Target this list provide basic information about Israeli outposts in Judea and Samaria (West Bank). Contents 1 A Bayt a Adom (Havat Yishuv a Daat) ... Wikipedia
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Relations between the Israeli government and the Barack Obama administration in Lately became tense due to the problem of the growth of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Currently, 300 thousand Israelis live there, as well as about 2.5 million Palestinians. Intense disputes over the settlements involve religious and historical claims, local and international laws, and, of course, political differences. Settlements range in size from makeshift outposts of plywood shacks to cities with populations in the tens of thousands.
The international community believes that more than 100 of these settlements are illegal under international law. Despite calls from the United States for a complete moratorium on settlement expansion, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that while Israel would not build any new settlements and would dismantle unauthorized outposts, it would still allow construction in already existing settlements. existing settlements.
The photographs collected here were taken in the West Bank over the past few months.
3) Palestinian workers at a construction site in Ma'ale Adumim in the West Bank on eastern outskirts Jerusalem, Monday, May 18, 2009. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty) First-class trowels from MegaPol - the best remedy for smoothing concrete surfaces.
13) Palestinian workers walk past a billboard for a new housing project in the Jewish settlement of Ma'ale Adumim in the occupied West Bank on June 7, 2009. (MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images)
20) A Jewish settler restores the Shvut Ami fortification on May 31, 2009 near the West Bank city of Nablus. An unauthorized settler fortification in the occupied West Bank was destroyed by Israeli forces earlier this week. In such a place, there is clearly a need for burglar-resistant safes for home and office. (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)
22) An Israeli soldier watches as a bulldozer destroys a canal built by a Palestinian on his land near the Jewish settlement of Qiryat Arba in Hebron in the occupied West Bank on June 8, 2009. Israeli troops arrested the landlord and destroyed the canal, which was allegedly illegally built near Jewish settlement (HAZEM BADER/AFP/Getty Images)
23) An Israeli police officer closes a car door after arresting a Palestinian for building a canal near the Israeli settlement of Qiryat Arba in Hebron in the occupied West Bank on June 8, 2009. (HAZEM BADER/AFP/Getty Images)
29) Near the West Bank settlement near the city of Nablus, Jewish settlers and Israeli soldiers stand at a tower in the Ramat Gilad settlement, as settlers prepared for a possible evacuation by Israeli police early in the morning, June 1, 2009. During an attack by Jewish settlers the previous day, several Palestinian workers were injured and one of them needed inpatient treatment, because suffered a fractured skull. Dozens of masked settlers threw rocks at the Palestinian workers' cars. (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)31) An Israeli policeman watches a bulldozer demolish a makeshift structure in the informal settlement of Ramat Migron, near the West Bank city of Ramallah on June 3, 2009. A place like this clearly needs safes for homes and offices. (REUTERS/Baz Ratner)33) Israeli border police leave after demolishing the Ma'otz Esther outpost (part of which is visible in the background) near the Jewish settlement of Kochav Hashahar, in the northeastern West Bank city of Ramallah May 21, 2009. According to Israeli police, border guards in That day, they destroyed an unauthorized settler outpost in the occupied West Bank and bulldozed seven makeshift shelters. (REUTERS/Baz Ratner)35) A Jewish settler rebuilds his settlement after Israeli police destroyed it June 3, 2009 in Ramat Migron, east of Ramallah. (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)37) A Palestinian worker walks through the construction site of a new West Bank housing project in the Jewish settlement of Ma'ale Adumim, near Jerusalem, Sunday, June 7, 2009. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)
Original taken from macos in Jews beyond the line: how Israeli “colonies” liveIn the West Bank there are Jewish settlements completely surrounded by Arab territories. Most countries in the world consider these villages occupied and demand that the Jews leave.
The Israelis don't leave, pointing to historical connection and the results of the war.
I went to one of these settlements to get to know unusual Israel.
1 While we are going to one of these settlements, I will tell you some facts. Today, the territories are divided into three zones: A, B and C. The first are cities controlled by the Palestinian Authority and the military, and Israelis are prohibited from entering there. The second is a zone of general control, the Israeli Defense Forces provide security, but the cities and roads themselves are Palestinian, and the third zone is precisely Israeli enclave settlements.
