The Israel Foreign Ministry asserts that some settlements are legitimate, as they took shape when there was no operative diplomatic arrangement, and thus they did not violate any agreement. An early evacuation took place in as part of the Egypt—Israel Peace Treaty, when Israel was required to evacuate its settlers from the 18 Sinai settlements. Arab parties to the conflict had demanded the dismantlement of the settlements as a condition for peace with Israel.
The evacuation was carried out with force in some instances, for example in Yamit. The settlements were demolished, as it was feared that settlers might try to return to their homes after the evacuation. Israel's unilateral disengagement plan took place in It involved the evacuation of settlements in the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank, including all 21 settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank, while retaining control over Gaza's borders, coastline, and airspace.
Most of these settlements had existed since the early s, some were over 30 years old; [] the total population involved was more than 10, [ citation needed ]. There was significant opposition to the plan among parts of the Israeli public, and especially those living in the territories. Bush said that a permanent peace deal would have to reflect "demographic realities" in the West Bank regarding Israel's settlements. Within the former settlements, almost all buildings were demolished by Israel, with the exception of certain government and religious structures, which were completely emptied.
Some believe that settlements need not necessarily be dismantled and evacuated, even if Israel withdraws from the territory where they stand, as they can remain under Palestinian rule. These ideas have been expressed both by left-wing Israelis, [] and by Palestinians who advocate the two-state solution , and by extreme Israeli right-wingers and settlers [] who object to any dismantling and claim links to the land that are stronger than the political boundaries of the state of Israel.
The Israeli government has often threatened to dismantle outposts. Some have actually been dismantled, occasionally with use of force; this led to settler violence. American refusal to declare the settlements illegal was said to be the determining factor in the attempt to declare Palestinian statehood at the United Nations, the so-called Palestine initiative. Israel announced additional settlements in response to the Palestinian diplomatic initiative and Germany responded by moving to stop deliveries to Israel of submarines capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
Finally in , several European states switched to either abstain or vote for statehold in response to continued settlement construction. The settlements have been a source of tension between Israel and the U. Jimmy Carter regarded the settlements as illegal and tactically unwise. Ronald Reagan stated that they were legal but an obstacle to negotiations. Bush that a permanent peace treaty would have to reflect "demographic realities" in the West Bank. Palestinians claim that Israel has undermined the Oslo accords and peace process by continuing to expand the settlements. Settlements in the Sinai Peninsula were evacuated and razed in the wake of the peace agreement with Egypt.
The 27 ministers of foreign affairs of the European Union published a report in May strongly denouncing policies of the State of Israel in the West Bank and finding that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal and "threaten to make a two-state solution impossible. Israel claims that settlements thereby were not prohibited, since there is no explicit interim provision prohibiting continued settlement construction, the agreement does register an undertaking by both sides, namely that "Neither side shall initiate or take any step that will change the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip pending the outcome of the permanent status negotiations" Article XXX1 7 , which has been interpreted as, not forbidding settlements, but imposing severe restrictions on new settlement building after that date.
Final status proposals have called for retaining long-established communities along the Green Line and transferring the same amount of land in Israel to the Palestinian state. The Clinton administration proposed that Israel keep some settlements in the West Bank, especially those in large blocs near the pre borders of Israel, with the Palestinians receiving concessions of land in other parts of the country.
Fayed Mustafa , Palestinian ambassador to Russia, called for the return of Palestinian territories to Egypt and Jordan if talks failed. As Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak approved a plan requiring security commitments in exchange for withdrawal from the West Bank. President Barack Obama's speech in Cairo, delivered a speech setting out his principles for a Palestinian-Israeli peace, among others, he alleged " Vice President Joe Biden 's visit to Israel causing a diplomatic row. Bradley Burston has said that a negotiated or unilateral withdraw from most of the settlements in the West Bank is gaining traction in Israel.
In November , the United States offered to "fight against efforts to delegitimize Israel " and provide extra arms to Israel in exchange for a continuation of the settlement freeze and a final peace agreement, but failed to come to an agreement with the Israelis on the exact terms. In December , the United States criticised efforts by the Palestinian Authority to impose borders for the two states through the United Nations rather than through direct negotiations between the two sides. In November , Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu issued a month settlement freeze in the West Bank in an attempt to restart negotiations with the Palestinians.
The freeze did not apply to building in Jerusalem in areas across the green line, housing already under construction and existing construction described as "essential for normal life in the settlements" such as synagogues, schools, kindergartens and public buildings. The Palestinians refused to negotiate without a complete halt to construction. He cited Israel's dismantlement of settlements in both the Sinai which took place after a peace agreement, and its unilateral dismantlement of settlements in the Gaza Strip.
