Editing Israeli settlement (section)

== Land ownership ==
[[File:Elon Moreh.jpg|thumb|[[Elon Moreh]], West Bank]]

A 1996 amendment to an Israeli military order states that land privately owned can not be part of a settlement unless the land in question has been confiscated for military purposes.<ref name="Ofran, Etkes" /> In 2006 [[Peace Now]] acquired a report, which it claims was leaked from the Israeli Government's Civil Administration, indicating that up to 40 percent of the land Israel plans to retain in the West Bank is privately owned by Palestinians.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/21/world/middleeast/21land.html?hp&ex=1164171600&en=2e03da87b76e6581&ei=5094&partner=homepage|work=The New York Times|title=Israeli Map Says West Bank Posts Sit on Arab Land|first=Steven|last=Erlanger|date=21 November 2006|access-date=5 May 2010|archive-date=7 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140907000057/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/21/world/middleeast/21land.html?hp&ex=1164171600&en=2e03da87b76e6581&ei=5094&partner=homepage|url-status=live}}</ref> Peace Now called this a violation of Israeli law.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6168752.stm|work=BBC News|title=Settlements 'violate Israeli law'|date=21 November 2006|access-date=5 May 2010|archive-date=23 June 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100623072540/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6168752.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> Peace Now published a comprehensive report about settlements on private lands.<ref>Peace Now, [http://peacenow.org.il/eng/content/settlement-are-built-private-palestinian-land ''Breaking the Law in the West Bank – One Violation Leads to Another: Israeli Settlement Building on Private Palestinian Property''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304183233/http://peacenow.org.il/eng/content/settlement-are-built-private-palestinian-land |date=4 March 2016 }}. October 2006</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://peacenow.org.il/eng/content/reports?page=3|title=Reports|access-date=28 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305024402/http://peacenow.org.il/eng/content/reports?page=3|archive-date=5 March 2016}}</ref> In the wake of a legal battle, Peace Now lowered the figure to 32 percent, which the Civil Administration also denied.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/837656.html|title=דו"ח: 32% מההתנחלויות – על שטח פלשתיני פרטי|first=נדב|last=שרגאי|date=14 March 2007|access-date=28 July 2016|via=Haaretz|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629165458/http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/837656.html|archive-date=29 June 2011}}</ref> ''The Washington Post'' reported that "The 38-page report offers what appears to be a comprehensive argument against the Israeli government's contention that it avoids building on private land, drawing on the state's own data to make the case."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/21/AR2006112100482_pf.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|title=West Bank Settlements Often Use Private Palestinian Land, Study Says|first=Scott|last=Wilson|access-date=5 May 2010|archive-date=28 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628223509/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/21/AR2006112100482_pf.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In February 2008, the Civil Administration stated that the land on which more than a third of West Bank settlements was built had been expropriated by the IDF for "security purposes."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/954967.html|title=Haaretz – Israel News – Haaretz.com|access-date=28 July 2016|archive-date=28 November 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091128150323/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/954967.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The unauthorized seizure of private Palestinian land was defined by the Civil Administration itself as 'theft.'<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/964843.html|title=Court case reveals how settlers illegally grab West Bank lands|work=Haaretz|access-date=28 July 2016|archive-date=12 December 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091212122408/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/964843.html|url-status=live}}</ref> According to [[B'Tselem]], more than 42 percent of the West Bank are under control of the Israeli settlements, 21 percent of which was seized from private Palestinian owners, much of it in violation of the 1979 Israeli Supreme Court decision.<ref name="CBSmain6650897" />
[[File:Neve Danyal entrance.jpg|thumb|[[Neve Daniel]], West Bank]]
In 1979, the government decided to extend settlements or build new ones only on "state lands".<ref name=Eldar_220711 /><ref name="Ofran, Etkes" />

A secret database, drafted by a retired senior officer, Baruch Spiegel, on orders from former [[Ministry of Defense (Israel)|defense minister]] [[Shaul Mofaz]], found that some settlements deemed legal by Israel were illegal outposts, and that large portions of [[Ofra]], [[Elon Moreh]] and [[Beit El]] were built on private Palestinian land. The "Spiegel report" was revealed by Haaretz in 2009. Many settlements are largely built on private lands, without approval of the Israeli Government.<ref name=Spiegel>[http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1060150.html "Stop the deceit and whitewashing"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417093802/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1060150.html |date=17 April 2009 }}. ''Haaretz'', 30 January 2009<br />''Haaretz'', Uri Blau, [http://www.haaretz.com/secret-israeli-database-reveals-full-extent-of-illegal-settlement-1.266936 "Secret Israeli database reveals full extent of illegal settlement"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118232020/http://www.haaretz.com/secret-israeli-database-reveals-full-extent-of-illegal-settlement-1.266936 |date=18 January 2017 }}. 30 January 2009. <br />The published document (in Hebrew): {{cite web |url=http://www.fmep.org/analysis/reference/israeli-defense-ministry-database-on-illegal-construcion-in-the-territories |title=Israeli Defense Ministry Comprehensive Settler Database — FMEP |access-date=2013-02-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100322232438/http://www.fmep.org/analysis/reference/israeli-defense-ministry-database-on-illegal-construcion-in-the-territories |archive-date=22 March 2010 }}. Part of it was translated in English by Yesh Din: [http://www.fmep.org/analysis/reference/SpiegelDatabaseEng.pdf ''"Spiegel Database" of West Bank settlements and outposts developed by the Israeli Ministry of Defense'']{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> According to Israel, the bulk of the land was vacant, was leased from the state, or bought fairly from Palestinian landowners.

Invoking the [[Israeli Absentees' Property Laws|Absentees' Property Laws]] to transfer, sell or lease property in East Jerusalem owned by Palestinians who live elsewhere without compensation has been criticized both inside and outside of Israel.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4226497.stm|work=BBC News|title=Jerusalem land seizures 'illegal'|date=1 February 2005|access-date=5 May 2010|archive-date=9 November 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051109052407/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4226497.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> Opponents of the settlements claim that "vacant" land belonged to Arabs who fled or collectively to an entire village, a practice that developed under [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] rule. [[B'Tselem]] charged that Israel is using the absence of modern legal documents for the communal land as a legal basis for expropriating it. These "abandoned lands" are sometimes laundered through a series of fraudulent sales.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israeli-court-orders-settlers-to-return-land-to-palestinian-owners.premium-1.513829 |title=Israeli court orders settlers to return land to Palestinian owners |newspaper=Haaretz |access-date=28 July 2016 |date=7 April 2013 |last1=Levinson |first1=Chaim |archive-date=12 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512222627/http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israeli-court-orders-settlers-to-return-land-to-palestinian-owners.premium-1.513829 |url-status=live }}</ref>

According to Amira Hass, one of the techniques used by Israel to expropriate Palestinian land is to place desired areas under a "military firing zone" classification, and then issue orders for the evacuation of Palestinians from the villages in that range while allowing contiguous Jewish settlements to remain unaffected.<ref>[[Amira Hass]], [http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/a-proper-zionist-live-fire-zone.premium-1.459329 'A proper Zionist live fire zone,'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120821005603/http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/a-proper-zionist-live-fire-zone.premium-1.459329 |date=21 August 2012 }} ''[[Haaretz]]'', 20 August 2012</ref>