Israeli Settlements in West Bank Expanding

According to recently released Israeli government data, 90 per cent of the Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank extend beyond their official boundaries.  There are now over 160 Israeli settlements in the West Bank, taking up around 40 per cent of the territory.  Of these, 122 are official settlements, with another 42 ‘unofficial’, meaning that they are not recognized on any Israeli maps.  Despite the fact that their very existence is considered illegal under international law, the official settlements receive a range of Israeli state services, including such things as water, health care, education, highways and roads, and armed protection.

The data, released by the Israeli government following a court order, also shows that 10 per cent of the land within the settlement boundaries is held privately by Palestinians, while 70 per cent of the land the settlements occupy outside their boundaries actually belongs to Palestinians.

Under the 1993 Oslo Accords, Israel agreed to freeze the creation of new settlements or the expansion of existing ones.  However, the newly-released data confirms that 92 existing settlements have expanded since Oslo.  During the same period, the number of settlers living within the West Bank has doubled, with construction on new housing within the settlements reaching record levels between 1995 and 1997.

Using this data, Israeli peace movement activists have put together a report on Israeli settlement policy in the West Bank.  They conclude, based on a careful analysis of the last 40 years of the occupation, that Israel is doing everything it can to ensure that it will be impossible for a viable Palestinian state to exist.  Allowing the settlements to sprawl beyond their official boundaries assists this aim by creating a further barrier between the settlements and Palestinian land as well as preventing any Palestinian construction there.  This, coupled with the illegal separation wall, reveals the reality of what any future Palestinian state would look like: it would consist of small, isolated villages separated by either a 6-metre-high wall or heavily armed gated settlements.