Israeli Settlements: Why It's a Point of Contention, and What it Means for Each Side

In the aftermath of the Six Day War in 1967 between the Arabs and the Israelis, which left the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights in control of Israel, consecutive governments progressively allowed and ultimately managed the creation of numerous civilian Israeli communities in occupied Palestinian territory. The factors that converged to encourage this growth was the expansion of Zionism that forced the stretch of a greater Israel from Jordan to the Mediterranean, and the military opportunism of politicians who aimed at expanding as much as possible in the region to enhance the negotiating power of Israel in future peace talks and better promoting the interests of Jewish population.

Maale Adumim, the largest Israeli settlement is established east of Jerusalem and constitutes a town of 30,000 people with its own mayor, schools, shopping mall and recreation center. The majority of Israeli settlements are rural, with the exception of nearly 800 heavily protected settlers who live in Hebron at the heart of Palestine. Nearly 280,000 Israeli citizens currently reside in 121 West Bank settlements, while another 190,000 Israelis live in Arab East Jerusalem since the 1967 Six Day War.

According to the international law, Israeli settlements are illegal because they breach a number of conventions prohibiting the settling of civilians on occupied territory. Immediately after the Six Day War, Theodor Medor, the legal adviser to the Israeli Foreign Minister advised the then Prime Minister Levi Eshkol about the illegality of the Israeli settlements on the Palestinian territory. Medor, who became one of the world's most renowned international jurists, has never wavered from that view. The United States has been rather ambiguous about the legality of the settlements. But the large majority of the Western countries, the United Nations and the International Court of Justice, all clearly stated that the Israeli settlements are illegal, both in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Thus, the 2003 Roadmap called for a total freeze on the Israeli settlements, with the support of the US. However, Israeli Government has never accepted this view because according to the Israeli law, Israeli settlements are legal.

For Palestinians, Israeli settlements make it almost impossible to envisage a Palestinian state. First of all, Israel controls East Jerusalem and nearly 40 percent of the West Bank. There is a huge wall dividing East Jerusalem from the West Bank, denying access to most Palestinians to the best schools, hospitals, mosques and churches. Besides, this makes up a huge percentage of roads and military infrastructures. The large security apparatus that unite the Israeli settlers to Israel poses even more challenges to peace as the protected land allows Israelis to cut the Palestinian territory into separate economically and politically isolated districts ("bantustans"). Besides, Israeli settlements are typically located in strategic areas which capture vital resources of the Palestinian farmland.

Secondly, the settlements have a profoundly negative impact on the peace process as two national movements have claims on the same land. This has been the primary cause for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because the different beliefs of each side are intensified when associated with fundamental religious concepts regarding the right of either side to entire land as given by Jehovah or by Allah. In this context, Palestinians deny any sort of peace negotiations with Israel until there is a freeze on the Israeli settlements.

Israeli settlers self-identify themselves as "economic settlers" and are ideologically committed to staying on the land they believe is theirs in spite of what their government or military think. They are aggressive and hostile, and they often perform violent attacks against Palestinians and Israelis to ensure their stay in the region. They protect their property with complete legal protection and often with the support from the military, while when needed they increase their actions of terror and intimidation during the peace process.

Israel insists that settlements should be allowed to "natural growth" so that Israeli families are not split up by eventual freeze.

Although Israel has promised that no more settlements will built, the existing ones will be expanded in the blocks that the Israelis feel they will belong to them after the final deal with Palestine. However, Israel's persistence on the legitimacy of the settlements not only doesn't leave too much room for negotiations, but it also poses a tough challenge for negotiators, who need to maintain nearly half a million hostile citizens of Israel in a future, highly autonomous Palestinian state.

Sources:

http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article7

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/settlelaw.html