“Towards Sustainable Occupation”, Four Illegal Outposts to be Legalized

On October 1, 2015, the Israeli daily newspaper “Haaretz”, revealed on the Israeli Government intention to legalize four illegal outposts northeast of Ramallah Governorate. According to the newspaper, the plan came as a response from the Israeli Supreme Court to “Yeash Din” -Israeli human rights organization- to evacuate the illegal settlement of ‘Adi ‘Ad east of the illegal settlement of Shilo which was built on private Palestinian land.

Moreover , and in its response, the Israeli prosecution informed the court concerning the Israeli government intention to legalize the aforementioned outpost as well as three other outposts (Kida, Yeash Kodesh and Ahiya) that are located eastward to the settlement of Shilo.

Furthermore ,the Israeli prosecution added that a work is being carried out to verify the borders of “state lands” in the area referred to as “Blue line team1” at what is so-called Israeli Civil Administration as a preliminary stage for authorizing the outposts. After the team’s work is completed, the Israeli government would claim its intention to evacuate buildings found to be on private Palestinian land and authorize the buildings on what is so-called “ state land”!!. Sixteen buildings in ‘Adei Ad are estimated to be on private land according to the authorities.

It is worth mentioning that on the 28th of November 2011, the Israeli Government ratified the construction of 119 new housing units in Shilo settlement, of which 50 were already built in the settlement and were awaiting Government's approval.

Moreover, and on of February 22, 2012 , the Israeli Civil Administration was about to give the green light for the construction of 500 new housing units in the Settlement of Shilo and another 125 new housing units in the settlement of Shevut Rahel, both located in Nablus Governorate.

As a matter of fact , the settlement of Eli, Shilo and Shuvut Rahel  as well as the surrounding illegal outposts were built of the Palestinian lands

20 Outposts Associated with 3 Settlements in 1 Corridor

The illegal settlements of Shevut Rachel (Mitzpe Rachel) , Eli and Shilo are located in the area defined by Israel as the "corridors area".

 In a geopolitical analysis for the (Eli, Shilo and Shuvut Rahel ) corridor we can find that 20 illegal outposts installed in the corridor associated with the 3 aforementioned settlements. Out of the 20 illegal outpost, we have 13 located outside the master plan area of Shilo , Eli and Shuvut Rahel settlements where they could be considered as a nuke for new future settlements. See the map below:-

Map for the corridor including the 4 outpost supposed to be legalized

On the ground, Israel is trying to impose its control over the Israeli settlements and outposts  in the corridors area so that at the end, it will annex as many settlements and outposts as possible to its proper before reaching an agreement with the Palestinians and will negotiate over the evacuation of an insignificant number of Israeli settlements and settlers from the West Bank Territory.

The aforementioned settlements and outposts are located in the corridors areas which Israel seeks to control since it constitutes a geographical link between the Eastern Segregation Zone (ESZ)and the western segregation zone (WSZ). 

It is worth mentioning that according to the Israeli Segregation Wall plan that was published on the Israeli Ministry of Defense website on April 30, 2007 and upon Segregation  Wall completion, Israel will annex 60 Israeli outposts (out of 232, total number of outposts in the West Bank) to its proper in addition to 32 outposts in the Eastern Segregation Zone and 96 Israeli outposts in the Corridors Zone. In total, around 81% of the total number of the Israeli outposts in the Occupied Palestinian territory will be annexed to Israel once Israel completes its plans in the area.

Also ,  there are 31 Israeli settlement located in the Israeli corridors area, and  occupy an area of ​​35.3 km2 (18 % of the total area of ​​the settlements in the West Bank, amounting to 196 km2). Additionally, the population of Israeli settlements located in the corridors area is 52,282 Israeli settlers (2011), representing 7.2 % of the total population of settlers in the occupied West Bank (amounting to 720 thousand settlers).

To Sum Up

Israel is moving forward with its colonial and expansionist projects in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) through reinforcing the existence of the illegal settlements, outposts, and other colonial structures in the occupied West Bank.

The  existence of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and their expansions are Illegal and contradicts with the international law rules, United Nations Security Council Resolutions such as 237 (1967), 271 (1969), 446 (1979),  452 (1979) ,465 (1980.

• Resolution 446 March 22, 1979 calls on Israel to rescind its previous measures and to desist from taking any action which would result in changing the legal status and geographical nature and materially affecting the demographic composition of the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem and, in particular, not to transfer parts of its own civilian population into the occupied Arab territories"
• Also the resolution 452 of the 1979 “calls upon the Government and people of Israel to cease, on an urgent basis, the establishment, construction and planning of settlements in the Arab Territories since 1967 including east Jerusalem.

• United Nation Security Council Resolution 452 of 1979: 'Calls upon the Government and people of Israel to cease, on an urgent basis, the establishment, construction and planning of settlements in the Arab occupied Territory since 1967, including Jerusalem.'
• Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949: 'the occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own population into the Territory it occupies.'
• The Roadmap of Peace signed on April 30, 2003  between Israel and the Palestinians (originally developed by the United States, in cooperation with Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations (the Quartet)) under which the Israeli Government agreed to freeze all settlement, indicated that: The -Government of Israel- immediately dismantles settlement outposts erected since March 2001, and, consistent with the Mitchell Report, [Government of Israel] freezes all settlement activity (including natural growth of settlements).The plan was adopted by the USCR 1515-2003.
• The Fourth Geneva Convention in Article 174 also prohibits the 'extensive destruction and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly'.

1 Blue Line Team: a team in the Israeli Civil Administration related to the Israeli Ministry of Defense. The sole scope of work of the team  is to check the status of the Palestinian lands and to classify them if they are located within the “state land” zone or not. If the checked lands were classified and fall within “State Land” area, the blue line team inform the related authorities with results to push them toward expropriating the land

Prepared by:  
The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem