Israeli settlement activity before and after the expiry of the 'Moratorium'

During the ‘Moratorium’

During the first half of 2010, Israel continued to violate its obligations under international law and Phase 1 of the Road Map:

Housing starts: While there were only 5 settlement housing starts during the first half of 2010 in the rest of the West Bank according to official Israeli data, construction began on 108 units in East Jerusalem¹ settlements.²

• Furthermore, in early August, Peace Now reported that construction had begun on 603 new housing units in West Bank settlements (not counting those in East Jerusalem) in the first half of 2010. Included in this figure are 295 permanent housing units and 167 mobile homes, which violate the ‘moratorium’, as well as 141 units belonging to the group of 492 settlement units exempted from the ‘moratorium’. In fact, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak recently confirmed that there were at least 900 violations of the ‘moratorium’.

Housing completions: Meanwhile, settlement housing completions continued apace throughout the West Bank (incl. East Jerusalem), with 1,135 units in the first half of the year:³

Active construction: As of the end of the first half of the year, some 3,009 housing units were under active construction in settlements throughout the West Bank (incl. East Jerusalem) (see Annex 2):⁴

In addition to being illegal under international law, such Israeli violations continue to undermine the very possibility of the two-state solution and international efforts led by the United States to create an environment conducive to the resumption of a credible and meaningful peace process.

After the ‘Moratorium’

Despite the on-going construction during the ‘moratorium’, there has been a flurry of planned and actual settlement activity since Sunday, September 26 by Israeli officials and settlers alike:

• According to Peace Now, there are at least 2,000 settlement housing units that have received all necessary Israeli are ready for construction.
• According to Ynet,⁵ Israel will resume building in at least 30 settlements as indicated in the attached list and map (Annex 1).
• According to other media reports, building will resume in the following additional settlements: Kedumim, Shavei Shomron, Adam and Yakir.⁶
  

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