2 Driving through zone “B” is not at all scary, visually it is no different from an ordinary rural road, but there are concrete blocks at the stops, against vehicular terrorist attacks.
3 Israeli villages are surrounded by a fence; you can only get inside through a checkpoint. There are cars with Palestinian license plates parked in front of the entrance; they are prohibited from entering, but many Arabs work in these villages and walk.
4 We drive inside, park, and find ourselves on the most ordinary Israeli street with private houses. There are such in the suburbs of Tel Aviv, and in any other city in the country.
5 For security reasons, I will not indicate the name of the village. I was in one, but I think the others are about the same. If I’m wrong, Israeli readers can correct me in the comments.
6 The infrastructure here is good. Children's playground, carefully protected from the hot sun. There is a kindergarten nearby.
7 Post office. Each resident has his own mailbox; you need to go here to check your mail.
8 A tiny police station with no one in it. There is also a small synagogue here.
9 And a grocery store. Look what an Israeli general store looks like!
10 mm, fresh baked goods! There are large supermarkets an hour's drive away, where they buy food for the week ahead, but this store, according to the settlers, helps them out a lot.
11 View of one of the districts of the village. In the foreground, a municipal swimming pool is being built for residents.
12 In the meantime, they can use another swimming pool in one of the neighboring villages.
13 Beautiful! It is clear that people love the land on which they live.
14 All this was done by their hands; initially there was only sand here.
15 The village continues to grow, soon there will be a new quarter here.
16 The workforce is Palestinian. They work on almost all construction sites in Israel. Yes, yes, Arabs voluntarily work in the “occupied” territories and receive good money for it. Despite all the hatred and enmity, the dream of every Palestinian is to find a job in Israel, where salaries are much higher.
17 Some countries and the UN condemn the construction of settlements beyond the Green Line and demand that these lands be immediately abandoned. The Jews refuse. Looking at this photo, it's easy to understand why. Over there, on the horizon, you can see the seashore and high-rise buildings. This is Tel Aviv. From here, any missile will reach him and hit any target. It is naive to think that if you give these villages to the Arabs, they will not shoot.
18 While studying the issue and preparing to write a report, I could not understand why it was the Palestinian Arabs who demanded these lands. Israel captured them in the Six-Day War from Jordan, which in turn annexed the West Bank during the 1947-49 Arab-Israeli War, driving out its Jewish residents. By the way, it was after that annexation that the kingdom was renamed from Transjordan to simply Jordan, and the territory began to be called the West Bank to distinguish it from the eastern coast, the main territory of the country.
For good measure, if these territories need to be transferred, it should be to the Jordanians. They no longer claim them: in 1994, a peace treaty was signed with Israel.
19 The settlement I was in is very small, and there is practically no work in it. But in just an hour from here you can reach Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, the largest cities in the country. Usually the road is no more dangerous than your commute to work. But during periods of Arab unrest and waves of terror, the path turns into a dangerous test. The highway is constantly patrolled by the military, and the settlers themselves prefer not to leave the territory without personal weapons.
The most common attack is when Arab teenagers throw stones at Israeli cars, but a gun won't help here. A stone attack is not child's play: a cobblestone hitting the windshield can easily kill.
20 The settlers themselves do not consider that they are living under a state of siege. Measured, prosperous and a good life: people move here from big cities to raise children, buy houses: real estate is cheaper than in the center of the country, and before there were all sorts of tax benefits for settlers.
21 When you can buy a two-room apartment or a two-story house for the same money - what will you choose?
22 Every house has a bomb shelter room.
23 But that's all. No fortress walls, loophole towers or all-round defense systems. Ordinary peaceful life.
24 View of the Arab village and the seaside cities of Tel Aviv and Herzliya.
25 The nature is incredible, this is how I imagine “biblical landscapes”. Moreover, the events described in the Bible took place approximately here.
26 Israelis living in private houses do not garden, but they enjoy planting fruit trees in your yard.
27 First of all, it's beautiful.
28 And fruits from your own garden are always tastier.
29 I noticed that he lives in the settlement more dogs than in “ordinary” Israel. I think this is due to the amount of private housing: not everyone can afford to keep large animals in apartments.
