REPORT ON ISRAELI SETTLEMENT IN THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES A Bimonthly Publication of the Foundation for Middle East Peace Volume 14 Number 4 July-August 2004 SHARON MOVES AHEAD WITH GAZA EVACUATION “By the end of 2005, not one Jew Sharon explained that it “is good for the families to be evacuated from Gaza can will remain in the Gaza Strip,” declared security of Israel, its diplomatic status, expect to receive compensation averag- Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon its economy, and is good for the demog- ing $330,000 per family—$550 million three days before the June 6 cabinet raphy of the Jewish people in Israel.” in all. Military costs related to the evac- endorsement of his plan to evacuate all There is no formal link between the uation and redeployment are estimated 7,000 settlers from the Gaza Strip and settler evacuation of Gaza and the at $450 million. Gaza settlers, like other less than 1,000 from four settlements in expansion of settlements in the West Israelis contemplating a move to a West the northern West Bank. Bank. The Sharon government, howev- Bank settlement, are free agents, and The endorsement came only weeks er, faces a political imperative to appease there is little the government can do, after Likud activists rejected Sharon’s settler opposition to the Gaza evacua- short of sweeping prohibitions on settle- initial evacuation plan. In the wake of tion by expanding construction in the ment expansion, which is currently not this embarrassing setback, minor ele- West Bank, a move that received indi- on the political horizon, to answer ments of the plan were modified. The rect approval from U.S. president demands made by Palestinians and new plan reaffirms Sharon’s strategic George W. Bush in April talks with many in the international community to intention to end Israel’s occupation of Sharon. prevent their resettlement in the West Gaza, splits the evacuation during 2005 In mid-June Minister of Defense Bank. Linking compensation to a com- into four stages, calls “in general” for the Shaul Mofaz gave the go ahead for cre- mitment not to settle in the West Bank physical demolition of settlement hous- ation of what Ma’ariv described as would be impossible to manage effec- ing, and states explicitly Israel’s inten- “massive construction plans for the set- tively and would likely be struck down tion “not [to] cede the right to a perma- tlements in the Etzion bloc, as a first upon judicial review. nent military presence in the territorial stage for settlement expansion in the A source in the YESHA Council was area of the Gaza Strip” and the northern areas of Ma’ale Adumim and Ariel.” reported to have said that “notwith- West Bank. Etzion bloc settlers have already sub- standing the understanding between the One day after the plan’s approval, mitted to Mofaz a memorandum outlin- prime minister and the Americans not ing the construction of 5,300 residential to settle settlers from Gaza beyond the units throughout the bloc’s settlements, Green Line, construction in the settle- See our website for recent including 2,300 in the Nokdim area, 56 ment blocs of Judea and Samaria will articles, reports, map, and units in Bet Ayn, and 250 units next to result in a substantial increase in the the settlement of Kfar Eldad. Settlers number of settlers.” pictures: www.fmep.org. also asked for the annexation of an Even if Sharon’s plan is not imple- Also in this issue: additional 10,000 dunams of Palestinian mented, its approval by a Likud-led land to their planning area in order to government effectively seals the future Separation Barrier Verdicts 2–3 expedite the long-delayed establishment of the Gaza settlement enterprise. In a Evacuation Time Line 7 of Ir Ganim and its 7,500 units. stunning reversal of decades of biparti- Settlement Housing Data 8 Settlement expansion of this magnitude san support, Mofaz confirmed the fate ——— ◆ ——— in the Bethlehem region will further of Gaza settlements when he declared Arabic and Hebrew translations of isolate the Bethlehem-Beit Jala area, on May 2, “Settlements established in recent Settlement Reports can be viewed already cut off from Jerusalem, from its the Gaza Strip are an historic mistake. at www.fmep.org. southern hinterland. The approximately 1,500 settler SHARON, continued on page 6 TO OUR READERS FOUNDATION FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE In the early decades of the Israeli- and legitimacy that should inform the Palestinian conflict, the United States sup- negotiations. Law is especially important Merle Thorpe, Jr. ported the rule of law as a tool for resolu- given the vast disparity of power between Founder tion of the conflict. We championed many the two sides, and the leverage Israel gains (1917–1994) landmark United Nations resolutions de- from its occupation. If the U.S. is unwilling fining the issues and obligations of the par- to restore negotiations and mediate in order Philip C. Wilcox, Jr. ties. Until