He presumed that settlements would stop being built were Palestinians to establish a state in a given area. The Clinton Parameters , a peace proposal by then U. In , Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that the Palestinians and Israel have agreed on the principle of a land swap. The issue of the ratio of land Israel would give to the Palestinians in exchange for keeping settlement blocs is an issue of dispute, with the Palestinians demanding that the ratio be 1: Bush acknowledged that such areas should be annexed to Israel in a letter to Prime Minister Sharon.
The European Union position is that any annexation of settlements should be done as part of mutually agreed land swaps, which would see the Palestinians controlling territory equivalent to the territory captured in Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has proposed a plan which would see settlement blocs annexed to Israel in exchange for heavily Arab areas inside Israel as part of a population exchange. According to Mitchell G. Israel would prefer, however, to negotiate a peace treaty with the Palestinians that would specify which Jewish communities will remain intact within the mutually agreed border of Israel, and which will need to be evacuated.
Israel will undoubtedly insist that some or all of the "consensus" blocs become part of Israel". A number of proposals for the granting of Palestinian citizenship or residential permits to Jewish settlers in return for the removal of Israeli military installations from the West Bank have been fielded by such individuals [] as Arafat, [] Ibrahim Sarsur [] and Ahmed Qurei. The idea has been expressed by both advocates of the two-state solution [] and supporters of the settlers and conservative or fundamentalist currents in Israeli Judaism [] that, while objecting to any withdrawal, claim stronger links to the land than to the state of Israel.
On 19 June , Haaretz reported that the Israeli cabinet voted to revoke Defense Minister Ehud Barak 's authority to veto new settlement construction in the West Bank, by transferring this authority from the Agriculture Ministry, headed by Barak ally Orit Noked , to the Prime Minister's office.
In , newly elected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: But like all the governments there have been until now, I will have to meet the needs of natural growth in the population. I will not be able to choke the settlements. In April , four illegal outposts were retroactively legalized by the Israeli government. Amid peace negotiations that showed little signs of progress, Israel issued on 3 November , tenders for 1, new homes for Jewish settlers. The plots were offered in nine settlements in areas Israel says it intends to keep in any peace deal with the Palestinians. As stated before, the Israeli government as of has a program of residential subsidies in which Israeli settlers receive about double that given to Israelis in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
As well, settlers in isolated areas receive three times the Israeli national average. A New York Times article in stated that said building had been "at the heart of mounting European criticism of Israel. Media related to Israeli settlements in occupied territories at Wikimedia Commons. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. For other uses, see Israeli settlement disambiguation.
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Population statistics for Israeli West Bank settlements. Judea and Samaria Area. Former Israeli settlements in Sinai. Population statistics for Israeli Gaza Strip settlements. International law and Israeli settlements. Israel's unilateral disengagement plan. This section needs to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.
A strip of settlements at strategic sites enhances both internal and external security alike, as well as making concrete and realizing our right to Eretz Israel. We should ensure that there is no need for the expropriation of private plots from the members of the minorities. During this period, everything will be mainly determined by the facts we establish in these territories and less by any other considerations. This is therefore the best time for launching an extensive and comprehensive settlement momentum, particularly on the Judea and Samaria hilltops which are not easily passable by nature and which preside over the Jordan Valley on the cast and over the Coastal Plain on the west.
This should mainly find expression by establishing facts on the ground. Therefore, the state-owned lands and the uncultivated barren lands in Judea and Samaria ought to be seized right away, with the purpose of settling the areas between and around the centers occupied by the minorities so as to reduce to the minimum the danger of an additional Arab state being established in these territories. Being cut off by Jewish settlements the minority population will find it difficult to form a territorial and political continuity.
Otherwise, the minority population may get into a state of growing disquiet which will eventually result in recurrent efforts to establish an additional Arab state in these territories. The best and most effective way of removing every shadow of a doubt about our intention to hold on to Judea and Samaria forever is by speeding up the settlement momentum in these territories.
Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, — So argued the government of Israel before the country's Supreme Court in the spring of , defending its decision to dismantle all Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip and four in the northern West Bank. More than a dozen new settlements were established between the Wye Accord [sic: In there were , Note that the number of settlers increased by 18 percent during the Al Aqsa Intifada.
Peace or Apartheid Zed Books, p. Eight weeks in Palestine. The Israeli-Occupied Territories Since ". The American Journal of International Law. American Society of International Law. The international community has taken a critical view of both deportations and settlements as being contrary to international law.
