Peace Now report: 21 settlements annex land from nature reserves

The left-wing organization's claim is based on a comparison of aerial photographs of settlements and outposts and maps of nature reserves.

The report, which refers to settlements in the northern West Bank, states that the phenomenon is widespread and a central reason for the popularity of settlements in the area.

The settlers have rejected the findings and accused Peace Now of spreading "false rumors."

The analysis indicates that the territory claimed by 21 settlements and 10 outposts includes land belonging to nature reserves or national parks. According to the report, the settlements have claimed a total of 1,900 dunam in land in this manner.

In some cases, structures were built and roads were paved on reserve and park lands. In other cases, settlements only annexed small plots of land and left them as open areas.

In extreme cases, dozens of structures were built. In the settlement Karnei Shomron, for example, 73 permanent structures were established within the confines of the Kaneh stream reserve. The settlements of Beit Arieh and Negohot combined also saw the construction of over 20 new structures.

According to Peace Now's data, the land of four outposts falls completely within the confines of nature reserves. The most significant of these is the outpost Alonei Shiloh, which consists of 44 structures.

"Those responsible for planning decided that reserve land should be annexed to the settlements, and the motivation was not only preserving nature ? it was political," said Dror Etkes, Peace Now's settlement monitoring coordinator. "When the need to preserve nature stood in opposition to the need to expand construction in the settlement, the settelement's needs triumphed."

Peace Now submitted the list of settlements and outposts that infringe on nature reserves to the attention of the Civil Administration, the Israel Defence Forces branch dealing with the West Bank's civilian population.

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