Life beyond. Israeli settlement through the eyes of a Russian. photo review. Israel Legalizes Settlements on the West Bank Socio-Economic State of the Settlements

The Israeli Knesset in the first reading adopted a law on the legalization of Jewish settlements in the West Bank of the Jordan River, built without the sanction of the Israeli government. From the point of view of international law, such actions are a violation, since the land on which they are built is the territory of the future Palestinian state.

As a rule, the construction of such settlements begins with a few huts, but after some time they expand significantly, receive the protection of the Israeli army, conduct electricity, gas and water, and introduce more centralized management, although they formally remain outside the legal field. Nevertheless, the Palestinian leadership regularly accuses the Israeli government of condoning and actually stimulating the construction of such settlements. At the moment, about 800 thousand Israeli citizens live in them, about 350 thousand of which live in settlements that do not have official registration. The situation is complicated by the fact that the settlements are scattered throughout almost the entire territory of the West Bank (which in Israel is called "Judea and Samaria"), which greatly complicates the creation of a single political state.

The bill to legalize the settlements was jointly drafted by deputies from the ruling Likud party, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and their counterparts from the ultra-conservative Jewish Home Party. The reason was the trial in the Supreme Court, which ruled before December 25 to demolish the settlement in the city of Amon, in which more than 40 Jewish families live on Palestinian land.

"For those who still don't get it, this law gives the green light to the annexation of territories," Tzipi Livni, leader of the opposition Zionist Union Party, tweeted about the passage of the law, which, despite the votes of her party, passed by 58 votes against 50. - Welcome to the state of two nations.

The state of two nations in Israel is usually called the option in which the territory of the state of Israel, the West Bank of the Jordan River and the Gaza Strip are united into one state, and its inhabitants receive equal rights, regardless of their nationality and religion. Although there is some support for this option, most Israeli political parties reject it, adhering to the formula of a "Jewish state" in which the Jews play the leading role.

Most countries, including the US, consider Israeli settlements illegal. Some observers believe that the settlement law was passed in such a hurry not because of the Amona dispute, but because of Barack Obama's intention to submit a resolution to the UN Security Council to ban the construction of new settlements.

Although the bill still needs to go through a few more readings for it to come into force, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, who voted for the bill along with her Jewish Home party, has already asked the Supreme Court to "reconsider its position" because after the decision of parliament " The rules of the game have changed." According to Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett, the law will help legalize between 2,000 and 3,000 settlements with a population of about 15,000. Theoretically, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could refuse to sign the law at the last moment, but such an outcome is extremely unlikely, given that it was he who ordered the cabinet to develop it.

In Palestine, the legalization of settlements caused the expected disappointment: one of the leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Hanan Ashrawi, called it "a mockery of the law", adding that it is a direct violation of international law and strikes at a peaceful settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

"Illegal Israeli occupation helps to steal Palestinian lands, both public and private," Ashrawi said. "This law allows the expansion of settlement projects [involving the creation of an independent Palestine] and at the same time gives Israel the opportunity to further expand at the expense of the territories of historical Palestine" .

UN 2334, which demanded that Tel Aviv immediately stop settlement activity in the West Bank, the problem of the occupied Palestinian territories remains unresolved. Of the 3 million people living today in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, approximately 20% are Israeli citizens. And this number continues to grow. TASS recalls the history of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories and explains why the actions of the UN and the international community cannot put an end to the expansion and conclusion of a peace treaty between Israelis and Palestinians.

How it all began

From 1922 to 1948, the territory of present-day Israel and Palestine was under the British Mandate. However, then, against the background of the aggravation of the Arab-Jewish conflict in this territory, it was decided to divide the land, creating two states: Israel for the Jews and Palestine for the Arabs. On November 29, 1947, the newly created United Nations (UN) adopted the Plan for the Partition of Palestine, the creation of the State of Israel was proclaimed on the day the mandate ended - May 14, 1948.

However, Israel's neighbors, the Arab states, were dissatisfied with this decision, which considered the emergence of this country as another manifestation of European colonial policy. Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Yemen declared war on Israel. It continued until 1949, during which time Israeli troops managed to occupy more territory than was envisaged by the original UN plan. During the peace talks between Israel and Palestine, a ceasefire line was drawn. Green paint was used to draw it, so the border was called the "green line". Subsequently, the so-called separation barrier passed along its contour - a 703-kilometer fence separating Israel from the West Bank of the Jordan River.

A fragile ceasefire lasted until 1967, when the Six Day War broke out. In a short period from June 5 to 10, Israeli troops captured not only the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, but also East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula. Israel faced the question of what to do with the West Bank:

annex him by granting Israeli citizenship to the 1.1 million Arabs who lived there at the time;

return back under the control of their enemy - Jordan;

allow local residents to create their own autonomous state - Palestine.

