Report on Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories

Settlement--scores, almost one hundred years ago, in areas of the Land of Israel populated by Arabs and sometimes solely by Arabs--was it moral or immoral: Permitted or forbidden? One of the two. If it was moral then settlement near Nablus is moral. . . . There is no third way.

Following are excerpts from the April 21, 1978 opinion of the Legal Adviser of the Department of State to the Congress on the legal status of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.