General Assembly resolutions have condemned the deportations since , and have done so by overwhelming majorities in recent years. Likewise, they have consistently deplored the establishment of settlements, and have done so by overwhelming majorities throughout the period since the end of of the rapid expansion in their numbers. The Security Council has also been critical of deportations and settlements; and other bodies have viewed them as an obstacle to peace, and illegal under international law.
In Conforti, Benedetto; Bravo, Luigi.
The Italian Yearbook of International Law. The security barrier—between international law, constitutional law, and domestic judicial review". International Journal of Constitutional Law. The real controversy hovering over all the litigation on the security barrier concerns the fate of the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.
Since , Israel has allowed and even encouraged its citizens to live in the new settlements established in the territories, motivated by religious and national sentiments attached to the history of the Jewish nation in the land of Israel. This policy has also been justified in terms of security interests, taking into consideration the dangerous geographic circumstances of Israel before where Israeli areas on the Mediterranean coast were potentially threatened by Jordanian control of the West Bank ridge. The international community, for its part, has viewed this policy as patently illegal, based on the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention that prohibit moving populations to or from territories under occupation.
Human rights, self-determination and political change in the occupied Palestinian Hkterritories. International studies in human rights. It can thus clearly be concluded that the transfer of Israeli settlers into the occupied territories violates not only the laws of belligerent occupation but the Palestinian right of self-determination under international law. The question remains, however, whether this is of any practical value. In other words, given the view of the international community that the Israeli settlements are illegal under the law if belligerent occupation International Labour Organization The international community considers Israeli settlements within the occupied territories illegal and in breach of, inter alia, United Nations Security Council resolution of 1 March calling on Israel "to dismantle the existing settlements and in particular to cease, on an urgent basis, the establishment, construction and planning of settlements in the Arab territories occupied since , including Jerusalem".
Civilian and military presence as strategies of territorial control: Archived from the original on 19 September Retrieved 5 January Most Israelis support the pullout, but some feel the government has given in to Palestinian militant groups, and worry that further withdrawals will follow. Palestinian critics point out that Gaza will remain under Israeli control, and that they are being denied a political say in the disengagement process. Yearbook of the United Nations The Israeli Government was preparing to implement an unprecedented initiative: During Israel's government stuck to its territorial policy in word and deed.
All the settlements in Sinai were evacuated in accordance with the Camp David Accords, but settlement activity in the other territories continued uninterrupted. A few days after the final withdrawal from Sinai had been completed, Begin announced that he would introduce a resolution barring future governments from dismantling settlements, even as a result of peace negotiations. What are Israeli settlements, and why are they coming under pressure? International Court of Justice. Archived from the original PDF on 25 August Retrieved 9 November Archived from the original PDF on 13 September Retrieved 1 March The Times of Israel.
Retrieved 29 April Answers to frequently asked questions". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Are Israeli settlements legal? Accessed March 14, Retrieved 16 March Retrieved 7 June Israeli settlements are 'illegal' and 'obstacle' to peace". Retrieved 5 April Arabs move in to Jewish settlements Reuters. Foundation for Middle East Peace. Independent , 26 May Lustick, For the land and the Lord: Jewish fundamentalism in Israel , chapter 3, par.
Settlement Report , Vol. Archived from the original on 15 March Retrieved 18 March Haaretz , 30 March Times Books, Henry Holt and Company, , Jewish Settlement in Israel". Mossad Harav Kook, ,9. Madaf, , 65— Gleis, Withdrawing Under Fire: Retrieved 28 July The Etzion Bloc in the Judean Mountains".
Archived from the original on 26 October Archived from the original on 18 November Retrieved 15 March Archived from the original on 23 February Retrieved 14 March Retrieved 10 September Archived from the original PDF on 14 June Israeli officials including the head of the Shin Bet quoted in the newspaper Maariv have said that in the areas where the barrier was complete, the number of hostile infiltrations has decreased to almost zero. Maariv also stated that Palestinian militants, including a senior member of Islamic Jihad , had confirmed that the barrier made it much harder to conduct attacks inside Israel.
Since the completion of the fence in the area of Tulkarm and Qalqilyah in June , there have been no successful attacks from those areas. All attacks were intercepted or the suicide bombers detonated prematurely. Other factors are also cited as causes for the decline. According to Haaretz , a report by the Shin Beit concluded that "[t]he fence does make it harder for them [terrorists]" but that attacks in decreased due to increased pursuing of Palestinian militants by the Israeli army and intelligence organizations, Hamas's increased political activity, and a truce among Palestinian militant groups in the Palestinian Territories.
Haaretz reported, "[t]he security fence is no longer mentioned as the major factor in preventing suicide bombings, mainly because the terrorists have found ways to bypass it. The barrier has many effects on Palestinians including reduced freedoms, reduction of the number of Israel Defense Forces checkpoints and road closures, loss of land, increased difficulty in accessing medical and educational services in Israel, [58] [59] restricted access to water sources, and economic effects. In a report, the United Nations stated that:. The route inside the West Bank severs communities, people's access to services, livelihoods and religious and cultural amenities.