30 Cats, as usual, live on their own. They have a whole gang here.
31 In one of the alleys I saw THIS. An old Zhigul-Kopeyka (for the principled - model 13) with Israeli license plates. How did it get here, because the USSR did not export its cars to Israel, there were no relations between the countries at all!
Most likely, the “Kopeyka” released in the eighties was brought by one of the repatriates from the Union in the early nineties. Maybe he even drove it most of the way himself. However, as my guide said, the current owner has nothing to do with Russia.
32 After I showed such interest in old cars, they couldn’t help but take me to this place.
33 A resident of the village named Roni is a passionate collector of rare Citroens. There are dozens of ancient “French” around his house, and one owner knows where he got them all.
34 This boletus truck especially struck a chord with me. How old is he?
35 One of these cars once belonged to Shimon Peres, the legendary president of Israel. (Which one I won’t say) Roni somehow found out about this and came to visit the president. He was happy to see his “ex” again. It seems that all this was a long time ago; most of the cars are clearly not running now.
36 Roni the dog is no less a rarity than cars. I haven't seen Collie in ages!
37 But here is an interesting house, it was made for himself by the architect who built most of the buildings in the village. I gave free rein to my creativity!
38 The inside is unusual and very bright.
40 I noticed that many creative people moving from cities to such secluded places. The answer is in this photo. Nothing interferes with thoughts or blocks the view. Maybe someday I’ll decide to move to the village.
41 Today, half a million people live in the settlements of Judea and Samaria (the administrative name for these places), out of Israel's population of 8.5 million. Every year there are more and more of them: the number is growing not only due to internal and external migration (no more than 1,000 Jews repatriate here per year). The birth rate in the settlements is approximately three times higher than in the country as a whole. It's connected with a large number religious settlers. However, I was in a completely secular place.
42 And now we will go to visit a family from St. Petersburg.
43 We moved to Israel many years ago. The son was born here, now he is serving in the army. The family did not immediately move beyond the “green line”; at first they lived in an ordinary city.
44 They are happy here, and not because beautiful views from windows and better real estate for less money. Life itself differs little from similar areas anywhere else in Israel.
45 There are “ideological” settlers who believe that they were sent to live here by God himself, but I haven’t met anyone like that all day.
46 At the same time, this is their home and country, which people will defend to the last. I have never seen such patriotism as the Israelis, no matter what part of the country they live in. There is a lot to learn. Patriotism, by the way, is not hatred of strangers, but love of one’s own.
47 Before I visited the village beyond the “green line,” I thought that everyone there lived bristling, constantly walking around with weapons. Not at all. Even the first photograph of this report was staged, and there was a machine gun in the house only because the young man serves in the army: soldiers are not allowed to part with their weapons.
48 A little over a hundred years ago, when the Jews returned home, they settled next to the Arabs in the same way and there was no enmity between them. And then politicians intervened.
49 If you look at the map, you will see a layer cake. Palestinian villages alternate with Israeli settlements, but state borders are drawn with a dotted line. Too many opinions.
50 Let there be peace on this earth.
Map of Jewish settlements in controlled territories. 2004
These settlements currently exist in Judea and Samaria, which is under Israeli control.
The total population of these settlements, amounting to only 1520 people in 1972, and 23.7 thousand people in 1983, exceeded 250 thousand people by the end of 2004. At the same time, in 1982, by government decision, more than 5,000 residents of Yamit and other settlements of the Sinai Peninsula were evacuated, and in 2005, more than 8,000 residents of settlements in the Gaza Strip and Northern Samaria. In both cases, settlers' homes were destroyed.
The Arabs did not favor the Jews who had previously lived there, and they reacted to the appearance of representatives of the Chabad movement with unprecedented hostility. Continuous persecution and pogroms united both Hebron Jewish communities - Sephardic and Ashkenazi. In 1865, E. Mani became the head of the Sephardic community, who facilitated the move of dozens of families from Iraq to Hebron, created a synagogue and other community buildings and institutions for them. The Hasidic community also managed to build two synagogues, despite Arab opposition and the hostility of the Turkish authorities.
