Settlement short takes
"The settlers refuse to face the fact that the pressing need to achieve a peace agreement stems from the ever-advancing demographic clock, whose hands are ticking forward with frightening speed to a time at which the State of Israel will lose the reason for its Zionist existence, or its democratic image." (Uzi Benziman, Ha'aretz, 8 June 2003).* Since 1967, Israel has either confiscated or declared as closed areas over 55 per cent of the West Bank and 26 per cent of the Gaza Strip. There currently are over 200 settlements in the West Bank, with a population of more than 435,000 -- half of them residing in East Jerusalem settlements. 18 Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip house 6,800 settlers. In Jerusalem, Israel has expanded the borders of East Jerusalem from 6.5 kms to 71 kms to include areas from Ramallah and Bethlehem. (Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem: Arij.org, 19 May 2003).
* Between 28 September 2000 and 10 May 2003, Israel has confiscated 848,155 dunums of Palestinian land; razed 18,521 dunums of land; uprooted 227,995 trees and destroyed 475 greenhouses. (Miftah.org).
* In March 2002, the Israeli Knesset Finance Committee approved $29 million for settlement projects. 70 per cent of settlers do not pay any rent to the state. (Palestine Report 13 March 2002). In 2001, Israel spent $533.6 million on West Bank and Gaza settlers and settlements. Considering that Israel received a $838.2 million annual economic grant from the US in 2001, the government spent more than half that amount on settlements. (Americans for Peace Now: peacenow.org).
* According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, only 206 new apartments were sold in Israeli settlements in the occupied territories in 2002, compared with 733 in 2001, a 72 per cent drop. (Globes Online -- 9 March 2003).
* Settlers in Gush Etzion (Hebron) offer tourists five days of staged terrorism at a cost of $5,500 each. The special tourism package includes staged terror attacks, anti-terrorist instruction from IOF officers, helicopter flights over Hebron and the Gaza Strip and firearms training. 22 Americans had signed up for the package. (Ha'aretz, 5 March 2003).
* In June 2002, the Israeli government approved the construction of a 360 km-long Apartheid Wall along the full length of the West Bank. The wall includes three phases to be completed by June 2003. The wall is being built inside the West Bank, on confiscated Palestinian land and will annex nearly 10 per cent of the West Bank to Israel. The wall will further annex to Israel Palestinian land containing nearly 57 Israeli settlements with a total population of 303,000 settlers. In addition, nearly 384,918 West Bank Palestinians will be unlawfully transferred to the direct control of the state of Israel. They will not, however, be granted residency status or citizenship. (Lawsociety.org).
* An opinion poll recently conducted by the Jaffee Institute for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University shows that 56 per cent of Israelis support an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank even if it means giving up all settlements. Another 59 per cent support removing all settlements with the exception of large settlement blocs where more than 200,000 West Bank settlers could be concentrated. (Sydney Morning Herald, 10 June 2003).
C a p t i o n : Table: Settlement outposts erected between March 2001 - January 2003
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 19 - 25 June 2003 (Issue No. 643)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/643/re6.htm