In addition, plans for the Barrier's exact route and crossing points through it are often not fully revealed until days before construction commences. This has led to considerable anxiety amongst Palestinians about how their future lives will be impacted. The land between the Barrier and the Green Line constitutes some of the most fertile in the West Bank. It is currently the home for 49, West Bank Palestinians living in 38 villages and towns. An often-quoted example of the effects of the barrier is the Palestinian town of Qalqilyah, a city of around 45,, which is surrounded almost on all sides by the barrier.
One 8 meter-high concrete section of this wall follows the Green Line between the city and the nearby Trans-Israel Highway. According to the BBC, this section, referred to as an "anti-sniper wall," is intended to prevent gun attacks against Israeli motorists on the Trans-Israel Highway. In , the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the government to change the route of the barrier in this area to ease movement of Palestinians between Qalqilyah and five surrounding villages.
In the same ruling, the court rejected the arguments that the fence must be built only on the Green Line. The ruling cited the topography of the terrain, security considerations, and sections 43 and 52 of The Hague Regulations and Article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention as reasons for this rejection. New directives stated that every Palestinian over the age of twelve living in the enclaves created in the closed area have to obtain a "permanent resident permit" from the Civil Administration to enable them to continue to live in their homes, approximately 27, people in all.
Other residents of the West Bank have to obtain special permits to enter the area. In June , The Washington Times [63] reported that the reduced Israeli military incursions in Jenin have prompted efforts to rebuild damaged streets and buildings and a gradual return to a semblance of normality, and in a letter [64] dated October 25, , from the Israeli mission to Kofi Annan , Israel's government pointed out that a number of restrictions east of the barrier have been lifted as a result of it, including a reduction in checkpoints from 71 to 47 and roadblocks from to The Jerusalem Post reports that, for some Palestinians who are Israeli citizens living in the Israeli Arab town of Umm el-Fahm population 42, near Jenin, the barrier has "significantly improved their lives" because, on one hand, it prevents would-be thieves or terrorists from coming to their town and, on the other hand, has increased the flow of customers from other parts of Israel who would normally have patronised Palestinian business in the West Bank, resulting in an economic boom.
The report states that the downsides are that the barrier has divided families in half and "damaged Israeli Arabs' solidarity with the Palestinians living on the other side of the Green Line". A UN report released in August observed that the existence of the barrier "replaced the need for closures: Physical obstacles have also been removed in Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate and Jerusalem Governorate where the Barrier is under construction. Parts of the barrier are built on land seized from Palestinians, [62] [67] or between Palestinians and their lands [68] In a report, the UN said that the most recent barrier route allocates more segments to be built on the Green Line itself compared to previous draft routes of the barrier.
However, in its current route the barrier is annexing 9. In early , 63 shops straddling the Green Line were demolished by the IDF during construction of the wall in the village of Nazlat Issa. In addition to loss of land, in the city of Qalqilyah one-third of the city's water wells lie on the other side of the barrier. The Israeli Supreme Court says the Israeli government's rejection of accusations of a de facto annexation of these wells, stating that "the construction of the fence does not affect the implementation of the water agreements determined in the interim agreement".
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia ESCWA estimates that in the north of the West Bank about 80 per cent of Palestinians who own land on the other side of the barrier have not received permits from the Israeli authorities, and hence cannot cultivate their fields. Israel has built a barrier in the Jordan Valley near the Jordanian border.
A plan to build another barrier between the West Bank and the Jordan valley was abandoned because of international condemnation after the International Court ruling, instead instituting a restrictive permit regime for Palestinians. In addition, almost a third of West Bank villages will suffer from lack of access to healthcare. After completion, many residents may lose complete access to emergency care at night. In towns near Jerusalem Abu Dis and al-Eizariya , for example, average time for an ambulance to travel to the nearest hospital has increased from 10 minutes to over minutes.
Farming is a primary source of income in the Palestinian communities situated along the Barrier's route, an area that constitutes one of the most fertile areas in the West Bank. The harm to the farming sector is liable to have drastic economic effects on the residents — whose economic situation is already very difficult — and drive many families into poverty.
On May 19, , the United Nations passed Security Council Resolution reiterating the obligation of Israel, the occupying Power, to abide scrupulously by its legal obligations and responsibilities under the Fourth Geneva Convention , and called on Israel to address its security needs within the boundaries of international law. Israel chose not to accept ICJ jurisdiction nor make oral statements, and instead submitted a page written statement containing the views of the Government of Israel on Jurisdiction and Propriety to the Court.