This issue has become the subject of the widest discussion in Israel. Many citizens of the country saw the victory in the Six Day War as a sign that the Jews were destined to reclaim the territories where the history of the Jewish people was born - we are talking about Judea and Samaria, which make up most of the West Bank. Against the backdrop of these discussions, thousands of Israelis began to move to the West Bank without any permission from the state or international organizations. However, it was no longer possible to stop them, and since then any political discussions about the ownership of the West Bank had to take into account the Israeli presence in these territories.

The UN called the settlements illegal, which was recorded in 1979 in the relevant Security Council Resolution No. 446, which stated: "Israel's policy and practice of establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab occupied territories since 1967 has no legal basis and represents a serious obstacle to the establishment of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East". As a result, two points of view regarding the settlements were formed: Israeli, according to which Jews only move to previously uninhabited lands, conquered by them during the war and representing great spiritual significance for them; and international, according to which Israel expands and colonizes territory that does not belong to it.

Divide and populate

In the following decades, more branches of government in Israel began to support the settlement of the West Bank, mobilizing public opinion to their side. The Ministry of Construction of the country, together with the Ministry of Defense, developed and implemented a plan for the development of the region, one of the main points of which was the creation of road infrastructure to connect the settlements into one transport network. Thus, from several scattered settlements, the Israeli settlers turned into an institutionalized group, fully supported by Tel Aviv. Of course, this state of affairs did not suit the Palestinians, who protested against the expansion, including with the use of force.

To end the violence, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, US President Bill Clinton, and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat signed the 1993 Oslo Accord, a document that established Palestinian self-rule and divided the West Bank into three zones:

A where Palestine has full political and military control (that's about 19% of the West Bank);

B where Palestine has political but not military control (22%);

C- a zone under the full political and military control of Israel (59-60% of the territory). It is in zone C that Israeli settlements are located, connected to the rest of the country by a road network. The reserves of water and mineral resources, as well as the most suitable lands for agriculture, are also concentrated there. The Palestinians have limited access to all of these resources, which hits hard on their economic potential.

Another wave of resettlement sentiment swept the country in August 2005, when Israel evacuated 8,500 Jews from Gaza and the northern part of the West Bank of the Jordan River (northern Samaria). As the number of migrants increased, the infrastructure in the colonized territories improved: new houses and schools, hospitals, and even their own university appeared. In the 50 years since gaining control of the West Bank in 1967, Israel has built about 120 settlements in the area. They are considered one of the main obstacles to the resumption of the peace process. In addition to these 120 settlements in the West Bank, there are about 100 illegal, even according to the Israeli authorities, outposts and buildings, which occupy a total of 800 hectares of private Palestinian land and represent 4,000 housing units.

The current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also consistently taking steps to continue building settlements in the Palestinian territories. This is also why he reacted so emotionally to the UN resolution demanding that Israel immediately stop settlement activities. “According to the information we have, this resolution was without a doubt initiated by the Obama administration, who stood behind the scenes, prepared the language and demanded its adoption,” the prime minister said. “The Obama administration not only failed to protect Israel from this collusion in the UN, but also backstage entered into it." At the vote on December 23, 2016, the document was supported by 14 members of the UN Security Council, including Russia (the US representative abstained from voting).

American factor

After the 2016 resolution, Israel stated that it will not comply with the provisions of the UN resolution: settlement activity will continue, and current settlements will not be evacuated. Prime Minister Netanyahu vowed to do "everything possible so that Israel is not harmed by this shameful resolution." In particular, it was announced that the country would reconsider its relations with the UN: first of all, in terms of the size of Israel's contributions to the UN and the activities of its divisions in the country. According to the Israeli publication Haaretz, the first concrete act of reaction to the resolution was the cancellation of the visit of Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman to Israel (Kyiv also supported the resolution).

Much in the future will depend on the behavior of Israel's main ally, the United States. The resolution against settlement activity dates back to the administration of President Barack Obama, whose relationship with Netanyahu has been lukewarm. The White House explained the decision to abstain from voting at the UN by the fact that Netanyahu's policy on settlements did not lead to progress in the negotiation process.

Donald Trump is considered a supporter of a more pro-Israel position: even during the election race, he promised to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, whose status within the UN is disputed by the vast majority of Islamic countries. The views of Trump and the current leadership of Israel also coincide in that both of them are distrustful of the Iranian nuclear deal (the Israeli prime minister spoke in the US Congress in March 2015 against the agreement on Iran's nuclear program, which was promoted by the Obama White House). At the same time, Trump intends to make peace in the Middle East by resuming negotiations between Israel and Palestine. UN sanctions, according to the politician, impede the peace process.

