Report on Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories

When assessing the colonization policies of Israel's two main parties--Labor and Likud--it is instructive to recall a bit of Israeli folk wisdom. "A Likud government," the saying goes, "announces ten settlements but builds only one, while a Labor government announces one but builds ten."

September 2 marked a milestone in Israel's expansion into the West Bank. On that day, a new roadway was opened between Jerusalem and the Etzion Bloc of West Bank settlements south of the city. The 12 km route is, at $43 million, the most expensive road project ever built by Israel.

Settlements in the Gaza Strip and roads used primarily by settlers were the primary points of conflict during violence that erupted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in late September, in which 15 Israelis and 86 Palestinians were killed. The following information, gathered from a variety of Israeli and Palestinian news sources, highlights this fact.

Dore Gold, an American educated at Columbia University who emigrated to Israel in the early 1970s, is a principal policy advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Gold has emerged as a key player in formulating and negotiating policy on the Palestinian track.

The following excerpts are from Gold's testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs, on February 21, 1992. Gold appeared as an expert on Israel's settlement policies in the West Bank.

The Clinton administration has notified Congress that Israel will suffer a $60 million "settlement penalty" to be deducted from the final $2 billion installment of loan guarantees Washington made available in October.