Report on Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories

As Israel's May 29 election approaches, Labor and Likud are each heading for the political center in search of the critical swing voter who holds the key to political victory. The Labor Party, led by Shimon Peres, is proclaiming its intention to build on the advantages won during its diplomacy with the Palestinians to secure Israel's permanent presence in the occupied territories. The Likud distinguishes itself by emphasizing its ideological commitment to settlement. Led by Benjamin Netanyahu, it acknowledges acceptance of the political facts created by Labor while adhering to its existential commitment to settlement throughout Greater Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, responding to four quickly paced attacks that left more than 50 Israelis dead in February and March, has decided in favor of a far reaching plan for controlling all manner of Palestinian access to Israel. Public demand for action in the aftermath of the bombings led Peres to endorse a separation plan that he previously had opposed--a plan that propels him on a course at odds not only with the concepts at the heart of his rapprochement with the PLO but also of his view of the "New Middle East."

According to Palestinian sources, Israel has confiscated almost one-quarter million dunams* throughout the West Bank since the Oslo accords were signed in September 1993. Most of these actions have proceeded on the basis of confiscation orders issued before 1992. Construction of numerous bypass roads throughout the West Bank
has entailed the confiscation of an additional 16,000 to 20,000 dunams...

Amana, the settlement arm of the Council of Jewish Settlements in Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip [YESHA] has prepared an extensive $4 billion construction plan to more than triple the settler population in the occupied territories to 500,000 by the year 2,000.