UN reports highlight Israeli infringement of Palestinians` rights 2 United Nations

Between 1967 and the end of last year, Israel set up 120 settlements
in the West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem, and as of this August,
over 1,000 new buildings were being erected in the settlements, the
report says.


“The existence of settlements restricts the freedom of movement of
Palestinian residents in the West Bank in several ways, " the
Secretary-General notes, with Palestinians barred from entering
settlement areas without a special permit.


“Despite the claim of the Government of Israel that the internal
closure system within the West Bank is imposed on Palestinian
residents there for security purposes, most of those internal
restrictions on movement are largely premised on the protection of
Israeli settlers and settlements and are designed to provide settlers
with unobstructed travel capacity between settlements and to Israel
itself.”


Further, the report, covering the period between January and August
of this year, says that one-third of settlements and land
incorporated into these areas is private Palestinian-owned land, much
of which was expropriated by Israel on the grounds of military
necessity.

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