Argument

Israel is prohibited from transferring civilians from its own territory into the occupied territory. -- Under the Fourth Geneva Convention >>

Israel is prohibited from creating permanent changes in the occupied territory that are not for the benefit of the occupied population. -- Under the Fourth Geneva Convention >>

“Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (including East Jerusalem) have been established in breach of international law.” -- International Court of Justice, Legal Consequences, paras. 119–120; cf. para. 99. >>

Israeli settlements in the West Bank “are not only illegal under international law but are an obstacle to the enjoyment of human rights by the whole population, without distinction as to national or ethnic origin.” -- According to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination – the official body that interprets obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which Israel has ratified >>

Israel has build more than 250 settlements on Palestinian land >>

Israel has transferred more than 400,000 Israelis to the occupied territories >>

Israel removed 8,000 settler from the Gaza Strip >>

Israel removed 8,000 settler from the Gaza Strip so that Israel could seal its borders and rampage without fear of injuring the Jewish settlers. >>

The Jewish settler population in the Occupied Territories is increasing at a rate three times greater than that of the rate of population increase of Israel itself. >>

Israel’s actions in the Occupied Territories are primarily driven by the desire to annex the territory >>

Israel annexes about 50 percent of the West Bank
... Not as a homogeneous chunk of it, but as the total space of the settlement blocs, the apartheid roads, the military bases and the "national park reserves" (which are no-go areas for Palestinians). >>

The greater Jerusalem divides the West Bank into two discrete regions with no land connection for the Palestinians. >>

We enthusiastically chose to become a colonial society, ignoring international treaties, expropriating lands, transferring settlers from Israel to the occupied territories, engaging in theft and finding justification for all these activities. -- Michael Ben-Yair, attorney general from 1993-96 >>

Some of the settlement was undertaken from a desire to return to historic homelands >>

Some of the settlement was undertaken with security in mind >>

The establishment of settlements represent an obstacle to peace >>