A/HRC/22/63 1974 • A group of prominent settler activists form the Gush Emunim movement (in Hebrew the ―Bloc of the Faithful‖) to advance the cause of establishing settlements throughout the West Bank. 25 • Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin‘s (1974-1977) in a Cabinet Communiqué confirms the existence of a settlement policy: ―Settlements in the Administered territories are established solely in accordance with the government's decisions (…) The Prime Minister and the Minister of Defence are authorized to implement this policy.‖26 (26 July) 1977 • Thirty-one settlements have been established in the West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem), most of them within the outlines of the Allon Plan including in the Jordan Valley (the prime agricultural land of the West Bank), in the Ezyon bloc, in the southern Hebron hills and the Judean Desert. The settler population in the West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem) reaches about 4,500. 27 Some 50,000 Israelis live in settlements in East Jerusalem.28 • Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin (1977-1981) presents his basic policy guidelines to the Knesset. Paragraph 9 indicates the Government‘s support for the development of Israeli settlements throughout a land that goes beyond the green line: ―Settlement in Eretz Yisrael is a right as well as an integral part of the nation's security. The Government will act to achieve the strengthening, the widening and the development of Jewish settlement...‖29 (20 June). • Israeli Prime Minister Begin‘s Government statement anticipates the Drobles Plan. It outlines the mixed high-ranking structure, involving the Government and World Zionist Organization (WZO), responsible for granting legal status to new settlements. ― [N]o part of Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] should be handed over to foreign rule (…) the Ministerial Committee on Settlements, conferred legal status on three settlements in the West Bank established during the previous government's term of office (…) The joint Government-World Zionist Organization Settlement Affairs Committee today decided to recognize Ma'aleh Adumim, Ofra and Elon Moreh as full-fledged settlements, and charged the settlement institutions with granting them commensurate treatment.‖ 30 (26 July) 25 26 27 28 29 30 28 Idith Zertal and Akiva Eldar, ―Lords of the Land‖, 2005. Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs ―17 Cabinet communiqué on settlements in the West Bank- 26 July 1974- and statement in the Knesset by Prime Minister Rabin- 31 July 1974, 26 Jul 1974, VOLUME 3: 1974-1977‖ www.mfa.gov.il B’Tselem‘s report, Land Grab, May 2002 B’Tselem‘s report, Land Grab, May 2002 Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs ―Basic guidelines of the government- 20 June 1977, 20 Jun 1977, Volume 4-5: 1977-1979‖ www.mfa.gov.il The 9th paragraph of policy guidelines presented in 1977 is quoted to in the presentation of Begin‘s policy guidelines in his second tenure in office on 5 August 1981. Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs ―23 Government statement on recognition of three settlements- 26 July 1977, Volumes 4-5: 1977-1979‖ www.mfa.gov.il