"Yesterday's big defeat of Israel in the UN will significantly complicate the negotiations for peace. It's sad, but we will achieve it anyway"

Settlement activity received a new impetus after Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state on December 6, 2017. Just a month later, the human rights organization Shalom Ahshav (Peace Now) reported that the Israeli Civil Administration Planning Committee for the West Bank (a special agency of the Israeli Defense Ministry) had approved plans for the construction of 1,122 single-family apartments and houses in 20 settlements, and also published tenders for the construction of 651 housing units in the West Bank. In addition, the Israeli government announced its intention to legalize the status of the illegal settlement outpost of Havat Gilad in the West Bank in response to the January 9 murder of its resident, Rabbi Raziel Shevach.

So it is possible that under the "pro-Israeli" President Donald Trump, the expansion of the Palestinian territories will continue with renewed vigor, which means that the conclusion of a peace treaty will be postponed again.

"Deal of the Century"

The roadmap for a Middle East settlement (or "deal of the century" as the Americans call it) says the US administration approves the annexation of large Israeli settlement blocs in the West Bank and Jerusalem. At the same time, according to reports, Netanyahu proposed to include 15% of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967, Trump insists on only 10%. The White House intends to officially unveil these plans before April. On Tuesday, February 20, the United States notified the UN Security Council that a draft Palestinian-Israeli settlement was under development.

In the meantime, fierce international discussions are going on around the situation with Israeli settlements. In January 2018, US Permanent Representative to the UN Nikki Haley accused the Palestinian leadership of insufficient commitment to a peaceful resolution to the conflict. In response, the official representative of the State of Palestine in negotiations with Israel, Saeb Arikat, demanded that she "shut up<...>and realize that the problem is the Israeli occupation and the policy that it [Israel] will continue to pursue." To this, the US Ambassador to the UN said that she would continue to "tell the harsh truth", the meaning of which: only the path of compromise, which allowed Egypt and Jordan make peace with Israel in 1994 and return their occupied territories will lead to a resolution of the conflict.

However, the intransigence of positions hinders the achievement of this compromise. The Palestinians are ready for a minor exchange of territories with Israel, but at the same time they demand the full recognition of the state with its capital in East Jerusalem. The Israelis are not going to cede the occupied territories, and also reject the possibility of dividing Jerusalem. According to the special coordinator of the Middle East peace process, Nikolai Mladenov, the situation is aggravated by the fact that the negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians are unequal, since the latter are under military occupation.

Under these conditions, Russia could play a mediating role between all parties to the conflict, adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Nabil Shaat is convinced. But, according to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, Russia does not have a ready-made recipe for a Palestinian-Israeli settlement. Moscow believes that Israeli settlement activity in the Palestinian territories is illegal, and the chances of achieving a just and reliable peace in the Middle East are getting smaller every day.

Artur Gromov

Map of Jewish settlements in controlled territories. 2004

Currently, these settlements exist in Judea and Samaria, which is under Israeli control.

The total population of these settlements, amounting to only 1520 in 1972 and 23.7 thousand in 1983, exceeded 250 thousand by the end of 2004. At the same time, in 1982, by decision of the government, more than 5,000 residents of Yamit and other settlements of the Sinai Peninsula were evacuated, in 2005 - more than 8,000 residents of settlements in the Gaza Strip and Northern Samaria. In both cases, the houses of the settlers were destroyed.

The Arabs did not favor the Jews who lived there before, and the appearance of representatives of the Chabad movement was treated with unprecedented hostility. Incessant persecution and pogroms united both Hebron communities of Jews - Sephardic and Ashkenazi. In 1865, E. Mani became the head of the Sephardic community, who facilitated the movement of dozens of families from Iraq to Hebron, created a synagogue and other community buildings and institutions for them. The Hasidic community also managed to build two synagogues, despite the opposition of the Arabs and the hostility of the Turkish authorities.

Settlements in Judea

Approximately two months after the settlement of Kfar Etzion, on the initiative of the Tel Aviv poet I. Ben-Meir (born in 1941), the second settlement site in Judea, Har Gilo, was founded.

The first settlers, who initially rented a room in the Park Hotel, moved to the city's military commandant's office, and four years later settled in permanent homes in Kiryat Arba, a new Jewish district immediately adjacent to Hebron. (In the Torah, Hebron is sometimes also called Kiryat Arba). One of the residents of Kiryat Arba, B. Tavger, who came to Israel from Novosibirsk, cleared a dump that the Arabs had set up on the site of the Avraham-avinu synagogue they destroyed; the synagogue was subsequently restored, and then the Jewish cemetery was also cleared.

A more serious initiative for the Jewish settlement of Samaria arose before the Yom Kippur War, but was put into practice only after it. By the Yom Kippur War (1973), there were 12 settlements in the Jordan Valley, 4 in the Gaza Strip, and 3 rural settlements in Judea in the Gush Etzion region. There were no Jewish settlements in Samaria yet. After the cessation of fighting, a group of young women from circles close to the religious Zionist yeshiva Merkaz ha-Rav arrived at the head of the government, Golda Meir, and asked her to give them permission to establish a Jewish settlement near Shechem; Golda Meir refused their request.