Settlements in Judea
About two months after the settlement of Kfar Etzion, on the initiative of the Tel Aviv poet I. Ben-Meir (born 1941), the second settlement site in Judea, Har Gilo, was founded.
The first settlers, initially renting space at the Park Hotel, moved into the city's military commandant's office building, and four years later settled into permanent homes in Kiryat Arba, a new Jewish neighborhood immediately adjacent to Hebron. (In the Torah, Hebron is sometimes also called Kiryat Arba). One of the residents of Kiryat Arba, B. Tavger, who came to Israel from Novosibirsk, cleared the landfill that the Arabs had set up on the site of the Avraham Avinu synagogue they destroyed; the synagogue was subsequently restored, and then the Jewish cemetery was also cleared.
A more serious initiative for Jewish settlement of Samaria arose before the War doomsday, however, was brought to life only after it. By the Yom Kippur War (1973), there were 12 settlements in the Jordan Valley, 4 in Gaza and 3 in Judea rural settlements in the Gush Etzion area. There were no Jewish settlements in Samaria yet. After the fighting stopped, a group of young women from circles close to the religious-Zionist Yeshiva Merkaz HaRav arrived at the head of the government, Golda Meir, and asked her for permission to establish a Jewish settlement near Nablus; Golda Meir refused their request.
Six months after this, the same women, together with their husbands, made a “guerrilla” attempt to establish a settlement near Nablus. They began to call the "Elon-More Core" of the movement Gush Emunim. The army evacuated them, but they arrived again and were again forcibly evacuated. Only for the eighth time, during Chanukah 1975, on the old railway station Sebastia, through the efforts of the poet H. Guri and the Minister of Defense S. Perez, who drew up an agreement between the parties, a compromise was reached, and permission was received to found the settlement of Kdumim. At the beginning of 2014, the settlement of Kdumim consisted of ten microdistricts located on the tops of hills. 4,187 Jews lived there.
In 1975, a settlement of Ofra was founded by a group of workers who arrived to build a fence around a military base nearby and stayed overnight in one of the buildings abandoned by the Jordanians 25 kilometers north of Jerusalem. In December 2007, 2,600 Jews lived there. The leaders of Gush Emunim saw the settlement of Jews in the entire territory of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip as a most important religious and patriotic mission.
As part of the operation to double the size of the Jewish settlements, which was announced by the Gush Emunim organization in the fall of 1978, when there were only twenty settlements in the entire territory of Judea and Samaria, families who had only recently settled in Ofra were sent to form the nucleus of a new settlement. It was created within a year and was named Kochav HaShahar; the Nahal base was also created there. Since there were fertile lands around, agricultural sectors became an important area of economic development. In 1981, caravans arrived for occupancy and plans for the first stages of permanent construction began to be drawn up.
Approximately simultaneously with the creation of the Ofra settlement, the then government led by I. Rabin decided to found Maale Adumim (now the largest Jewish settlement in Judea). The decision was made in response to UN recognition of the Palestine Liberation Organization, as well as due to pressure exerted by Minister I. Galili. In December 2007, 32.8 thousand people lived in it. The government of I. Rabin also decided to establish the Elkana settlement in Western Samaria two weeks before the 1977 elections; He also decided to found the city of Ariel - now the largest Jewish settlement in Samaria.
In July 1977, after the government of M. Begin came to power, the leaders of Gush Emunim presented a twenty-five-year settlement plan, according to which by the end of the 20th century. The Jewish population of Judea (including Jerusalem) and Samaria was to increase to a million people, for which it was proposed to establish two big cities- near Hebron (Kiryat Arba) and near Nablus (with a population of 60 thousand people each), several medium-sized cities (15–20 thousand people each) and a dense network of so-called communal settlements (yishuvim kehilatiim).
As soon as M. Begin formed a cabinet, the leaders of the Gush Emunim movement - H. Porat, U. Elitzur, B. Katzover and Rabbi M. Levinger submitted to him a program for the founding of twelve new settlements beyond the “green line”. After much hesitation, M. Begin approved this program. “Many more Elon More will be founded,” M. Begin promised during his first visit to Kdumim after winning the elections. Soon the settlements of Beit El, Shilo, Neve Tzuf, Mitzpe Yericho, Shavei Shomron, Dotan, Tkoa and others arose. At first, settlement groups were located at some military garrisons in Judea and Samaria, which later turned into settlements.