the early 1980’s we supported to correct this disparity, it should at least President the view that the Fourth Geneva Conven- not weaken the influence of international Geoffrey Aronson tion outlawed Israeli settlements. In recent law. It is disingenuous to claim that settle- Director, Research and Publica- decades, however, we have held that settle- ments and the barrier must be left entirely tions, Editor, Report on Israeli ments—and more recently the separation to negotiations, especially when there are Settlement in the Occupied Territories barrier—are “political” issues that can only no such negotiations. The Road Map is be resolved through negotiations. We effectively dead and the U.S. is doing noth- Mallika Good therefore opposed the right of the Interna- ing to revive it. Sharon rejects negotiations Editorial Assistant tional Court of Justice to rule on the sepa- and is moving aggressively to build the bar- Evan Colton ration barrier. And after the Court held rier and plan new settlements that are Intern that both the barrier and settlements are designed to create permanent facts on the illegal, we opposed a UN General Assem- ground and foreclose negotiations. ADVISERS bly resolution supporting the ruling. Lucius D. Battle Of course peace must ultimately come Landrum R. Bolling through negotiations. But the U.S. view that international law is no longer relevant Peter Gubser undermines a powerful source of principle Jean C. Newsom Gail Pressberg Nicholas A. Veliotes TRUSTEES Peter M. Castleman Court at The Hague Rules Barrier Illegal Chairman On July 9, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s construction of the Lucius D. Battle separation barrier now snaking its way through the West Bank and around East Calvin H. Cobb, Jr. Jerusalem is illegal and that those portions located in the occupied territories must be James J. Cromwell dismantled, with compensation paid to Palestinian landowners whose interests have Stephen Hartwell been damaged by its construction. The Court’s decision emphatically challenges the Richard S.T. Marsh Israeli rationale for locating most of the barrier in the West Bank instead of in its Richard W. Murphy own territory. William B. Quandt The American judge, Thomas Buergenthal, dissented from the ICJ’s findings on Sally S. Thorpe the grounds that the Court did not have a sufficient factual basis for its conclusions. Nevertheless, his dissenting opinion supported in principle the Court’s decision that The Foundation, a non- settlements violate international law and that Israel has no legitimate or recognized profit I.R.C. 501(c)(3) security interests in protecting its settlements. organization, supports peace “Paragraph 6 of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention,” Buergenthal wrote, and security for Israelis and “provides that ‘The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own Palestinians through mutual civilian population into the territory it occupies.’ I agree that this provision applies to recognition and a negotiated the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and that their existence violates Article 49, division of historic Pales- paragraph 6. It follows that the segments of the wall being built by Israel to protect tine. It publishes the bi- the settlements are ipso facto in violation of international humanitarian law. Moreover, monthly Report on Israeli given the demonstrable great hardship to which the affected Palestinian population is Settlement in the Occupied being subjected in and around the enclaves created by those segments of the wall, I Territories. seriously doubt that the wall would here satisfy the proportionality requirement to Copyright © 2004 qualify as a legitimate measure of self-defence.” 2 ❖ Report on Israeli Settlement July-August 2004 ISRAEL’S HIGH COURT FORCES CHANGES IN SEPARATION BARRIER ROUTE Both President George Bush and challenger John Kerry the local inhabitants. This approach is based on the fact that have made their peace with Israel’s separation barrier along the route which the military commander established for the the route approved by the government of Prime Minister Security Fence—which separates the local inhabitants from Ariel Sharon. Not so Israel’s High Court, which declared their agricultural lands—injures the local inhabitants in a more effective, if qualified, opposition, in a June 30 decision severe and acute way, while violating their rights under calling for changes in the trajectory of Israel’s West Bank sep- humanitarian international law. Here are the facts: more than aration barrier along a 30 km segment northwest of 13,000 farmers are cut off from thousands of dunams of their Jerusalem. The court accepted the argument that the barrier land and from tens of thousands of trees which are their serves a military purpose and that Israel has a right to con- livelihood, and which are located on the other side of the struct it in occupied territory and to take account of settle- Separation Fence.