Six months later, the same women, together with their husbands, made a "guerrilla" attempt to establish a settlement near Shechem. They came to call the "Core Elon-Sea" of the Gush Emunim movement. The army evacuated them, but they arrived again and were forcibly evacuated again. Only on the eighth time, during Chanukah 1975, at the old railway station of Sebastia, through the efforts of the poet H. Guri and Minister of Defense Sh. Peres, who drew up an agreement between the parties, a compromise was reached, and permission was obtained to establish the settlement of Kdumim. At the beginning of 2014, the settlement of Kdumim consisted of ten micro-districts located on the tops of hills. 4187 Jews lived in it.

In 1975, a group of workers who arrived to build a fence around a nearby military base and stayed overnight in one of the buildings abandoned by the Jordanians 25 kilometers north of Jerusalem, the settlement of Ofra was founded. In December 2007, 2,600 Jews lived there. The leaders of Gush Emunim saw in the settlement by Jews of the entire territory of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza strip the most important religious and patriotic mission.

As part of the operation to double the number of Jewish settlements, which was announced by the Gush Emunim organization in the autumn of 1978, when there were only twenty settlements in the entire territory of Judea and Samaria, families who had just settled in Ofra were sent to form the nucleus of a new settlement. It was created within a year and named Kokhav ha-Shahar; the Nahala base was also established in it. Since there were fertile lands around, the agricultural sectors became an important direction in the development of the economy. In 1981, settlement caravans arrived and plans began to be drawn for the first phases of permanent construction.

Approximately simultaneously with the creation of the Ofra settlement, the then government headed by I. Rabin decided to found Maale Adumim (now the largest Jewish settlement in Judea). The decision was made in response to the UN recognition of the Palestine Liberation Organization, as well as due to pressure exerted by Minister I. Galili. In December 2007, 32.8 thousand people lived in it. The government of I. Rabin also decided to found the Elkan settlement in Western Samaria two weeks before the 1977 elections; he also decided to found the city of Ariel - now the largest Jewish settlement in Samaria.

In July 1977, after the government of M. Begin came to power, the leaders of Gush Emunim presented a twenty-five-year settlement plan, according to which by the end of the 20th century. the Jewish population of Judea (including Jerusalem) and Samaria was to increase to a million people, for which it was proposed to found two large cities - near Hebron (Kiryat Arba) and near Shechem (with a population of 60 thousand people each), several medium-sized cities (15 -20 thousand people each) and a dense network of so-called communal settlements (ishuvim kekhilatiim).

As soon as M. Begin formed a cabinet, the leaders of the Gush Emunim movement - H. Porat, U. Elitzur, B. Katsover and Rabbi M. Levinger submitted to him a program to found twelve new settlements beyond the "green line". After long hesitation, M. Begin approved this program. “Many more Elon-More will be founded,” M. Begin promised during his first visit to Kdumim after winning the elections. Soon there were settlements of Beit El, Shilo, Neve Tzuf, Mitzpe Yericho, Shavei Shomron, Dotan, Tkoa and others. At first, the settler groups were placed at some military garrisons in Judea and Samaria, which later turned into settlements.

A group of residents of the settlement of Beit El. Photo by A. Ohayon. State Press Bureau. Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister I. Shamir in the house of the widow of J. Faraj, who was killed by Arab terrorists near the settlement of Braha. 1989 Photo by Maggi Ayalon. State Press Bureau. Israel.

Prime Minister M. Begin speaks to the residents of Yammit. 1977. Photo by M. Milner. State Press Bureau. Israel.

General view of Yamit. December 1981, four months before the evacuation. Photo by J. Saar. State Press Bureau. Israel.

Destruction of Yamit. April 1982. Photo by B. Tel-Or. State Press Bureau. Israel.

At a school in Kfar Darom. Summer 2005. Photo by M. Milner. State Press Bureau. Israel.

Celebrating Lag B'Omer in Hebron near the Cave of Machpelah. 1987 Photo by Maggi Ayalon. State Press Bureau. Israel.

Outskirts of Kiryat Arba; in the background is Hebron. 1995. Photo by A. Ohayon. State Press Bureau. Israel.

Kiryat Arba (bird's eye view), 1998. Photo by A. Ohayon. State Press Bureau. Israel

Evacuation of settlers barricaded in a synagogue in Kfar Darom in the Gaza Strip. August 2005. Photo by G. Asmolov. Press Service of the Israel Defense Forces.

The policy of intensive Jewish settlement of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip caused a heated discussion in Israeli society. Along with supporters of the Allon plan, which assumed that in the future most of the territories of the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) would be returned to Jordan, many public figures spoke out against the policy of creating Jewish settlements in densely populated Arab areas, demanding that the funds spent on settling the controlled territories be turned to development of the peripheral regions of the Galilee and the Negev, industrial and social infrastructure of development cities, etc.