A group of residents of the Beit El settlement. Photo by A. Ohayon. State Bureau print. Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister I. Shamir in the house of the widow of Y. Faraj, who was killed by Arab terrorists near the settlement of Braha. 1989 Photo by Maggi Ayalon. State Press Bureau. Israel.
Prime Minister M. Begin speaks to the residents of Yammit. 1977 Photo by M. Milner. State Press Bureau. Israel.
General view of Yamit. December 1981, four months before the evacuation. Photo by J. Saar. State Press Bureau. Israel.
Destruction of Yamit. April 1982. Photo by B. Tel Or. State Press Bureau. Israel.
At school in Kfar Darom. Summer 2005. Photo by M. Milner. State Press Bureau. Israel.
Celebrating Lag Ba'omer in Hebron near the Machpelah Cave. 1987 Photo by Maggi Ayalon. State Press Bureau. Israel.
Outskirts of Kiryat Arba; in the background is Hebron. 1995. Photo by A. Ohayon. State Press Bureau. Israel.
Kiryat Arba (bird's eye view), 1998. Photo by A. Ohayon. State Press Bureau. Israel
Evacuation of settlers barricaded in a synagogue in Kfar Darom in the Gaza Strip. August 2005. Photo by G. Asmolov. Press service of the Israel Defense Forces.
The policy of intensive Jewish settlement of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip caused heated debate in Israeli society. Along with supporters of the Allon plan, which assumed that in the future most of territories of the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) will be returned to Jordan, many opposed the policy of creating Jewish settlements in densely populated Arab areas public figures, demanding that the funds spent on settling the controlled territories be used for the development of the peripheral regions of Galilee and the Negev, industrial and social infrastructure development cities, etc.
Settler movement
This situation changed at the beginning of the 21st century. As of 2015, Likud deputies are settlers Y. Edelstein (chairman of the Knesset), Ze'ev Elkin, Oren Hazan. Although Likud remains the largest right-wing party, the presence of settlement residents among deputies from other parties is no less important.
Living conditions in the new settlements were very difficult, primarily due to the lack of necessary infrastructure, as well as pressure from representatives of the left camp and the international media, who protested against each new prefabricated house in the territories. In 1978, an appeal was filed to the Supreme Court against the establishment of the Beit El settlement, which was founded on land expropriated from Palestinian Arabs, and the expropriation was motivated not by housing needs, but by security considerations.
The court issued an interim order to stop the development work of the new settlement, including the laying of sewerage systems. After several months the appeal was rejected. However, in the winter of 1980 Supreme Court accepted the appeal filed jointly by Palestinians and leftist activists. According to the court decision, a group of settlers had to leave the land of the village of Rujaib in Samaria, since it was private Palestinian land. From then on, new settlements arose almost exclusively on land that was not in private Arab ownership.
Paradoxically, as a result of this, the moral and legal foundation of the activities of the settlers in the controlled territories became almost stronger than that of the residents of Israel within the Green Line, where many moshav and kibbutzim were founded on land abandoned by Arab refugees during the War of Independence. with not properly registered property rights.
Development of Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula
In parallel, the development of settlements in the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula took place, usually at the initiative and with the permission of the government. Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula were first occupied by Israel during the Sinai Campaign of 1956, but returned to Egypt less than six months later; At that time, Jewish settlements were not created in these territories.
The government of I. Rabin-Sh., which came to power in June 1992. Peres announced a freeze on construction in Jewish settlements beyond the Green Line. At the same time, in order to prevent friction between the settlers and the residents of the newly created Palestinian Authority, new bypass highways were built, increasing the safety of the Jewish residents of Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
With the coming to power of B. Netanyahu's government in May 1996, decisions to freeze the construction of settlements were canceled, as a result of which the influx of new residents into them resumed. The period when the center-left government of E. Barak, who expressed his readiness to agree to the mass evacuation of Jewish settlements beyond the “Green Line”, was in power, was one of the most prosperous for the settlement project. In order to ensure coalition support from the National Religious Party and center-right circles, E. Barak did not oppose the growth of settlements in the controlled territories and new construction in them.
