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Views of security fence being build around Bethleham. ...
security fence around bethlehem
Facts & statistics on settlements
by Pressureworks, published 11 May, 2006
Settlements in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories often make the news - but what are the facts? 
Numbers of settlements

• There are 121 official settlements in the West Bank
• The built up area of the settlements is less than 3% of the area of the West Bank but the area they control (municipal area) is more than 40%
• There are 101 unauthorised outposts in the West Bank.
• There are 240,000 settlers in the West Bank, not including East Jerusalem
• 60% of the West Bank is under Israeli control 
• The separation barrier Israel is building annexes 10 per cent of the West Bank. 
Humanitarian impact
• Movement restrictions for Palestinians between West Bank communities means around 60,000 Palestinians have to cross through checkpoints daily. 
• The barrier Israel is building throughout the West Bank is resulting in neighbourhoods being separated from each other, and education, medical and economic ties being severed. 
• West Bank residents are restricted from entering Jerusalem to extent that the city is becoming totally isolated from Palestinian communities in the West Bank. 
International law
The establishment of settlements on the West Bank violates international humanitarian law, which establishes the principles applying during war and occupation. 
The Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits the occupying power from transferring citizens from its own territory to the occupied territory (Article 49). 
The Hague Regulations prohibit the occupying power to undertake permanent changes in the occupied area, unless these are due to military needs in the narrow sense of the term, or unless they are undertaken for the benefit of the local population.
The establishment of the settlements leads to the violation of the rights of the Palestinians as enshrined in international human rights law. 
The settlements infringe the right to Palestinian self-determination, equality, property, an adequate standard of living, and freedom of movement. 
 
 
 
 
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