In a advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice , "Israel cannot rely on a right of self-defence or on a state of necessity in order to preclude the wrongfulness of the construction of the wall". So in the July 9, advisory opinion the ICJ advised that the barrier is a violation of international law, that it should be removed, that Arab residents should be compensated for any damage done, and that other states take action to obtain Israel's compliance with the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The ICJ said that an occupying power cannot claim that the lawful inhabitants of the occupied territory constitute a "foreign" threat for the purposes of Article 51 of the UN Charter. It also explained that necessity may constitute a circumstance precluding wrongfulness under certain very limited circumstances, but that Article 25 of the International Law Commission's Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts ARSIWA bars a defense of necessity if the State has contributed to the situation of necessity.
The Court cited illegal interference by the government of Israel with the Palestinian's national right to self-determination; and land confiscations, house demolitions, the creation of enclaves, and restrictions on movement and access to water, food, education, health care, work, and an adequate standard of living in violation of Israel's obligations under international law. The Court also said that Israeli settlements had been established and that Palestinians had been displaced in violation of Article 49, paragraph 6, of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Israeli supporters of the barrier stood in the plaza near the courthouse, holding the portraits of terror victims. The organization Christians for Israel helped bring the No. In April , B'Tselem stated that "Israel has made cynical use of security claims to justify grave human rights violations in the Occupied Territories Among other things the determination of the route of the barrier was based on political considerations, the attempt to leave the settlements to the west of the barrier, and protection of access routes for religious sites - none of which are at all related to military considerations.
This situation is likely to render the entire separation barrier project illegal according to international law. However, it did rule that the barrier is legal in principle and accepted the Israeli government's assertion that it is a security measure. On September 15, , the Supreme Court of Israel ordered the Israeli government to alter the route of the barrier to ensure that negative impacts on Palestinians would be minimized and proportional.
The court concluded that the barrier violated international law. The US and Israel rejected both the verdict and the resolution. According to a survey conducted by the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research , an academic research institution of Tel Aviv University , there was overwhelming support for the barrier among the Jewish population of Israel: Some Israelis oppose the barrier. The Israeli Peace Now movement has stated that while they would support a barrier that follows the Armistice lines , the "current route of the fence is intended to destroy all chances of a future peace settlement with the Palestinians and to annex as much land as possible from the West Bank" and that the barrier would "only increase the blood to be spilt on both sides and continue the sacrificing of Israeli and Palestinian lives for the settlements.
Shaul Arieli, a senior member of the Council for Peace and Security and one of the architects of the Geneva Initiative wrote in Haaretz in March of the importance "to complete the fence along a route based on security considerations. He called on the public to "demand that the new government complete the fence quickly and along a logical route.
Daniel Ayalon , Israel's ambassador to the United States, suggested that reduced ability to conduct attacks would "save the political process" because the barrier would neutralize the ability of militant groups "to hold that process hostage" by conducting these acts. Natan Sharansky , Minister of Housing and Construction at the time, viewed the security fence as an option for Israel to defend itself, because the Palestinian Authority had not become a partner in fighting terror, as it was obliged to do under all the agreements that it signed []. The Anti-Defamation League heavily criticized the ruling of the Court of Justice condemning the West Bank Barrier, asserting that the outcome was stacked against Israel in advance through the biased wording of the submission.
It said that Israel was systematically excluded from any say in the Court's makeup and asserted that an anti-Israel environment prevails at the General Assembly, which "regularly demonize[s] Israel". According to the ADL, the politicized nature of the process that produced the opinion threatens to undermine the integrity of the Court and contravene constructive efforts to promote peace in the region. The Palestinian population and its leadership are essentially unanimous in opposing the barrier. A significant number of Palestinians have been separated from their own farmlands or their places of work or study, and many more will be separated as the barriers near Jerusalem are completed.
Furthermore, because of its planned route as published by the Israeli government, the barrier is perceived as a plan to confine the Palestinian population to specific areas. More broadly, Palestinian spokespersons, supported by many in the Israeli left wing and other organizations, say that the hardships imposed by the barrier will breed further discontent amongst the affected population and add to the security problem rather than solving it.
In his November interview with Al-Manar TV , Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Salah said that the barrier is an important obstacle, and that "if it weren't there, the situation would be entirely different. The Palestinian National Authority has accused the U. They are rewarding illegal occupation, settlement and the apartheid wall. For over five years, hundreds of Palestinians and Israeli activists have gathered every week to protest the barrier at the town of Bil'in.
