Report on Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories

On the face of it Israel’s leadership has come a long way during forty years of occupation. In the aftermath of its 1967 victory, successive Israeli governments adopted a policy of “deciding not to decide” the future of the conquered West Bank and Gaza Strip. Under government protection, the system of settlements was set in motion.

For decades, diplomats have proposed a “freeze” of Israeli settlement activity to create confidence that settlements will eventually be evacuated through negotiations for a two state peace. Yet all efforts to “freeze” settlements, including the Road Map first launched in 2003, have failed.

Israel’s denial to Palestinians of free, fast, and convenient access to East Jerusalem’s urban core began in the 1990s, when Route 60 (page 3 map, A)—the historical north‑south road linking major West Bank cities with Jerusalem—was declared off‑limits to all Palestinians except residents of annexed East Jerusalem.