Contrary to expectations, it was the center-right government led by A. Sharon, where the post of Minister of Finance was successively occupied by ministers from the Likud bloc S. Shalom and B. Netanyahu, that imposed strict restrictions on construction in Jewish settlements (which was everywhere limited by the needs of their natural growth, and exclusively within existing geographical boundaries), and the tax benefits that were provided to settlers as residents of priority development areas were also cancelled.
Arab terror against settlers
Almost from the beginning, settlers in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza faced hostility from their Arab neighbors. In the early years, settlers were still able to move freely throughout Arab settlements and even shop and open bank accounts in Ramallah or Nablus, but over time, such freedom of movement became literally fraught with danger to their lives.
Since the late 1970s. Jewish cars began to be stoned. In the early 1980s. local Arabs had already begun to use firearms against Jewish settlers. The first victim was a yeshiva student from Kiryat Arba, I. Salome, who was killed by pistol shots in a market in Hebron in early 1980. A few months later, six Jews were killed in a terrorist attack near Beit Hadassah.
In the summer of 1982, a resident of the Tkoa settlement was killed in Herodion; in response to this, the settlement of Nokdim (El-David) was founded at the site of the murder. Since then, the practice has arisen of creating new settlements in those places where Jewish residents were killed by Arab terrorists. The symbolic significance of this policy was obvious: the settlers were clearly demonstrating to the Arabs that they would not be intimidated, that the Jewish settlement of Judea, Samaria and Gaza would continue, no matter the cost.
The development of Jewish settlements on lands occupied by Israel in 1967 led to acute conflicts and led to a further escalation of interethnic tensions. Jews (in the vast majority of cases, with the consent and support of the official authorities of Israel) created more and more cities and towns in Judea, Samaria and Gaza; Arabs protested against the seizure of lands that they considered and consider theirs, and this protest often resulted in acts of violence and terror.
Contradictory trends in the development of the settlement movement in the context of the unsettled legal status of controlled territories
From the beginning of the settlement movement to the present day, it has been influenced by the unsettled legal status of the controlled territories, and, as a consequence, the constant possibility that the Israeli authorities may, for one reason or another, decide to evacuate settlers and destroy (or transfer to control another country) the cities and villages they built.
Israel's right to create civilian settlements in controlled territories is not recognized by UN structures and member states of the organization; calls for the evacuation of all settlements already established on these lands are repeated in numerous resolutions of the General Assembly and the UN Security Council. The problem is further complicated by the fact that the status of these territories is not regulated in Israeli legislation.
Yamit was destroyed on April 23, 1982. During the evacuation, about two hundred right-wing activists barricaded themselves on rooftops, using sandbags and fire extinguisher foam to confront soldiers and security forces. Several protesters and several soldiers were injured and hospitalized. The evacuation of the residents of Yammit and the destruction of the city's infrastructure were carried out strictly according to the original plan and without delay.
The operation to destroy Yamit and other Jewish settlements established on the Sinai Peninsula was led by then Defense Minister A. Sharon, who noted: “Let these ruins be eternal proof that we have done everything and even the impossible in order to fulfill our obligations for peaceful agreement - so that our children do not blame us for missing such a chance. It was not the Arab army - they would never succeed - that destroyed the city. Only us, our own with my own hands, destroyed Yamit. We were forced to wipe this city off the face of the earth in order to fulfill the terms of the peace treaty, so that Jewish blood would not be shed.”
On December 18, 2003, in his speech at a conference in Herzliya, A. Sharon, who by that time had become Prime Minister, stated that “Israel will initiate ... a unilateral disengagement,” in which “some of the settlements will be moved.” In that speech, A. Sharon did not name the settlements that would be “relocated” (that is, destroyed), limiting himself to the phrase that we are talking about those settlements “which, in any possible scenario of the future final agreement, will not be included in the territory of Israel.”
A few months later, A. Sharon announced the details of his program, from which it followed that it was planned to evacuate all Jewish settlements created in the Gaza Strip (their number had reached 21 by that time), as well as four Jewish settlements from the Northern Samaria region. This was not about the evacuation of settlements as part of a peace treaty with the neighboring Arab country or with the Palestinians, but about a unilateral initiative of the Israeli government, agreed exclusively with the US administration.