Between 23 December and 5 January a major demonstration against the wall was staged in London, in the grounds of St James's Church, Piccadilly. The demonstration was entitled "Bethlehem Unwrapped", and featured a large section of replica wall, reproducing both the fabric of the Israeli wall, and the graffiti to be found on it. Protesters staffed the wall in order to explain the demonstration to visitors and passers-by.
Large signs were erected, drawing attention to intentional protest against the wall. Particular reference was made to the International Court of Justice judgement of 9 July that the security wall contravened international law. The demonstration took place just days after the death of Nelson Mandela , and prominence was therefore given on billboards to Mandella's statement "The UN took a strong stand against apartheid We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians". They invited visitors to add additional graffiti, particularly in the forms of prayers for peace.
The Red Cross has declared the barrier in violation of the Geneva Convention. On February 18, , The International Committee of the Red Cross stated that the Israeli barrier "causes serious humanitarian and legal problems" and goes "far beyond what is permissible for an occupying power".
Amnesty International , Human Rights Watch and other Human rights groups have protested both the routing of the wall and the means by which the land to build the wall was obtained. This in order to facilitate passage between Israel and more than 50 illegal Israeli settlements located in the West Bank. On February 20, the World Council of Churches demanded that Israel halt and reverse construction on the barrier and strongly condemned "violations of human rights and humanitarian consequences" that resulted from the construction of the barrier. While acknowledging Israel's serious security concerns and asserting that the construction of the barrier on its own territory would not have been a violation of international law, the statement called on "member Churches, Ecumenical Councils of Churches, Christian World Communions and specialized ministries of churches to condemn the wall as an act of unlawful annexation.
In , when the Bush administration was considering reducing loan guarantees to Israel to discourage construction of the fence, then Secretary of State Colin Powell criticized the project. He said, "A nation is within its rights to put up a fence if it sees the need for one. However, in the case of the Israeli fence, we are concerned when the fence crosses over onto the land of others. Bush said "In light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli population centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of , and all previous efforts to negotiate a two-state solution have reached the same conclusion.
On May 25, , Bush said, "I think the wall is a problem. And I discussed this with Ariel Sharon. It is very difficult to develop confidence between the Palestinians and Israel with a wall snaking through the West Bank. In , Hillary Clinton , at the time a U. Senator from New York, said she supports the separation fence Israel is building along the edges of the West Bank, and that the onus is on the Palestinian Authority to fight terrorism.
The Palestinian people have to help to prevent terrorism. They have to change the attitudes about terrorism. In , Senator Charles Schumer said: According to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton , the EU considers the barrier to be illegal to the extent it is built on Palestinian land. The Canadian Government recognizes Israel's right to protect its citizens from terrorist attacks, including through the restriction of access to its territory, and by building a barrier on its own territory for security purposes. However, it opposes the barrier's incursion into and the disruption of occupied territories.
Considering the West Bank including East Jerusalem to be "occupied territory", the Canadian government considers the barrier to be contrary to international law under the Fourth Geneva Convention. It opposes the barrier and the expropriations and the demolition of houses and economic infrastructure preceding its construction. Although the Barrier is purported to be a temporary defense against Palestinian attacks, many view it as significant in terms of future negotiations over Israel's final borders. James Zogby , president of the Arab American Institute , has said that the barrier has "unilaterally helped to demarcate the route for future Israeli control over huge West Bank settlement blocks and large swathes of West Bank land".
Some have speculated that the barrier will prejudice the outcome of border negotiations in favor of the Israelis. The fence is a warning: If Palestinians don't stop terrorism and forfeit their dream of destroying Israel, Israel may impose its own map on them While the state of Israel enables freedom of religion for all of its citizens, it does not enable civil marriage. The state forbids and disapproves of any civil marriages or non-religious divorces performed amongst within the country. Because of this, some Israelis choose to marry outside of Israel. Many parts of the "status quo" have been challenged by secular Israelis regarding the Chief Rabbinate's strict control over Jewish weddings, Jewish divorce proceedings, conversions, and the question of who is a Jew for the purposes of immigration.
The Ministry of Education manages the secular and Orthodox school networks of various faiths in parallel, with a limited degree of independence and a common core curriculum. In recent years, perceived frustration with the status quo among the secular population has strengthened parties such as Shinui , which advocate separation of religion and state, without much success so far. Today the secular Israeli Jews claim that they aren't religious and don't observe Jewish law, and that Israel as a democratic modern country should not force the observance thereof upon its citizens against their will.
The Orthodox Israeli Jews claim that the separation between state and religion will contribute to the end of Israel's Jewish identity. Signs of the first challenge to the status quo came in , with the fall of the Labor government that had been in power since independence, and the formation of a right-wing coalition under Menachem Begin.
