THE Israeli Government has told a court that
it does not want to reveal the true extent of
Jewish settlement in the occupied Palestinian
territories because the information would damage
its image abroad, a local newspaper has reported.
The news comes on the eve of the arrival of the
US President, George Bush, for a three-day state
visit in which the settlement issue is likely to figure.
Last week Mr Bush said that Israeli settlement
building in the West Bank was an obstacle to peace
between Israelis and Palestinians. The office of the
Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, has said that
during the visit he would again commit Israel to
removing some of the smaller and newer settlements.
The Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz said the Israeli
Defence Ministry, which rules the Arab territories
seized by Israel in 1967, is resisting a petition from
two Israeli rights groups for the publication of an
official report showing the extent of settlement is
greater than Israel has previously admitted.
The newspaper said that the report showed both
veteran settlements and newer "outposts" had been
built extensively without legal permits on land
deemed as state land by the Israeli military
courts and on the private property of local
Palestinians.
Last week the Government asked the Israeli
High Court to ban the publication of the report
"for fear of harming state security and
foreign relations".
One of the petitioners, Peace Now, said Israel had
built 122 settlements in the West Bank with official
state sanction. Another 100 newer settlements -
described as outposts of older settlements following
Israel's commitment not to build new settlements
- were built without official sanction.
An officially-commissioned report by the lawyer
Talia Sasson found in 2005 that many of these
settlements were built with funding and the active
assistance of various government bodies, often in
contravention of Israel's law.
The International Court of Justice and many other
countries regard all Jewish settlement in the occupied
territories as illegal, citing provisions in the Geneva
Conventions which forbid the forced transfer of
populations into lands seized in war.
Israel argues that the term "forced" refers to the
settlers, not the indigenous people, and that its
activities are legal because its settlers move to
the West Bank of their own free will.
Peace Now said the number of Jewish settlers
living in the West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem,
had almost trebled to 270,000 since Israel signed
the Oslo peace accords in 1993. Another 180,000
Israelis live in parts of the West Bank annexed by
Israel as part of its self-declared East Jerusalem
territory.
Mr Bush's attempt to revive the moribund
Israeli-Palestinian peace protest at Annapolis
two months ago is already faltering in the face
of Palestinian protests at Israel's subsequent
decision to build hundreds of new homes for
Jews in East Jerusalem.
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