Purpose

The purpose is to provide lists of settlements. I leave the reasons and politics to others.

Description

This is a listing (actually links to lists) of settlements "beyond the Green Line" which were constructed since Israel's establishment (1948) and the Armistice of 1949. The lists are from different sources.

The areas are variously called, "The West Bank", "Palestine", "The Territories", and "Yesha". The area has also been referred to by the names of the municipal districts, which are:

Jordanian, Egyptian:

Jenin

Tubas

Tulkarm

Nablus

Qalqiliya

Salfit

Ramalla

Jericho (Ariha)

Jerusalem (al Quds)

Bethlehem

Jerusalem

Hebron (al Khalil)

Gaza (Aza)

The pre-1948 districts (eg. Jaffa, Ramla) are not used, in order to avoid confusion.

Israeli

Emeq Hayarden (Jordan Valley)

Dead Sea

Shamron

Binyamin

Jerusalem

Judea

Gaza (Aza) or Gush Katif

In addition, Israel describes parts of Judea as Gush Etzion and Har Hevron.

Some of the lists include Golan settlements but no attempt has been made to locate corresponding Syrian activity.

These lists do not include parts of historic Palestine in what is now Jordan. Jordan holds 77% of historical Palestine. This is significant, because that means that these descriptions apply to 23% of Palestine (Israel and "the Territories").

Map Locations

Because of the similarity of names in Arabic and Hebrew, as well as English translations, many of the place names have similar names which are differently spelled. Also there are some places whose names have been slightly changed over time, and places whose English translation carries different spellings. This means that you need to be creative with name searches:

• Hebron, Hevron, al Khalil (all of which are based on the same root - "friend")
• Har Adar, Giv'at HaRadar
• Ma'ale Adummim, Ma'ale Adumim

There are some places with completely different names in Arabic and Hebrew. A few have three different names, depending on historical and political perspective. Some of these are:

• Nablus; Sheechem
• Jerusalem; al Quds; Yerusalaim
• Amman, Jordan; Philadelphia, Jordan (but south Amman is not South Phila.!)

Even the generic names are nebulous. The "West Bank" of the Jordan River seems to include mountains and areas which are obviously not in the Jordan River watershed. "Yesha" includes Binyamin (previously considered part of Shamron) and may also be considered to include the Golan. Almost all of this is political.

The strangest part of the geographical "name game" is that Israel seems more definitive as to geographical area ("Yesha" and the specific regions). The Palestinians are less definitive about geographical area, even though it is a supposed political goal to acquire political autonomy (a state) over large contiguous areas.

If that's not confusing enough, remember that Israelis are also Palestinians, and Israel is by definition a Palestinian state.

Finding the Locations

Some of the lists reference regions, which in some cases are wide areas. If a location is given as a two-digit number and a letter, it references coordinates on an Israeli map. These coordinates are not the same on different versions of these maps, but if you find one of the places (e.g., a known location) that will give you the number and letter offset for your map.

The Lists

Arab Settlements in the West Bank Since 1950

A list of 261 Arab settlements built in the West Bank since 1950.

Note This was a major surprise when I started compiling these lists. According to the compilers of that list the majority were settled by Jordanian, Syrian and Iraqi settlers. This does not imply that the settlements are illegitimate or don't "belong" there. These settlements were rightfully given to these people by the Kingdom of Jordan as quid pro quo for fighting in the 1947-49 war. The implication is that the settlers were to have received land that the Palestinians were told to evacuate pending invasion of Israel. As nearly as I can determine, the residents of these settlements now consider themselves to be Palestinian.

Data on settlements established 1948-1950 were apparently unavailable because Jordan did not annex the West Bank until April, 1950.

Jewish Settlements in the Territories by Date of Construction or Reconstruction ("Under Construction" - I mean the webpage!)

The dates here are sometimes ambiguous because some of the "established" dates predate the 1947 and 1949 Partitions. (e.g., Kfar Etzion, 1943; Hebron, 1210.) In addition, the practice of some of the Jewish settlers of establishing outposts at locations where settlers had been killed and converting the outposts to new settlements creates a major ambiguity in date. This is because there is often a long time gap between establishing an outpost and then later placing a residence at some of those locations. Where possible, the dates of establishment of settlements are identified by the date of permanent residency. This is believed to be the case with the linked lists.

Jewish Settlements in the Territories Alphabetized (West Bank)

from Foundation for Middle East Peace (www.fmep.org, a group which opposes settlements).