Numerous protests led by the Judea, Samaria and Gaza Settlement Council did not affect government policy, and in August 2005 the so-called “disengagement program” was fully implemented, ending Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip. After the departure of the Israeli settlers and troops, all the synagogues located in the area (from which Torah scrolls and prayer books were removed in advance) were destroyed and burned by local Arabs with the connivance of the authorities of the Palestinian Authority.
The demographic changes taking place in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) - despite differences in their assessment - are a factor that will play a significant role in the decision-making process about the future status of the controlled areas and the settlements established in them. Contrary to what seemed obvious earlier, these decisions will not necessarily be the result of negotiations between Israel and the leaders of the Palestinian Authority and neighboring Arab countries.
It is quite possible that these decisions will be made by the Israeli leadership and agreed only with the US administration as the main foreign policy and military ally of the Jewish state. The construction by Israel, starting in 2003, of the so-called “security fence” actually means unilaterally defining the contours of future eastern borders Jewish state.
Settlements from the perspective of international law
Proponents of the view that the Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria are illegal settlements usually refer to the Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949 relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War and its Article 49, which states: “The Occupying Power will not be able to deport or transfer part of its own civilian population to the territory it occupies" and a number of UN Security Council resolutions based on this article of the Geneva Convention.
Israel believes that the 1949 Geneva Convention and its Article 49 do not apply to Judea and Samaria, since the concept of “occupation” implies the existence of a state whose territory is occupied. Judea and Samaria have never been part of any state since the Ottoman Empire.
Demographic and socio-economic indicators in settlements in the 2000s
As of 2010, the number of residents of Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria exceeded 300 thousand people, and if we include annexed territories, then 500 thousand people. (approximately 6.5% of the total Israeli population). In 2015, the number of Jews in Judea and Samaria was about 400 thousand.
The table shows how population growth occurred in Israeli settlements by year:
| Jewish population | 1948 | 1966 | 1972 | 1983 | 1993 | 2004 | 2007 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Judea and Samaria (without Jerusalem) | 480 (see Gush Etzion) | 0 | 1,182 | 22,800 | 111,600 | 234,487 | 276,462 |
| Gaza Strip | 30 (see Kfar Darom) | 0 | 700 1 | 900 | 4,800 | 7,826 | 0 |
| Golan Heights | 0 | 0 | 77 | 6,800 | 12,600 | 17,265 | 18,692 |
| East Jerusalem | 2300 (see Atarot, Neve Yaakov) | 0 | 8,649 | 76,095 | 152,800 | 181,587 | 189,708 |
| Total | 2,810 | 0 | 10,608 1 | 106,595 | 281,800 | 441,165 | 484,862 |
The population of the settlements is growing due to internal migration, aliyah (an average of 1,000 Jewish foreign citizens arrive in the settlements per year), as well as due to the high birth rate (in the settlements the birth rate is approximately three times higher than in Israel as a whole. Which is related with a high percentage of religious settlers).
Socio-economic state of settlements
The largest Jewish settlement in the controlled territories - the city of Maale Adumim (founded in 1976) - is located a few kilometers east of Jerusalem, on the road to the Dead Sea. Secular residents make up about two-thirds of the city's population; the majority of the religious population is concentrated in the Mitzpe Nevo area and in the quarter created in the early 1990s. Russian-speaking repatriates - activists of the Mahanaim organization. In 1999, a large shopping mall, and in 2003 - a two-story library. Intensive housing construction continues in the city.
The majority of the inhabitants of the Jewish settlements in the controlled territories were and are adherents of religious Zionism, in whose families the birth rate is, as a rule, significantly higher than the national average (34 children are born per thousand settlers per year, while the national average is 21) . As of the end of 2003, average age of residents of Jewish settlements in Judea, Samaria and Gaza was 20.3 years old, while for the country as a whole it was 27.7.