Right-wing Revisionist Zionism had always been more acceptable to the Orthodox parties, since it did not share the same history of anti-religious rhetoric that marked socialist Zionism. Furthermore, Begin needed the Haredi members of the Knesset Israel's unicameral parliament to form his coalition, and offered more power and benefits to their community than what they had been accustomed to receiving, including a lifting of the numerical limit on military exemptions for those engaged in full-time Torah study.
On the other hand, secular Israelis began questioning whether a "status quo" based on the conditions of the s and s was still relevant in the s and s, and reckoned that they had cultural and institutional support to enable them to change it regardless of its relevance. They challenged Orthodox control of personal affairs such as marriage and divorce, resented the lack of entertainment and transportation options on the Jewish Sabbath then the country's only day of rest , and questioned whether the burden of military service was being shared equitably, since the scholars who originally benefited from the exemption, had grown to 50, [ citation needed ].
Finally, the Progressive and Conservative communities, though still small, began to exert themselves as an alternative to the Haredi control of religious issues. No one was happy with the "status quo"; the Orthodox used their newfound political force to attempt to extend religious control, and the non-Orthodox sought to reduce or even eliminate it. It was during the British Mandate of Palestine that the British administration established an official dual Ashkenazi-Sephardi "Chief Rabbinate" rabbanut harashit that was exclusively Orthodox, as part of an effort to consolidate and organize Jewish life based on its own model in Britain, which encouraged strict loyalty to the British crown, and in order to attempt to influence the religious life of the Jews in Palestine in a similar fashion.
Rabbi Kook was a leading light of the religious Zionist movement, and was acknowledged by all as a great rabbi of his generation. He believed that the work of secular Jews toward creating an eventual Jewish state in Eretz Yisrael was part of a divine plan for the settlement of the land of Israel.
The return to Israel was in Kook's view not merely a political phenomenon to save Jews from persecution, but an event of extraordinary historical and theological significance. Prior to the British conquest of Palestine, the Ottomans had recognized the leading rabbis of the Old Yishuv as the official leaders of the small Jewish community that for many centuries consisted mostly of the devoutly Orthodox Jews from Eastern Europe as well as those from the Levant who had made aliyah to the Holy Land, primarily for religious reasons.
The European immigrants had unified themselves in an organization initially known as the Vaad Ha'ir , which later changed its name to Edah HaChareidis. Thus the centrality of an Orthodox dominated Chief Rabbinate became part of the new state of Israel as well when it was established in Through a complex system of "advice and consent" from a variety of senior rabbis and influential politicians, each Israeli city and town also gets to elect its own local Orthodox Chief Rabbi who is looked up to by substantial regional and even national religious and even non-religious Israeli Jews.
Through a national network of Batei Din "religious courts" , each headed only by approved Orthodox Av Beit Din judges, as well as a network of "Religious Councils" that are part of each municipality, the Israeli Chief Rabbinate retains exclusive control and has the final say in the state about virtually all matters pertaining to conversion to Judaism , the Kosher certification of foods , the status of Jewish marriages and divorces , and monitoring and acting when called upon to supervise the observance of some laws relating to Shabbat observance, Passover particularly when issues concerning the sale or ownership of Chametz come up , the observance of the Sabbatical year and the Jubilee year in the agricultural sphere.
The IDF has a number of units that cater to the unique religious requirements of the Religious Zionist yeshiva students through the Hesder program of combined alternating military service and yeshiva studies over several years.
A poll conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute in April and May of which institutions were most and least trusted by Israeli citizens showed that Israelis have little trust in the religious establishment. The Karaites are an ancient Jewish community that practices a form of Judaism distinct from Rabbinical Judaism , dating ostensibly to between the 7th and 9th centuries based on textual evidence, [37] [38] [39] though they claim a tradition at least as old as other forms of Judaism with some tracing their origins to the Masoretes and the Sadducees.
Once making up a significant proportion [ clarification needed ] of the Jewish population, [40] they are now an extreme minority compared to Rabbinical Judaism. Nearly the entirety of their population, between 30, and 50,, currently live in Israel, [41] and reside mainly in Ramla , Ashdod and Beer-Sheva. There are an estimated 10, additional Karaites living elsewhere around the world, mainly in the United States, Turkey, [41] Poland, [42] and elsewhere in Europe.
On December 7, , the chief rabbis of Israel issued a new policy requiring that foreign Jewish converts be recognized in Israel, and vowed to release criteria required for recognizing rabbis who perform such conversions. Israel is home to the only significant populations of Samaritans in the world. As of November 1, , there were Samaritans. Ancestrally, they claim descent from a group of Israelite inhabitants from the tribes of Joseph divided between the two "half tribes" of Ephraim and Manasseh , and the priestly tribe of Levi. Most Christians living permanently in Israel are Arabs , or have come from other countries to live and work mainly in churches or monasteries , which have long and enduring histories in the land.
