Israeli report on settlements condemned

A report by an Israeli government panel declaring that Israel's presence in the West Bank is not occupation drew condemnation yesterday from the United States, Palestinians and the Israeli left. The 89-page document, which was commissioned by Benjamin Netanyahu, was headed by a former Supreme Court justice and it attracted attention after appearing to contradict the international community's long-held view that the West Bank was occupied territory and that all settlements there were illegal. The committee argued that Israel is not a military occupier under international law and that all Israeli outposts should be legalised. The findings are not legally binding and, according to experts, are unlikely to be formally adopted by the government due to fear of an international diplomatic backlash. Nevertheless, they could still be used by Israel to try legitimise illegal outposts in the Palestinian territory. Yariv Oppenheimer, the director of the Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now, said: "This is music coming from the political level to the legal level. My fear is that it will lower the justice ministry's motivation to fight illegal Israeli building in the West Bank." Most of the world views all settlements in the West Bank as violating international law. Israel, however, considers about 120 Jewish communities there as legal while deeming dozens of smaller outposts as unauthorised. According to Mr Oppenheimer, there are currently petitions pending on 15 West Bank outposts whose construction was not authorised by the Israeli government, including five built on private Palestinian land. Palestinians denounced the report and said it was a blow to peace efforts. Ghassan Khatib, the spokesman for the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, said the report "hurts international efforts to establish a solution based on two states". The findings also seem to contradict the official position of the Israeli government and its Supreme Court. In legal documents and rulings the Israeli presence in the West Bank was described as "belligerent occupation" - an international legal term referring to a country's military control over a territory that is not its own. The report, according to Israeli media, has been kept under wraps since being submitted to the premier on June 21 as Mr Netanyahu and his advisers debated how to publicly react to it. According to the reports, the panel had been convened under pressure from government ministers from Mr Netanyahu's Likud party who wanted to cater to the ideology of the Likud's extreme right-wing camp. "This was Netanyahu's gesture towards the settlers and confirms that these are his views and those of most of his government," said Yossi Alpher, an Israeli political analyst. On Monday, Mr Netanyahu appeared non-committal on the report's findings, saying in a statement that he would bring the document "to be debated by the ministerial committee for settlement affairs on the West Bank and we will decide about it in that forum". The report has already drawn international ire, with the US - Israel's most powerful ally - condemning it late on Monday. Patrick Ventrell, a spokesman for the state department, told reporters: "We do not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity and we oppose any effort to legalise settlement outposts." The report has also attracted criticism from the Israeli centre and left. Talia Sasson, an attorney, said that Israel would find itself "in a dangerous position facing the rest of the world" if it considers stating that its West Bank presence did not violate international law.