A/HRC/22/63 1978 • The WZO, co-member of the Ministerial Committee on Settlements, publishes the Drobles Plan to build settlements on the central mountain ridge around Palestinian population centres. The plan shifts away from the Allon Plan in that the later had focused on agricultural settlements in unpopulated Arab areas, whereas the former focuses on urban settlements which are relatively easy to set up, market and populate in the midst of populated Arab areas. (October) 1979 • By 1979 there are 43 settlements and 10,000 settlers in the West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem.31 • The UN Security Council adopts Resolution 446 affirming ―that the Fourth Geneva (…) is applicable to the Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem‖ and determining that ―the policy and practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity and constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East.‖ 32 The resolution also provides for the establishment of a commission to examine the situation in relation to the settlements in the occupied territories including Jerusalem, which submits a report 33 to the Security Council. (22 March) • Military Order 783 5739 ―Concerning the Administration of Regional Councils‖ is issued. The order establishes the actual area controlled by settlements which can be modified at the discretion of the Israeli Military Regional Commander ―‗Area of a settlement‘ – the area bearing the settlement‘s name is circumscribed by a line on the map of the regional council which is signed by the regional commander (…) The regional commander has the right to alter (…) the boundaries on the map (…)‖ 34 (25 March) • Israeli Defence Ministry, Ezer Weizman, declares that some 61,000 dunums had been seized for military needs since 1967, with more than 40,000 dunums of private land given to the establishment of settlements. 35 • The High Court decision on the Elon Moreh case rules against the temporary seizure of land for military purposes. The testimony of retired military personnel that the land seized for the Elon Moreh settlement served no military purposes in addition to the testimony of the settlers themselves that they, along with the Israeli Prime Minister, saw the Elon Moreh settlement as a permanent settlement served to convince the High Court that the land was not legitimately seized for military purposes.36 (22 October) • Israeli Prime Minister Begin, in a Cabinet communiqué on settlements which mirrors the Drobles Plan, confirms that the Government has been implementing 31 32 33 34 35 36 Figures from Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, B’Tselem Land Grab May 2002 S/RES/446 S/13450; S/13679 Quoted by Hagit Ofran and Dror Etkes ―And Thou Shalt Spread …‖ Construction and development of settlements beyond the official limits of jurisdiction A special report presented by the ―Peace Now‖ Settlement Watch. Jerusalem, June 2007 Idith Zertal and Akiva Eldar, ―Lords of the Land‖, 2005 Duweikat v. Government of Israel, HCJ 390/79, 22 October 1979 (Elon Moreh case) 29