By: Basma M. Al-Kashif
Settlement is one of barbaric violations that committed by Israel in the occupied West Bank, which disagree all international laws and norms, whereas, thousands of Palestinians have been forced to leave their homes and others have been expelled; in order to expand the building of settlements to allow settlers live. Thus, the Israeli settlements covered more than 42% of the occupied West Bank's territories.
Some half a million Israelis are now living over the Green Line, more than 300,000 in 121 settlements and about one hundred outposts, which control 42% of the land area of the West Bank, and the rest in twelve neighborhoods that the Israeli occupation established on land it annexed to the Jerusalem Municipality
The settlement enterprise has been characterized, since its inception, by an instrumental, cynical, and even criminal approach to international law, local legislation, Israeli military orders, and Israeli law, which has enabled the continuous pilfering of land from Palestinians in the West Bank.
To encourage Israelis to move to the settlements, the Israeli entity created a mechanism for providing benefits and incentives to settlements and settlers, regardless of their economic condition, which often was financially secure.
Most of the settlements in the West Bank hold the status of National Priority Area A, which entitles them to a number of benefits: in housing, by enabling settlers to purchase quality, inexpensive apartments, with an automatic grant of a subsidized mortgage; wide-ranging benefits in education, such as free education from age three, extended school days, free transportation to schools, and higher teachers’ salaries; for industry and agriculture, by grants and subsidies, and indemnification for the taxes imposed on their produce by the European Union; in taxation, by imposing taxes significantly lower than in communities inside the Green Line, and by providing larger balancing grants to the settlements, to aid in covering deficits.
Establishment of the settlements violates international humanitarian law. The Israeli entity has ignored the relevant rules of law, adopting its own interpretation, which is not accepted by almost all leading jurists around the world and by the international community.
Consequently, Palestinian government and Al-Quds Committee in Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs has warned of constructing more Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, stressing the seriousness of the Israeli schemes aimed at Judaizing Jerusalem and obliterating the historic civilizations.
