Report on Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories

Israel's unprecedented assault against Palestinian-controlled areas in the West Bank is guided by the strategic objective of undermining the prospect of Palestinian sovereignty in these areas and preserving Israeli settlements.

The recently passed Israeli national budget for 2002 confirms once again the privileged position of settlers and settlements in the occupied territories. Investment grants to industries located in the settlements increased by 12 percent to $4.6 million.

Israeli settlement policies have long focused on the transfer of Israeli civilians to new or expanding settlement communities throughout the occupied territories. There is, however, a less heralded, and by most accounts, far less successful element of Israel's settlement equation--the creation of a viable economic infrastructure in the occupied territories to support this growing population.

On March 13, 2002, the United Nations Security Council voted 14-0, with one abstention (Syria) in favor of Resolution 1397, marking the first time that the international body has endorsed the establishment of a Palestinian state. The full text of resolution 1397 (2002) reads as follows: