Report on Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to "disengage" Israel from the Gaza Strip and a small part of the northern West Bank achieved political and operational critical mass in late 2004.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict offers President George W. Bush a stunning opportunity to demonstrate the sincerity of his intention, grandly announced in his January 20 inaugural speech, to extend the blessings of freedom and democracy abroad.

Palestinians are considering potential uses for settlement areas to be evacuated by Israel later this year in the Gaza Strip and West Bank as part of its disengagement plan. The following are excerpts from Reintegration and Development of Evacuated Areas, prepared by the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Planning.

On the evening of December 27, 2002, two Palestinian members of Islamic Jihad from the village of Dura, in the Hebron area, infiltrated the settlement of Otniel by cutting the fence surrounding the settlement of 400.