Settler movement

This situation changed at the beginning of the 21st century. As of 2015, the deputies from the Likud are the settlers Y. Edelstein (Chairman of the Knesset), Zeev Elkin, Oren Hazan. Although the Likud has remained the largest right-wing party, the presence of settlement residents among the deputies from other parties is no less important.

Living conditions in the new settlements were very difficult, primarily due to the lack of necessary infrastructure, as well as pressure from representatives of the left camp and international media, who protested against each new prefabricated house in the territories. In 1978, an appeal was filed with the Supreme Court against the existence of the settlement of Beit El, which was founded on land expropriated from Palestinian Arabs, and the expropriation was not motivated by housing needs, but by security considerations.

The court issued a temporary order to suspend development work on the new settlement, including sewerage. After several months, the appeal was rejected. However, in the winter of 1980, the Supreme Court accepted an appeal filed jointly by Palestinians and left-wingers. According to the court decision, a group of settlers had to leave the lands of the village of Rujeib in Samaria, since it was a question of private Palestinian land. Since then, new settlements have sprung up almost exclusively on land that was not privately owned by the Arabs.

Paradoxically, as a result of this, the moral and legal foundation for the activities of settlers in the controlled territories became almost stronger than that of the inhabitants of Israel within the Green Line, where many moshavs and kibbutzim were founded on land abandoned by Arab refugees during the War of Independence. with inadequate title deeds.

The development of Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula

In parallel, the development of settlements in the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula proceeded, usually at the initiative and with the permission of the government. For the first time, Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula were occupied by Israel during the Sinai campaign of 1956, but returned to Egypt less than six months later; At that time, Jewish settlements were not created in these territories.

The government of I. Rabin-Sh. Peres announced a freeze on construction in Jewish settlements beyond the Green Line. At the same time, in order to prevent friction between the settlers and the inhabitants of the newly created Palestinian Authority, new bypass highways were built, which increased the safety of the Jewish inhabitants of Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

With the coming to power in May 1996 of the government of B. Netanyahu, the decision to freeze the construction of settlements was canceled, as a result of which the influx of new residents resumed in them. The period when the center-left government of E. Barak was in power, expressing readiness to agree to the mass evacuation of Jewish settlements beyond the "green line", was one of the most prosperous for the settlement project. In order to ensure coalition support from the National Religious Party and the center-right circles, E. Barak did not oppose the growth of settlements in the controlled territories and new construction in them.

Contrary to expectations, it was the center-right government headed by A. Sharon, where the Minister of Finance was successively occupied by ministers from the Likud bloc S. Shalom and B. Netanyahu, that severe restrictions were imposed on construction in Jewish settlements (which was everywhere limited by the needs of their natural growth, moreover exclusively within existing geographic boundaries), as well as the abolition of tax incentives that were provided to settlers as residents of priority development areas.

Arab terror against settlers

Almost from the beginning, settlers in Judea, Samaria and Gaza faced hostility from their Arab neighbors. In the early years, settlers were still free to move around Arab settlements and even shop and open bank accounts in Ramallah or Nablus, but over time, such freedom of movement became life-threatening in the full sense of the word.

Since the late 1970s Jewish cars began to throw stones. In the early 1980s the local Arabs had already begun to use firearms against the Jewish settlers. The first victim was a yeshiva student from Kiryat Arba, I. Salome, who was killed by pistol shots in the market in Hebron in early 1980. A few months later, six Jews were killed in a terrorist attack near Beit Hadassah.

In the summer of 1982, a resident of the Tkoa settlement was killed in Gerodione; in response to this, the settlement of Nokdim (El David) was founded at the site of the murder. Since then, there has been a practice of creating new settlements in those places where Jewish residents died at the hands of Arab terrorists. The symbolic significance of such a policy was obvious: the settlers clearly demonstrated to the Arabs that they could not be intimidated, that the Jewish settlement of Judea, Samaria and Gaza would continue, no matter what the cost.

The development of Jewish settlements on the lands occupied by Israel in 1967 led to sharp conflicts and led to a further escalation of interethnic tension. The Jews (in the vast majority of cases, with the consent and support of the official Israeli authorities) created more and more cities and towns in Judea, Samaria and Gaza; Arabs protested against the seizure of lands that they considered and still consider their own, and this protest often resulted in acts of violence and terror.

Contradictory trends in the development of the settlement movement in the context of the unsettled legal status of controlled territories

From the beginning of the settlement movement to the present moment, it has been affected by the unsettled legal status of the controlled territories, and, as a result, the constant possibility that the Israeli authorities may, for one reason or another, decide to evacuate the settlers and destroy (or transfer to the control of another country) cities and villages built by them.

Israel's right to establish civilian settlements in controlled territories is not recognized by UN structures and member states of the organization; calls for the evacuation of all settlements already established on these lands are repeated in numerous resolutions of the General Assembly and the UN Security Council. The problem is further complicated by the fact that the status of these territories is not regulated in Israeli law.

