This is a list of Israeli settlements in the Israeli-occupied territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. Israel had previously established settlements in both the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula; however, the Gaza settlements were dismantled in the Israeli disengagement from Gaza in 2005, and the Sinai settlements were evacuated with the Egypt–Israel peace treaty and the return of the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt. This list does not include West Bank settlements that were dismantled or Israeli outposts.
Israel in effect annexed East Jerusalem with the Jerusalem Law and considers settlements in the expanded boundaries of East Jerusalem to be neighborhoods of Jerusalem and not settlements. The United Nations Security Council ruled that act "null and void" in United Nations Security Council Resolution 478, and the international community considers East Jerusalem to continue to be held under Israeli occupation.
Israel in effect annexed the Golan Heights with the Golan Heights Law and does not consider the localities established there to be settlements. The United Nations Security Council ruled that act "null and void" in United Nations Security Council Resolution 497 and the international community continues to view the Golan Heights to be Syrian territory held under Israeli occupation.
The international community considers Israeli settlements in the Israeli-occupied territories illegal under international law, violating the Fourth Geneva Convention's prohibition on the transfer of a civilian population to or from occupied territory, though Israel disputes this. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Four settlements have been given city status. Their combined population is over 210,000, representing around half of the West Bank settler population outside of East Jerusalem.
Name | Hebrew | Image map | Population (2022) [7] | Est. [7] | Council |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ariel | אריאל | 20,520 | 1978 | Shomron | |
Beitar Illit | ביתר עילית | 64,016 | 1985 | Gush Etzion | |
Ma'ale Adumim | מעלה אדומים | 38,046 | 1975 | Gush Etzion | |
Modi'in Illit | מודיעין עילית | 83,356 | 1996 | Mateh Binyamin |
Several former Israeli outposts have been retroactively "legalized" under Israeli law as "neighborhoods" of formerly existing Israeli settlements:
Following the capture and occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem in 1967, the Israeli government effectively annexed the formerly Jordanian occupied territory and extended the Jerusalem municipality borders by adding 70,500 dunams of land with the aim of establishing Jewish settlements and cementing the status of a united city under Israeli control. The Jerusalem Master Plan 1968 called for increasing the Israeli population of Arab East Jerusalem, encircling the city with Israeli settlements and excluding large Palestinian neighborhoods from the expanded municipality. [8] Jerusalem was effectively annexed by Israel in 1980, an act that was internationally condemned and ruled "null and void" by the United Nations Security Council in United Nations Security Council Resolution 478. The international community continues to regard East Jerusalem as occupied territory and Israel's settlements there illegal under international law. [1]
Name | Hebrew | Population (2019) [9] [10] | Est. |
---|---|---|---|
East Talpiot | תלפיות מזרח | 15,104 | 1967 |
French Hill (Giv'at Shapira) | הגבעה הצרפתית | 8,826 | 1969 |
Gilo | גילֹה | 30,820 | 1973 |
Giv'at Hamivtar | גבעת המבתר | 2,944 | 1970 |
Har Homa | הר חומה | 19,950 | 1997 |
Ma'alot Dafna | מעלות דפנה | 3,260 | 1972 |
Neve Yaakov | נווה יעקב | 21,780 | 1972 |
Pisgat Ze'ev | פסגת זאב | 44,512 | 1985 |
Ramat Eshkol | רמת אשכול | 3,573 | 1970 |
Ramat Shlomo | רמת שלמה | 15,070 | 1995 |
Ramot Alon | רמות אלון | 41,410 | 1974 |
Total: | 207,249 |
Smaller Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem include Beit Orot, Givat HaMatos, Ma'ale HaZeitim, and Nof Zion.
In 1967, construction of Israeli settlements began in the portion of the Golan Heights held by Israel. That area remained under military administration until 1981 when Israel passed the Golan Heights Law extending Israeli law and administration throughout the territory. [11] That 1981 decision was condemned by the United Nations Security Council in UN Resolution 497, [12] [13] which stated that "the Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights is null and void and without international legal effect." Israel maintains it has a right to retain the Golan, citing the text of UN Resolution 242, which calls for "safe and recognised boundaries free from threats or acts of force". [14] However, the international community rejects Israeli claims to title to the territory and regards it as sovereign Syrian territory. [15] [16] [17]
Name | Hebrew | Population 2022. [7] | Est. [7] |
---|---|---|---|
Katzrin | קַצְרִין | 7,876 | 1977 |
Afik | אֲפִיק | 387 | 1972 |
Ein Zivan | עֵין זִיוָן | 462 | 1968 |
El Rom | אֶל רוֹם | 470 | 1971 |
Geshur | גְּשׁוּר | 321 | 1971 |
Kfar Haruv | כְּפַר חָרוּב | 492 | 1974 |
Merom Golan | מְרוֹם גּוֹלָן | 741 | 1967 |
Metzar | מֵיצָר | 336 | 1981 |
Mevo Hama | מְבוֹא חַמָּה | 481 | 1968 |
Natur | נָטוּר | 958 | 1980 |
Ortal | אוֹרְטַל | 376 | 1978 |
Alonei HaBashan | אַלּוֹנֵי הַבָּשָׁן | 518 | 1981 |
Ani'am | אֲנִיעָם | 499 | 1978 |
Avnei Eitan | אַבְנֵ"י אֵיתָ"ן | 876 | 1973 |
Bnei Yehuda | בְּנֵי יְהוּדָה | 1,152 | 1972 |
Eliad | אֵלִי עַד | 496 | 1968 |
Givat Yoav | גִּבְעַת יוֹאָב | 723 | 1968 |
Haspin | חַסְפִּין | 2,175 | 1978 |
Kanaf | כָּנָף | 486 | 1985 |
Keshet | קֶשֶׁת | 878 | 1974 |
Kidmat Tzvi | קִדְמַת צְבִי | 578 | 1981 |
Ma'ale Gamla | מַעֲלֵה גַּמְלָא | 596 | 1975 |
Neot Golan | נְאוֹת גּוֹלָן | 713 | 1968 |
Neve Ativ | נְוֵה אַטִי"ב | 140 | 1972 |
Nov | נוֹב | 1,059 | 1974 |
Odem | אֹדֶם | 192 | 1975 |
Ramat Magshimim | רָמַת מַגְשִׁימִים | 820 | 1968 |
Ramot | רָמוֹת | 572 | 1969 |
Sha'al | שַׁעַל | 343 | 1980 |
Yonatan | יוֹנָתָן | 860 | 1975 |
Kela Alon | קלע אלון | 404 | 1981, 1991 |
Had Ness | חַד נֵס | 889 | 1989 |
Israeli settlements, also called Israeli colonies, are the civilian communities built by Israel throughout the Israeli-occupied territories. They are populated by Israeli citizens, almost exclusively of Jewish identity or ethnicity, and were built on lands occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War in 1967. The international community considers Israeli settlements to be illegal under international law, but Israel disputes this. The expansion of settlements often involves the confiscation of Palestinian land and resources, leading to displacement of Palestinian communities and creating a source of tension and conflict. Settlements are often protected by the Israeli military and are frequently flashpoints for violence against Palestinians. Further, the presence of settlements and Jewish-only bypass roads creates a fragmented Palestinian territory, seriously hindering economic development and freedom of movement for Palestinians.
The Palestinian territories are the two regions of the former British Mandate for Palestine that have been occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967, namely the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has referred to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as "the Occupied Palestinian Territory", and this term was used as the legal definition by the ICJ in its advisory opinion of July 2004. The term occupied Palestinian territory was used by the United Nations and other international organizations between October 1999 and December 2012 to refer to areas controlled by the Palestinian National Authority, but from 2012, when Palestine was admitted as one of its non-member observer states, the United Nations started using exclusively the name State of Palestine. The European Union (EU) also uses the term "occupied Palestinian territory". The government of Israel and its supporters use the label "disputed territories" instead.
