As the current Palestinian intifada enters its fifth year, Israel seems more determined than ever to expand its settlement enterprise in the West Bank.
Since the 1967 Six Day War, when Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Jewish settlement on Palestinian lands has become one of the most intractable problems of the conflict.
Although Israel has recently decided to withdraw from all 21 settlements in Gaza, settlement activity in the West Bank has positively flourished since the start of the intifada in September 2000.
There are currently around 225 Jewish settlements scattered across the West Bank, 127 of which are "government approved" settlements, and around a hundred which are known as "unauthorized" outposts.
Despite the labels, the international community considers all settlements in the occupied territories illegal.
Figures published by Israel's central bureau of statistics showed there were some 232,000 settlers in the West Bank and Gaza at the end of 2003, compared with 198,000 at the end of 2000.
"There is no doubt that in terms of how much land is occupied by the settlers, the last four years have been one of their best periods ever," said Dror Etkes, a director of the settlement watchdog Peace Now.
Since September 2000, Etkes said there has been "a very significant increase" in the amount of land held by settlers, largely through the creation of outposts.
Four years ago, Peace Now statistics showed there were around 40 makeshift outposts dotted around the West Bank.
Today, that number is closer to 100, many of which have since been connected to the water and electricity networks in a creeping "authorization" process.
Under terms of the internationally drafted peace roadmap launched in June 2003, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon committed to tear down all outposts and halt the expansion of all existing settlements.
But while security forces have dismantled around 20 uninhabited outposts and a handful of inhabited ones, many have been rebuilt.
Furthermore, Israel has recently accelerated its settlement expansion drive, with public records showing that since June tenders have been issued for more than 2,300 new housing units in the West Bank.
From the Palestinian perspective, the most serious development over the past four years was an April statement by US President George W. Bush that it was "unrealistic" to expect Israel to withdraw completely from the West Bank.
There has also been tacit agreement by the Bush administration to allow "natural growth" building projects in some of the biggest settlements.
"The most damaging thing from the Palestinian perspective is seeing the shift in US policy, which effectively rewards Israel for building (settlements) and makes a two-state solution completely unviable," said Michael Tarazi, legal adviser to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
"The difference now is that Bush has, in effect, recognized Israel's construction of settlements and given them the incentive to build more -- and if they become large enough, they can hold onto them."
Tarazi believes Israel is likely to dismantle more West Bank settlements, but only as part of a broad-er strategy.
"Many of these settlements are set up as negotiating tools," he said. "They know that if they build up settlements everywhere, they can trade off the unimportant ones in exchange for the strategic ones."
DOUBLE-MURDER CASE: The officer told the dispatcher he would check the locations of the callers, but instead headed to a pizzeria, remaining there for about an hour A New Jersey officer has been charged with misconduct after prosecutors said he did not quickly respond to and properly investigate reports of a shooting that turned out to be a double murder, instead allegedly stopping at an ATM and pizzeria. Franklin Township Police Sergeant Kevin Bollaro was the on-duty officer on the evening of Aug. 1, when police received 911 calls reporting gunshots and screaming in Pittstown, about 96km from Manhattan in central New Jersey, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renee Robeson’s office said. However, rather than responding immediately, prosecutors said GPS data and surveillance video showed Bollaro drove about 3km
Tens of thousands of people on Saturday took to the streets of Spain’s eastern city of Valencia to mark the first anniversary of floods that killed 229 people and to denounce the handling of the disaster. Demonstrators, many carrying photos of the victims, called on regional government head Carlos Mazon to resign over what they said was the slow response to one of Europe’s deadliest natural disasters in decades. “People are still really angry,” said Rosa Cerros, a 42-year-old government worker who took part with her husband and two young daughters. “Why weren’t people evacuated? Its incomprehensible,” she said. Mazon’s
‘MOTHER’ OF THAILAND: In her glamorous heyday in the 1960s, former Thai queen Sirikit mingled with US presidents and superstars such as Elvis Presley The year-long funeral ceremony of former Thai queen Sirikit started yesterday, with grieving royalists set to salute the procession bringing her body to lie in state at Bangkok’s Grand Palace. Members of the royal family are venerated in Thailand, treated by many as semi-divine figures, and lavished with glowing media coverage and gold-adorned portraits hanging in public spaces and private homes nationwide. Sirikit, the mother of Thai King Vajiralongkorn and widow of the nation’s longest-reigning monarch, died late on Friday at the age of 93. Black-and-white tributes to the royal matriarch are being beamed onto towering digital advertizing billboards, on
POWER ABUSE WORRY: Some people warned that the broad language of the treaty could lead to overreach by authorities and enable the repression of government critics Countries signed their first UN treaty targeting cybercrime in Hanoi yesterday, despite opposition from an unlikely band of tech companies and rights groups warning of expanded state surveillance. The new global legal framework aims to bolster international cooperation to fight digital crimes, from child pornography to transnational cyberscams and money laundering. More than 60 countries signed the declaration, which means it would go into force once ratified by those states. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the signing as an “important milestone,” and that it was “only the beginning.” “Every day, sophisticated scams destroy families, steal migrants and drain billions of dollars from our economy...
RSS