Yamit was destroyed on 23 April 1982. During the evacuation, about 200 right-wing activists barricaded themselves on rooftops using sandbags and fire extinguisher foam to confront soldiers and security forces. Several protesters and several soldiers were injured and hospitalized. The evacuation of the inhabitants of Yammit and the destruction of the city's infrastructure were carried out strictly according to the original plan and without delay.

The operation to destroy Yamit and other Jewish settlements established in the Sinai Peninsula was led by the then Minister of Defense A. Sharon, who noted: “Let these ruins be eternal proof that we have done everything and even the impossible in order to fulfill our obligations under a peaceful treaty - so that our children do not blame us for missing such a chance. It was not the Arab army - they would never succeed - that destroyed the city. Only we, with our own hands, destroyed Yamit. We were forced to wipe this city off the face of the earth in order to fulfill the terms of the peace treaty, so that Jewish blood would not be shed.”

On December 18, 2003, in his speech at a conference in Herzliya, A. Sharon, who had become prime minister by that time, stated that "Israel will initiate ... a unilateral disengagement", in which "part of the settlements will be moved." In that speech, A. Sharon did not name the settlements that would be “relocated” (that is, destroyed), limiting himself to the phrase that these are those settlements “which, under any possible scenario of the future final agreement, will not be included in the territory of Israel.”

A few months later, A. Sharon published the details of his program, from which it followed that it was planned to evacuate all Jewish settlements created in the Gaza Strip (their number had reached 21 by that time), as well as four Jewish settlements from the Northern Samaria region. It was not about the evacuation of settlements as part of a peace treaty with a neighboring Arab country or with the Palestinians, but about a unilateral initiative of the Israeli government, agreed exclusively with the US administration.

Numerous protests led by the Council of Settlements of Judea, Samaria and Gaza did not affect government policy, and in August 2005 the so-called "disengagement program" was fully implemented, ending Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip. After the departure of Israeli settlers and troops, all the synagogues in the area (from which the Torah scrolls and prayer books were taken out in advance) were destroyed and burned by local Arabs with the connivance of the authorities of the Palestinian Autonomy.

The demographic changes taking place in the West Bank (in Judea and Samaria) - despite differences in their assessment - are a factor that will play a significant role in the decision-making process on the future status of the controlled territories and the settlements established on them. Contrary to what seemed obvious earlier, these decisions will not necessarily be the result of negotiations between Israel and the leaders of the Palestinian Authority and neighboring Arab countries.

It is quite possible that these decisions will be taken by the Israeli leadership and agreed only with the US administration as the main foreign policy and military ally of the Jewish state. The construction by Israel, starting in 2003, of the so-called "security fence" actually means the unilateral determination of the contours of the future eastern borders of the Jewish state.

Settlements in terms of international law

Proponents of the view that sees Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria as illegal settlements usually refer to the "Geneva Convention of August 12, 1949 for the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War" and its Article 49, which states: "The Occupying Power will not be able to deport or transfer part of its own civilian population to the territory it occupies" and on a number of UN Security Council resolutions based on this article of the Geneva Convention.

Israel considers that the 1949 Geneva Convention and its Article 49 are not applicable to Judea and Samaria, since the concept of "occupation" implies the existence of a state whose territory is being occupied. Judea and Samaria have never been part of any state since the Ottoman Empire.

Demographic and socio-economic indicators in settlements in the 2000s

In 2010, the number of residents of Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria exceeded 300 thousand people, and if the annexed territories are included, then 500 thousand people. (approximately 6.5% of the total population of Israel). In 2015, the number of Jews in Judea and Samaria was about 400,000.

The table shows how the population growth in Israeli settlements took place over the years:

The population of the settlements is growing due to internal migration, aliyah (an average of 1,000 Jewish foreign citizens arrive in the settlements a year), and also due to high birth rates (in the settlements, the birth rate is about three times higher than in Israel as a whole. which is connected with a high percentage of religious settlers).

Socio-economic condition of settlements

The largest Jewish settlement in the controlled territories - the city of Ma'ale Adumim (founded in 1976) - is located a few kilometers east of Jerusalem, on the road to the Dead Sea. Secular residents make up about two-thirds of the city's population; the majority of the religious population is concentrated in the Mitspe-Nevo area and in the quarter created in the early 1990s. Russian-speaking repatriates - activists of the Mahanaim organization. In 1999, a large shopping center was opened in Ma'ale Adumim, and in 2003, a two-story library was opened. Intensive housing construction continues in the city.

The majority of the inhabitants of Jewish settlements in the controlled territories were and are adherents of religious Zionism, in whose families the birth rate, as a rule, is significantly higher than the national average (34 children are born per thousand settlers a year, while the national average is 21) . As of the end of 2003, the average age of the inhabitants of Jewish settlements in Judea, Samaria and Gaza was 20.3 years, while in the country as a whole it was 27.7.

The level of participation of residents of settlements in labor activity is very high; 64% of settlers aged 15 and over are employed - 10% more than the national average. The settlers work both in the service sector and in educational institutions, as well as in agriculture and industry. Agricultural settlements are concentrated mainly in the Jordan Valley (vegetable growing, horticulture, field crops) and in Gush Etzion (field crops - cotton, cereals, sunflower; horticulture, dairy farming, poultry farming). In Judea and Samaria, where the land suitable for agricultural use is cultivated by Arab peasants, there are few agricultural settlements (vine growing, horticulture, sheep breeding and poultry farming).

Many settlements also host small electronic, electrical, and metalworking industries and laboratories. Significant industrial zones exist near Maale Adumim (Mishor Adumim industrial zone, about 50 enterprises, including the Taasiya Avirit plant, Kiryat Arba (metalworking, woodworking, building materials, plastics and electronics) and - Institute for Research in Technology and Halakha, in Kdumim - Midreshet Eretz Israel (National Zionist educational center), and in Ariel - Ariel University.

It was founded in 1982 with the active participation and under the auspices of Bar-Ilan University, although it subsequently acquired academic independence. There you can get an academic degree in biotechnology and chemical engineering, electronics, engineering and management, physical therapy, civil engineering, architecture, economics and business management, social work and healthcare management. In 1990, a department for research work was created in it, in 1992, under the auspices of the college, the so-called "Technological greenhouse" appeared, since 1994, scientific periodicals in the field of natural sciences and the humanities have been published. The university has a large library.

Israeli settlements are settlements created after 1967 in the territories occupied by Israel during the Six Day War, whose inhabitants are Israeli citizens, mostly Jews. Currently, these settlements exist in the West Bank, which is under Israeli control (part of the territory of the West Bank is under the control of the Palestinian National Authority).

There is a broad consensus in the international community that the existence of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories is contrary to the Geneva Convention. International intergovernmental organizations such as the Conference of the States Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the UN and the EU have repeatedly stated that these settlements are a serious violation of international law. Non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have similarly described the establishment of the settlements as a violation of international law. Israel does not agree that the rules of the Geneva Convention apply in this case, since, according to it, the occupied lands did not previously belong to any state.

In 2007, the number of residents of Israeli settlements in the West Bank (including areas of Jerusalem located east of the 1948 separation line, such as Neve Yaakov, Pisgat Zeev, Giva Tsarfatit, Gilo, Ar-Homa) was 484 thousand people.

Terms

Major historical events

• Until the 13th century BC. e. on the territory of the western bank of the Jordan River there were several city-states of various Canaanite peoples.
• During the XIII-XII centuries BC. e. these territories were taken over by Jewish tribes and have since become part of the Land of Israel. The name "Judea" was given to the territory that had departed from the tribe of Jews (in Jewish terminology - to the tribe of Yehuda).
• In the XI century BC. e. this territory became part of the united kingdom of Israel, whose capital was at first the city of Hebron, and then Jerusalem became.
• After the collapse of the united kingdom of Israel in the X century BC. e. two kingdoms, Judah and Israel, were established on its former territory. The Israeli kings founded the new capital of their kingdom - the city of Samaria (Hebrew שומרון ‎). The territory adjacent to the new capital became known as Samaria.
• Jewish statehood was finally destroyed by the Roman Empire during the period of Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD. e. The land of Israel was renamed by the Romans into the province of Palestine, after the name of one of the people of the sea (Philistines, (Heb. פלישתים ‎) who lived in it in the past.
• Over the next 18 centuries, this territory was alternately part of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Arab Caliphate, the Crusader state, the Mameluke state, the Ottoman Empire, the British Mandate and Jordan. The territories of Judea and Samaria returned to the newly formed State of Israel in 1967, as a result of the Six Day War.

In 1967, as a result of the Six Day War, Israel gained control of a number of new territories.

• From Jordan, the West Bank of the Jordan River came under Israeli control, including the eastern part of Jerusalem (East Jerusalem) located before the war within Jordan.
• From Egypt, the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip came under Israeli control.
• From Syria, the Golan Heights came under Israeli control, in 1981 they were annexed by Israel.
• In 1967, Jerusalem's municipal boundaries were expanded into the old city and East Jerusalem. Residents of the former Jordanian part of the city were offered a choice of Israeli citizenship (with some exceptions) or a residence permit (in case they wanted to retain Jordanian citizenship). Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem was not recognized by any country in the world.
• Sinai, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank were given the status of occupied territories. Their residents were not offered Israeli citizenship or residence permits. Although initially, they de facto had the opportunity to work in Israel and cross the green line.
• In 1981, Israel evacuated all its settlements from the Sinai Peninsula, in connection with the return of this territory to Egypt under the Camp David Peace Treaty. As part of this treaty, Egypt renounced its claims to the Gaza Strip.
• In 1994, as a result of a peace treaty between Israel and Jordan, the latter renounced its claims to the west bank of the Jordan River.
• In August 2005, Israel evacuated its settlements from Gaza and the northern part of the West Bank (northern samaria) under the Unilateral Secession Plan.

Population

For years, the Israeli government has encouraged Israelis and new Jewish immigrants from other countries to move to the settlements. Those who moved there had tax benefits (7% on monthly income up to 10,000 shekels, the benefit was abolished in 2002 [ source not specified 280 days]), subsidies and concessional loans for the purchase of housing, etc. The table shows how the population growth in Israeli settlements took place:

The population continues to grow due to internal migration, external migration (an average of 1,000 Jewish foreign citizens arrive in the settlements a year), as well as due to high birth rates (in the settlements, the birth rate is about three times higher than in Israel as a whole. due to the high percentage of religious settlers).

Status of the Settlements in terms of Orthodox Judaism

The situation in which the legality of the liberation of the Land of Israel by the Jews and its settlement will be disputed by the peoples of the world was described by Rashi, a famous Jewish commentator on the Tanakh and the Talmud, back in the 11th century AD. e., 900 years before the return of the Jews to their land. In a commentary on the first words of the Torah, “In the beginning G-d created the heavens and the earth,” Rashi writes: “Rabbi Yitzhak said: “The Torah should have begun with (verse) “This month is for you the head of the months” [Exodus 12, 2], which is the first commandment given (to the sons of) Israel. Why does (it) begin with the creation of the world? Because “the power of His works He showed to His people, to give them possession of the tribes” [Psalms 111, 6]. For if the peoples of the world say to Israel: “You are robbers who have taken the lands of the seven peoples,” then (the children of Israel) will say to them: “All the land belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He. He created it and gave it to whomever He pleases. According to His will, He gave it to them (for a time), according to His will, He took it from them and gave it to us.

Status of Settlements in terms of international law

Article 49 of the "Geneva Convention of August 12, 1949 for the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War" states

The occupying power will not be able to deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population to the territory it occupies.

Evacuation of settlements

List of settlements in Judea and Samaria (West Bank)

(Israeli settlements - territory of Israel [ source unspecified 336 days] . They are also included in the list of cities in Israel)

• Alon (Hebrew אלון ‎)
• Alfei-Menashe (Hebrew אלפי מנשה ‎)
• Ar-Adar (Hebrew הר אדר ‎)
• Ar Gilo (Hebrew הר גילה ‎) Considered an Israeli settlement. From the point of view of Israeli law, and in fact is one of the districts of Jerusalem.
• Ariel (Hebrew אריאל ‎)
• Ateret (Hebrew עטרת ‎)
• Bat Ain (Hebrew בת עין ‎)
• Beit Arye (Hebrew בית אריה ‎)
• Beit El (Hebrew בית אל ‎)
• Beitar Illit (Hebrew בית"ר עילית ‎)
• Givat Zeev (Hebrew גבעת זאב ‎) - (literal translation - wolf hill, wolf hill). Considered an Israeli settlement. From the point of view of Israeli law, and in fact is one of the districts of Jerusalem.
• Ephrata (Hebrew אפרתה ‎)
• Jerusalem (East Jerusalem, Al-Quds) (Hebrew ירושלים ‎) (Arabic القدس ‎‎) (city status is still disputed)
• Kedar (Hebrew קדר ‎)
• Karmei Tzur (Hebrew כרמי צור ‎)
• Karnei Shomron (Hebrew קרני שומרון ‎)
• Kdumim (Hebrew קדומים ‎)
• Kiryat Arba (Hebrew קרית־ארבע ‎) - (literal translation - the village of four) It is considered an Israeli settlement, in fact the Jewish part of the city of Hebron.
• Kiryat Luza (Neve Kedem) (Heb. (קרית לוזה (נווה קדם ‎) It is considered an Israeli settlement, in fact the Jewish part of the city of Shechem (Shomron, Nablus).
• Kfar Etzion (Hebrew כפר עציון ‎)
• Ma'ale Adumim (Hebrew מעלה אדומים ‎)
• Maale-Amos (Hebrew מעלה עמוס ‎)
• Ma'ale Ephraim (Hebrew מעלה אפרים ‎)
• Meitzad (Hebrew מיצד ‎)
• Migdal-Oz (Hebrew מגדל עוז ‎)
• Modi'in Illit (Hebrew מודיעין עלית ‎)
• Nokdim (El David) (Hebrew (נוקדים (אל דוד) ‎)
• Neve Daniel (Hebrew נווה דניאל ‎)
• Oranit (Hebrew אורנית ‎)
• Pnei-Kedem (Hebrew פני קדם ‎)
• Rosh Tzurim (Hebrew ראש צורים ‎)
• Tekoah (Hebrew תקוע ‎)
• Halamish (self-name "Neve Tzuf",