Study: Settlers build illegally

JERUSALEM – An Israeli advocacy group has found that 39 percent of the land used by Jewish settlements in the West Bank is private Palestinian property and contends that construction there violates international and Israeli law guaranteeing the protection of property rights in the occupied territories.

In a critical report released here Tuesday, the Settlement Watch project of Peace Now also disclosed that much of the land that Israeli officials have said would remain part of the Jewish state under any final peace agreement is private Palestinian property.

That includes some of the large settlement blocs inside the barrier that Israel is building to separate Israelis from the Palestinian population in the West Bank.

Israel’s government has long maintained that the settlements, developed in large part with public money, sit on untitled property known as “state land” or on property of unclear legal status.

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. Israeli officials said Tuesday they are studying the findings.

Peace Now is an advocacy group that supports the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel and believes the Jewish settlements in the West Bank represent a major obstacle to achieving one.