6.09.2005
High Court Justice
The Israeli Supreme Court is in accord with the world at large and international law:
The Disengagement Administration is expecting to receive an influx of compensation requests from Gaza settlers, in the wake of Thursday's High Court of Justice decision upholding the legality of the disengagement plan and increasing possible benefits for evacuees.
An expanded High Court panel on Thursday removed a major legal obstacle to the government's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and part of the northern West Bank.
The 11-judge panel, headed by Chief Justice Aharon Barak, also determined that "Judea and Samaria [West Bank] and the Gaza area are lands seized during warfare, and are not part of Israel."
B'Tselem offers a comprehensive resource to learn about settlements in Israel.
The Israeli group Peace Now has current accounts of settlement growth and expansion, last updated a couple of days ago.
After reading through those sources you might like to reflect on the text of the "Road Map" pertaining to settlement activity.
SETTLEMENTS
GOI immediately dismantles settlement outposts erected since March 2001.
Consistent with the Mitchell Report, GOI freezes all settlement activity (including natural growth of settlements.
To understand how the illegal settlements and the many "bypass roads (swaths of land three to four footbal fields wide) connecting them" ( which only Israelis can utilize) are frustrating any hope for an actual sovereign Palestinian state please read "The 94 Percent Solution A Matrix of Control" by Jeff Halpern.
I offer this quote from the sidebar:
The Matrix: How to Create Facts on the Ground
Locate settlements strategically so as to maintain control over the Territories even while "giving up" territory.
Carve the Occupied Territories into areas that do Expropriate land and exert constant pressures (including threats, extortion and bribes) on Palestinians to sell their lands.
not permit freedom of movement. Areas A, B, C and D in the West Bank, areas H-1 and H-2 in Hebron, Yellow, Green, Blue and White Areas in Gaza, and "open green spaces" of restricted housing in Palestinian East Jerusalem are good examples.
Construct a massive system of highways and bypass roads to link settlements and create barriers between Palestinian areas.
Control movement through the imposition of closed military areas, establishing a thick web of internal checkpoints and maintaining control of all border crossings.
Locate army bases in strategic sites, occupying land while keeping weaponry ready for reasserting control.
Construct industrial parks that give new life to isolated settlements, exploit cheap Palestinian labor while denying it access to Israel, rob Palestinian cities of their economic vitality, control key locations and ensure Israel's ability to continue dumping its industrial wastes onto the West Bank.
Maintain control over aquifers and other natural resources.
Exploit holy places as pretexts for maintaining a "security presence."
The High Court of Justice should make Israeli citizens proud.
No writing by me to speak of, but plenty of reading to inform your thought on the very important issue of illegal settlements in the Occupied Territories.
6/09/2005
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