Israeli Settlement Activity

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Israeli Settlement Activity 

Background:

• Israeli settlements are housing projects built on land recognized internationally as belonging to Palestine, according to a 1967 border agreement. Palestinians receive no compensation for this confiscated land. Israeli settlement construction is recognized to be illegal by both Republican and Democratic governing administrations. 
• According to the United Nations Security Council, “Israel’s establishment of settlements in Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, had no legal validity, constituting a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the vision of two States living side-by-side in peace and security, within internationally recognized borders.”
• Today settlements are located in the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and East Jerusalem.
• Previous illegal settlements constructed in the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip were dismantled in 1982 and 2005, respectively. 
• Israeli settlements are designed exclusively for Jewish occupancy. No other race or religion including Christian nor Muslim is allowed to live in Israeli settlements.
• As of 2019, almost 630,000 Jewish Israelis were residing in settlements. 

New Settlement Construction:

• In early August (2021), Israel’s housing ministry announced its plan to construct a 9,000 housing unit settlement near the Atarot neighborhood of East Jerusalem.
• The potential construction of this settlement will be further discussed at the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee meeting on December 6, 2021.
• This will be the first settlement built in East Jerusalem since the 1997 construction of the Har Homa settlement.
• The location of this settlement is specifically controversial because it will likely undermine the possibility of a Palestinian state with an East Jerusalem capital, thus severely crippling Palestinians hopes of a collaborative two-state solution.
• Simultaneously, Israel has continued to expand pre-existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem continuing to jeopardize any potential two state resolution to the decades long conflict.