RESTRICTION SUMMARY: Ramallah - 17 March 2023. Palestinian protesters argue with Israeli forces during a protest against the expansion of Jewish settlements, in al-Laban al-Gharbi village near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

0.1 SOUNDBITE (in Arabic) Ali Youssef, an elderly Palestinian man.


STORYLINE:

Israeli settlements are Jewish communities built on Palestinian land. Between 600,000 and 750,000 Israeli settlers live in at least 250 settlements and outposts built by the Israeli government and settlers, across the Palestinian West Bank and East Jerusalem.

That is equivalent to roughly 11 percent of the total Jewish Israeli population. They live beyond the “internationally recognised” borders of their state, on Palestinian land that Israel militarily occupied in 1967 and continues to do so until today. Settlers also lived in the besieged Gaza Strip until 2005, when they were evacuated.

Israeli settlements are illegal under international law as they violate the Fourth Geneva Convention, which bans an occupying power from transferring its population to the area it occupies. This is for a variety of reasons, including protecting civilians from the theft of resources by the occupying power and to prevent changes in the demographic makeup of the occupied territory.

The majority of settlements have been built either entirely or partially on private Palestinian land. Despite being outside of Israel proper, these settlers are granted Israeli citizenship and receive government subsidies that significantly lower their cost of living. In contrast, Palestinians living in the West Bank are subject to Israeli military law.