israel Community, each month we learn several colloquial Hebrew phrases around a common theme. These are bite-size audio Hebrew classes that we think you'll really enjoy.
Who blamed the Israeli government for the settlements?
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, blamed the growth of settlements on “the previous US administration and the current Israeli government,” reiterating that they are “illegal according to international law.”. Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
What percentage of the West Bank is settlement?
Israeli NGO B'Tselem, meanwhile, describing how Palestinians are prevented from using land in 'Area C' (around 60 percent of the West Bank), states that settlements and their regional councils constitute 36.6 percent of the West Bank as a whole.
How many hectares are there in the West Bank?
As described in a Human Rights Watch report earlier this year, while "the built-up area of residential settlements covers 6,000 hectares", there are also "approximately 20 Israeli-administered industrial zones in the West Bank covering about 1,365 hectares, and Israeli settlers oversee the cultivation of 9,300 hectares of agricultural land."
How many Israeli settlements are illegal?
There is, of course, a fundamental point missed by a debate over percentages. Every single one of the more than 200 Israeli settlements in the OPT – some 'official', others 'unofficial' – are illegal under international law. This is a view shared by, among others, the United Nations (including in both Security Council and General Assembly resolutions), and the International Court of Justice.
What was the Israeli government's legal advice in 1967?
The Israeli government itself was given legal advice in 1967 that civilian colonies in the OPT would be a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention – but proceeded nonetheless. And every single Israeli prime minister since has maintained, consolidated, and expanded, these illegal settlements. 5.
What is the area of jurisdiction of the Jewish local authorities, most of which extend far beyond the built-up area,?
Furthermore, "the areas of jurisdiction of the Jewish local authorities, most of which extend far beyond the built-up area, are defined as 'closed military zones '… [and] Palestinians are forbidden to enter these areas without authorization from the Israeli military commander."
Is the West Bank an obstacle to peace?
The Israeli government and its supporters routinely play down the significance of West Bank settlements as an obstacle to peace with the Palestinians. One recent example of this came from a Jewish Agency spokesperson, who tweeted: "Jewish communities in the West Bank take up under 2% of the land; that is, over 98% of the West Bank contains no ...
Is Palestinian construction prohibited in Jordan Valley?
As an example, the report describes how "almost all of the [Jordan Valley and Dead Sea] area falls under the jurisdiction of two [settler] Regional Councils" – the "practical implication" of which "is that, in almost the entirety of the Jordan Valley, Palestinian construction is prohibited."
History of The Settlement Movement
Outposts
- Outposts are settlements typically constructed by a handful of people without government authorization. In 2003, President George W. Bush asked Israel to remove illegal outposts as part of the road map for peace. Israel subsequently removed some outposts; however, in February 2017, the Knessetpassed the Regularization Law, which legalized outposts, including those built …
Legalities
- Another charge is that settlements are “illegal.” On November 18, 2019, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo expressed the Trump administration’s position that “the establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bankis not per se inconsistent with international law.” The idea that settlements are illegal derives primarily from UN resolutions and the International Court of Justi…
Obstacles?
- Since 1967, Israelis have been divided over two competing ideas of what to do with the territories captured in the war. The Land for Peace advocates argue that Israel should evacuate most of the area in exchange for a peace agreement that provides Israelis with peace and security. By contrast, the proponents of Greater Israel insist that the land is part of the biblical homeland of t…
Rights Versus Wisdom
- The implication of many settlement critics is that it would be better for peace if the West Bank were Judenrein. It would certainly be called racist if Jews were barred from living in New York, Paris or London; barring them from living in the West Bank, the cradle of Jewish civilization, would be no less objectionable. On the other hand, though Jews may have the right to live in the territor…