The Shebaa Farms, also spelled Sheba'a Farms, also known as Mount Dov, is a small strip of land at the intersection of the Lebanese–Syrian border and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The territory is named for the farms within it which were historically tended by the inhabitants of the Lebanese town of Shebaa. It is about 11 kilometres (7 mi) long and 2.5 kilometres (2 mi) wide.
United Nations Security Council resolution 446, adopted on 22 March 1979, concerned the issue of Israeli settlements in the "Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem". This refers to the Palestinian territories of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip as well as the Syrian Golan Heights.
The International law bearing on issues of Arab–Israeli conflict, which became a major arena of regional and international tension since the birth of Israel in 1948, resulting in several disputes between a number of Arab countries and Israel.
United Nations Security Council resolution 465, adopted unanimously on 1 March 1980, was on the issue of the Israeli settlements and administration in "the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem", referring to the Palestinian territories of the West Bank including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip as well as the Syrian Golan Heights.
The Green Line or 1949 Armistice border is the demarcation line set out in the 1949 Armistice Agreements between the armies of Israel and those of its neighbors after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. It served as the de facto borders of the State of Israel from 1949 until the Six-Day War in 1967, and continues to represent Israel’s internationally recognized borders with the two Palestinian territories: the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Israel has occupied the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights since the Six-Day War of 1967. It previously occupied the Sinai Peninsula and southern Lebanon as well. Prior to Israel's victory in the Six-Day War, occupation of the Palestinian territories was split between Egypt and Jordan, with the former having occupied the Gaza Strip and the latter having annexed the West Bank; the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights were under the sovereignty of Egypt and Syria, respectively. The first conjoined usage of the terms "occupied" and "territories" with regard to Israel was in United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, which was drafted in the aftermath of the Six-Day War and called for: "the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East" to be achieved by "the application of both the following principles: ... Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict ... Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force."
The status of territories captured by Israel is the status of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula, all of which were captured by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War.
The Golan Heights, or simply the Golan, is a basaltic plateau at the southwest corner of Syria. It is bordered by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley in the west, the Anti-Lebanon with Mount Hermon in the north and Wadi Raqqad in the east. Two thirds of the area was occupied by Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War and then effectively annexed in 1981, the latter being rejected by the international community which continues to consider the territory as Syrian and under Israeli occupation.
The modern borders of Israel exist as the result both of past wars and of diplomatic agreements between the State of Israel and its neighbours, as well as an effect of the agreements among colonial powers ruling in the region before Israel's creation. Only two of Israel's five total potential land borders are internationally recognized and uncontested, while the other three remain disputed; the majority of its border disputes are rooted in territorial changes that came about as a result of the 1967 Arab–Israeli War, which saw Israel occupy large swathes of territory from its rivals. Israel's two formally recognized and confirmed borders exist with Egypt and Jordan since the 1979 Egypt–Israel peace treaty and the 1994 Israel–Jordan peace treaty, while its borders with Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories remain internationally defined as contested.
In Israeli law, an outpost is an unauthorized or illegal Israeli settlement within the West Bank, constructed without the required authorization from the Israeli government in contravention of Israeli statutes regulating planning and construction. In Israeli law, outposts are distinguished from settlements authorized by the Israeli government. This distinction between illegal outposts and "legal" settlements is not endorsed by international law, which considers both a violation of the norms, governing belligerent occupations, applicable to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Annexation, in international law, is the forcible acquisition and assertion of legal title over one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. In current international law, it is generally held to be an illegal act. Annexation is a unilateral act where territory is seized and held by one state, as distinct from the complete conquest of another country, and differs from cession, in which territory is given or sold through treaty.
The international community considers the establishment of Israeli settlements in the Israeli-occupied territories illegal on one of two bases: that they are in violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, or that they are in breach of international declarations. The United Nations Security Council, the United Nations General Assembly, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Court of Justice and the High Contracting Parties to the Convention have all affirmed that the Fourth Geneva Convention applies to the Israeli-occupied territories.