Christian Arabs are one of the most educated groups in Israel. Maariv has described the Christian-Arab sector as "the most successful in the education system", [49] since Christian Arabs fared the best in terms of education in comparison to any other group receiving an education in Israel. According to historical and traditional sources, Jesus lived in the Land of Israel , and died and was buried on the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, making the land a Holy Land for Christianity. However, few Christians now live in the area, compared to Muslims and Jews.
This is because Islam displaced Christianity in almost all of the Middle East, and the rise of modern Zionism and the establishment of the State of Israel has seen millions of Jews migrate to Israel. Recently, the Christian population in Israel has increased with the immigration of foreign workers from a number of countries, and the immigration of accompanying non-Jewish spouses in mixed marriages.
Numerous churches have opened in Tel Aviv. Most Christians in Israel belong primarily to branches of the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches that oversee a variety of church buildings, monasteries, seminaries, and religious institutions all over the land, particularly in Jerusalem. Protestant Christians account for less than one percent of Israeli citizens, but foreign evangelical Protestants are a prominent source of political support for the State of Israel see Christian Zionism.
Messianic Judaism is a religious movement that incorporates elements of Judaism with the tenets of Christianity. They worship God the Father as one person of the Trinity. They worship Jesus, whom they call "Yeshua". Messianic Jews believe that Jesus is the Messiah. Most adherents in Israel reject traditional Christianity and its symbols, in favour of celebrating Jewish festivals.
Although followers of Messianic Judaism are not considered Jews under Israel's Law of Return, [55] there are an estimated 10, adherents in the State of Israel, both Jews and other non-Arab Israelis, many of them recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Jerusalem is a city of major religious significance for Muslims worldwide. After capturing the Old City of Jerusalem in , Israel found itself in control of Mount Moriah, which was the site of both Jewish temples and Islam's third holiest site, after those in Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia: This mountain, which has the Dome of the Rock and the adjacent Al-Aqsa Mosque on it, is the third-holiest site in Islam and the holiest in Judaism.
Since , the Israeli government has granted authority to a Waqf to administer the area. Rumors that the Israeli government are seeking to demolish the Muslim sites have angered Muslims. These beliefs are possibly related to excavations that have been taking place close to the Temple Mount, with the intention of gathering archeological remnants of the first and second temple period, [61] [62] as well as the stance of some rabbis and activists who call for its destruction to replace it with the Third Temple.
Their rulership reinforced and ensured the centrality and importance of Islam as the dominant religion in the region. The conquest of Palestine by the British in and the subsequent Balfour Declaration opened the gates for the arrival of large numbers of Jews in Palestine who began to tip the scales in favor of Judaism with the passing of each decade.
However, the British transferred the symbolic Islamic governance of the land to the Hashemites based in Jordan , and not to the House of Saud. The Hashemites thus became the official guardians of the Islamic holy places of Jerusalem and the areas around it, particularly strong when Jordan controlled the West Bank — The council was disbanded by Jordan in Islamic law remains the law for concerns relating to, for example, marriage, divorce, inheritance and other family matters relating to Muslims, without the need for formal recognition arrangements of the kind extended to the main Christian churches.
Similarly Ottoman law, in the form of the Mecelle , for a long time remained the basis of large parts of Israeli law, for example concerning land ownership. Ahmadiyya is a small Islamic sect in Israel. However, the Community was first established in the region in , in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine. The first converts to the movement belonged to the Odeh tribe who originated from Ni'lin , a small village near Jerusalem.
In the s they settled in Kababir, a former village which was later absorbed by the city of Haifa. Israel is the only country in the Middle East where Ahmadi Muslims can openly practice their Islamic faith. Israel is home to about , Druze who follow their own gnostic religion. Until his death in , the Druze community in Israel was led by Shaykh Amin Tarif , a charismatic figure regarded by many within the Druze community internationally as the preeminent religious leader of his time. The progress of these properties in construction projects was welcomed by the mayor of Haifa Amram Mitzna — The small Hindu community in Israel is mostly made up of representatives of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
In , most of the devotees lived in Katzir-Harish. Although the exact number of adherents are unknown one old estimate was total , primarily due to societal stigma and persecution, a growing number of young Israelis are secretly reviving the pre-Judaic polytheistic worship of ancient Canaanite gods known as Semitic neopaganism. Additionally, others worship in different neopagan traditions such as Celtic , Norse , and Wiccan.