Jewish Settlements in Gaza Alphabetized and By Population

Jewish Settlements in the Territories by Region (geocities)

Shamron (geocities)

(42 locales)

Binyamin (geocities)

(38 locales)

Latrun

(no link yet, but they are: Shilat, Lapid, Kfar Ruth and Maccabim. The construction areas were formerly no man's land.)

Emeq Hayarden (geocities)

(19 locales)

Dead Sea (northern Dead Sea area) (geocities)

(5 locales)

Judea

Gush Etzion (geocities)

Hebron Area (Har Hevron) (geocities)

Jerusalem ("Under Construction" - I mean the webpage!)

Some of the listings for Jerusalem also appear in the other regional lists, including Binyamin and Gush Etzion.

Gush Katif (Gaza) (geocities)

"Gush Katif" refers to certain settlements originally established in 1946, but the term is also used by Israelis to refer to all Israeli settlements in Gaza. In addition, three settlements (Kfar Darom, Morag, Katif) define themselves as "Gush Katif".

Golan (www.fmep.org)

(The Golan is not part of the focus of this website, but is included here because it was readily available. No attempt was made to compile Syrian or Druze settlements.)

Statistics

There are many more statistics elsewhere. Here is a summary:

Number of new Arab settlements in the West Bank (beginning 04-1950) 261
Number of new Israeli settlements in the West Bank (5,640 sq. km.) - 130
Number of new settlements in the Gaza Strip (360 sq. km.) - 16
(total new Israeli settlements in West Bank and Gaza) - 146
Number of new settlements in the Latrun Salient (built in no-man's land not considered "occupied" under international law) - 4
(total new settlements in West Bank and Gaza) - 407
Number of Israeli settlement areas in the Golan Heights - 33 (does not include Druze)
FMEP counts 11 new areas in Jerusalem, however these include some pre-existing areas. Such pre-existing areas include a 2000 year old excavated shopping mall.

Other Lists

New Settlements (geocities)

Amana website - Amana Communities in Israel

Open their hyperlinks as "new pages". Amana is the largest organization of Israeli settlements in the Territories. I don't know if they're connected with the Amana Community in the US. Note: Even with broadband, expect it to take 10 minutes to load when it works.

Arab and Israeli Perspectives on Settlements - Has good map.

Oz Veshalom - Netivot Shalom list

This is a Jewish religious group linked by Birzeit. They discuss a plan to place 93% of the Territories under the control of a Palestinian state. From a cartography viewpoint it lists the more populated Israeli settlements, and with the exception of Hebron those with historical significance. (root directory)

Maps

Maps from btsalem.org:

map from btsalem.org (.jpg 200kb)

map from btsalem.org (larger .jpg 612kb)

map from btsalem.org (.pdf 1.6 Mb) - (this one recommended)

map of local and regional counsels - companion map to the above

or d/l the .gif

They state that the settlements are illegal. They comment that the settlements interrupt the territorial contiguity of the Palestinian villages and towns and, to a lesser or greater extent, the potential for urban development in the major Palestinian cities. www.btsalem.org
Curiously, they also state:

"The illegality of the settlements under international humanitarian law does not affect the status of the settlers. The settlers constitute a civilian population by any standard, and include children, who are entitled to special protection. Although some of the settlers are part of the security forces, this fact has absolutely no bearing on the status of the other residents of the settlements."

map of general Arab and Israeli controlled areas from Canada-Israel Committee as part of their "For the Record" project.

map from Arab and Israeli Perspectives on Settlements (referenced above)

Separation Barrier

NEW Identification of the Security Barrier

List of the sections of the security barrier and the names given to these sections

map from btsalem.org (.pdf 1.6 Mb) - (this one recommended)">

small map from btsalem.org (.jpg 60kb)

Miscellany

For a comprehensive set of links on the subject, you'll have to look elsewhere.

www.gazacoast.org - information site (Israeli)

Municipality of Gaza

Israeli Position on Settlements from www.palestinefacts.org

This describes the legal status of the settlements, including those established prior to 1948.

Proposal for Israel-Palestine-Jordan Confederation

Addresses issues inherent in separate geographical regions. This was another surprise -- the concept of cantons was never advanced by the Israeli government or by the Palestinians. Instead it was the idea of one man as to how to solve the geographical problems of a Palestinian state!

The Quartet Roadmap to "Peace"

Completely Irrelevant

My comment on treif meat shipped to Israel

Maltasot b'ha'Geshem

"Shall a Poor Man be Denied Free Flight?" - Talmudic discussion of halucha regarding descent below MDA (humor, but it won't make sense if you don't fly)

first posted 2-Oct-2002, last revised July 23, 2006. This page copyright 2002, Stan Protigal

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