Al-Marsad – Arab Human Rights Centre in Golan Heights is an independent, not-for-profit international human rights organization with no religious or political affiliation that operates in the Golan Heights. The Golan Heights region is internationally recognised by all but the US as Syrian territory occupied by Israel, although Israel asserts it has a right to retain control over the area. The organisation was created in October 2003 and is run from Majdal Shams. It was the first human rights organisation founded in the Golan.
This is a timeline of the development of and controversy over Israeli settlements. As of January 30, 2022 the West Bank settlement population was 490,493 and the settler population in the Golan Heights was almost 27,000 and in East Jerusalem the settler population was around 220,000.
The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 66/225 of 22 December 2011 was a resolution in which the United Nations General Assembly reaffirmed the right of the Palestinian people and of the population of the occupied Golan Heights over their natural resources, demanded Israel to cease the exploitation, damage, cause of loss or depletion, and endangerment of that natural resources and recognized the right of the Palestinian people to claim restitution as a result of Israeli violation of their rights.
On March 25, 2019, the United States officially recognized the Golan Heights as being under the sovereignty of Israel. Signed into effect by the Trump administration, the U.S. presidential proclamation marked the first instance of any country recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights; the territory is viewed as part of Syria under international law, though it has been under an Israeli military occupation since the 1967 Arab–Israeli War. In 1981, Israel's government passed the Golan Heights Law — a de facto annexation of the territory.
The Golan Heights are a rocky plateau in the Levant region of Western Asia that was captured by Israel from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War. The international community, with the exception of Israel and the United States, considers the Golan Heights to be Syrian territory held by Israel under military occupation. Following the war, Syria dismissed any negotiations with Israel as part of the Khartoum Resolution.
p. 60: Although East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights have been brought directly under Israeli law, by acts that amount to annexation, both of these areas continue to be viewed by the international community as occupied, and their status as regards the applicability of international rules is in most respects identical to that of the West Bank and Gaza.
p 69: SC Res. 446 (Mar. 22, 1979), adopted by 12 votes to none, with 3 abstentions (Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States), reaffirmed the applicability of the fourth Geneva Convention, as well as opposing the establishment of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories
pp 85–86: The international community has taken a critical view of both deportations and settlements as being contrary to international law. General Assembly resolutions have condemned the deportations since 1969, and have done so by overwhelming majorities in recent years. Likewise, they have consistently deplored the establishment of settlements, and have done so by overwhelming majorities throughout the period (since the end of 1976) of the rapid expansion in their numbers. The Security Council has also been critical of deportations and settlements; and other bodies have viewed them as an obstacle to peace, and illegal under international law
the establishment of the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory has been considered illegal by the international community and by the majority of legal scholars
The real controversy hovering over all the litigation on the security barrier concerns the fate of the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. Since 1967, Israel has allowed and even encouraged its citizens to live in the new settlements established in the territories, motivated by religious and national sentiments attached to the history of the Jewish nation in the land of Israel. This policy has also been justified in terms of security interests, taking into consideration the dangerous geographic circumstances of Israel before 1967 (where Israeli areas on the Mediterranean coast were potentially threatened by Jordanian control of the West Bank ridge). The international community, for its part, has viewed this policy as patently illegal, based on the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention that prohibit moving populations to or from territories under occupation
It can thus clearly be concluded that the transfer of Israeli settlers into the occupied territories violates not only the laws of belligerent occupation but the Palestinian right of self-determination under international law. The question remains, however, whether this is of any practical value. In other words, given the view of the international community that the Israeli settlements are illegal under the law if belligerent occupation
The international community considers Israeli settlements within the occupied territories illegal and in breach of, inter alia, United Nations Security Council resolution 465 of 1 March 1980 calling on Israel "to dismantle the existing settlements and in particular to cease, on an urgent basis, the establishment, construction and planning of settlements in the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem"
In its advisory opinion of July 9, 2004, on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the International Court of Justice found Israel in breach of several international law obligations by its construction of a separation barrier on West Bank territory. ... The Court flatly rejects the Israeli claims concerning the inapplicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention to the West Bank and concerning the inapplicability of Article 49 to the Jewish settlements in the areas occupied by Israel. Neither of these claims gained serious support from the international community