Report on Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories

The Rabin government's construction plans for West Bank and Jerusalem settlements rival and in some respects surpass the settlement construction efforts of the Shamir government during 1989-1992. The government is considering plans to build in the next three years about 30,000 apartments beyond the Green Line, despite its declaration of a building freeze in these areas.

The Rabin government's settlement policies emerged as a contentious issue between Israeli and Palestinian diplomats in the early months of 1995. For the first time since the signing of the Oslo accords in September 1993, Palestinian negotiators were forced by popular Palestinian protests at Israeli settlements and the sites of various land confiscations to raise the issue of settlements in talks with Israel.

The de facto annexation of a large swath of the West Bank in close proximity to Jerusalem became far more explicit in the early weeks of 1995. In late January, the Rabin government approved plans that added to the already prodigious and formidable establishment of large concentrations of Israeli settlers in an area running from Ramallah in the north to Hebron in the south.

On February 2, 1995, Martin Indyk, former member of the staff of the National Security Council, appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a hearing on his nomination to be U.S. ambassador to Israel. Excerpts from his testimony are reprinted below.

The Rabin government has been adamant in its public statements, particularly those directed at foreign and Arab audiences, that, except in Jerusalem, it has stopped government investment in settlement construction in the occupied territories.

Hundreds of houses are currently being built in a large number of settlements in the territories, according to a study initiated by Meretz Knesset Member (MK) Dedi Zucker.