Level of participation of settlement residents in labor activity very tall; 64% of settlers aged 15 and older are employed - 10% more than the national average. Settlers work both in the service sector and in educational institutions, and in agriculture and industry. Agricultural settlements are concentrated mainly in the Jordan Valley (vegetable growing, horticulture, field crops) and in Gush Etzion (field crops - cotton, grains, sunflowers; horticulture, dairy farming, poultry farming). In Judea and Samaria, where land suitable for agricultural use is cultivated by Arab peasants, agricultural settlements are few (viticulture, horticulture, sheep and poultry farming).
Many settlements also contain small electronics, electrical and metalworking factories and laboratories. Significant industrial zones exist next to Maale Adumim (Mishor Adumim industrial zone, about 50 enterprises, including the Taasiya Avirit plant, Kiryat Arba (metal, wood, building materials, plastics and electronics) and - Institute for Research in Technology and Halakha, in Kdumim - Midreshet Eretz Israel (National Zionist educational center), and in Ariel - Ariel University.
It was founded in 1982 with the active participation and under the auspices of Bar-Ilan University, although it subsequently acquired academic independence. There you can get academic degrees in biotechnology and chemical engineering, electronics, engineering and management, physiotherapy, civil engineering, architecture, economics and business management, social work and management medical institutions. In 1990, a department for scientific research was created, in 1992, under the auspices of the college, the so-called “Technological Greenhouse” arose; since 1994, scientific periodicals in the field of natural sciences and humanities have been published. The university has a large library.
.The Israeli Knesset in its first reading passed a law legalizing Jewish settlements in the West Bank, built without the sanction of the Israeli government. From the point of view of international law, such actions are a violation, since the land on which they are built is the territory of the future Palestinian state.
As a rule, the construction of such settlements begins with a few huts, but after some time they expand significantly and receive protection israeli army, provide electricity, gas and water and introduce more centralized management, although formally they remain outside the legal framework. However, the Palestinian leadership regularly accuses the Israeli government of condoning and actually encouraging the construction of such settlements. Currently, about 800 thousand Israeli citizens live in them, approximately 350 thousand of whom live in settlements that do not have official registration. The situation is complicated by the fact that settlements are scattered throughout almost the entire territory of the West Bank (which in Israel is called “Judea and Samaria”), which makes the creation of a unified political state much more difficult.
The bill to legalize the settlements was jointly developed by deputies from the ruling Likud party, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and their colleagues from the ultra-conservative Jewish Home party. The reason was trial in the Supreme Court, which ordered the demolition of the settlement in the city of Amona, where more than 40 Jewish families live on Palestinian soil, by December 25.
"For those who still do not understand: this law gives green light annexation of territories,” Tzipi Livni, leader of the opposition Zionist Union party, wrote on Twitter about the adoption of the law, which, despite the votes of her party, passed by 58 votes to 50. “Welcome to the state of two nations.”
The state of two nations in Israel is usually called an option in which the territory of the state of Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are united into one state, and its residents receive equal rights, regardless of their nationality and religion. Although there is some support for this option, most Israeli political parties reject it, adhering to the formula of a “Jewish state” in which Jews play a leading role.
Most countries, including the United States, consider Israeli settlements illegal. Some observers believe that the settlement law was passed in such a hurry not because of the proceedings over the fate of Amona, but because of Barack Obama's intention to introduce a resolution to the UN Security Council banning the construction of new settlements.
Although the bill needs to go through several more readings for the bill to enter into legal force, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, who voted for the law along with her Jewish Home party, has already asked the Supreme Court to “reconsider its position,” since after the parliament’s decision “ the rules of the game have changed." According to estimates by the leader of the Jewish Home, Naftali Bennett, the law will help legalize from 2 to 3 thousand settlements, which are home to about 15 thousand people. Theoretically, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could refuse to sign the law at the last moment, but such an outcome is extremely unlikely, given that it was he who gave the Cabinet of Ministers the order to develop it.
In Palestine, the legalization of settlements has caused expected disappointment: one of the leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Hanan Ashrawi, called it a “mockery of the law,” adding that it is a direct violation of international law and a blow to the peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
“The illegal Israeli occupation is helping to steal Palestinian lands, both public and private,” Ashrawi said. “This law allows for the expansion of settlement projects [implying the creation of an independent Palestine] and at the same time gives Israel the opportunity to further expand into the territories of historical Palestine.” .
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