Letter dated 23 March 1983 from the Permanent Representative of Jordan
to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General
I am sending you the latest information on Israel's settlement activity during the month of February 1983 in the occupied Arab territories, including Jerusalem. This activity, which is in violation of the principles of international law relating to military occupation and, in particular, the Hague Conventions of 1907 and the fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, includes the confiscation of Arab lands for the establishment of new settlements and the expansion of existing settlements and the promotion and expansion of the activity of the various organs and agencies of Zionist settlement.
I need not stress the dangers of the continuation of such a policy for peace and security in the context of the possibilities for peace in the region.
I should be grateful If you would arrange for this letter ana the annex thereto to be circulated as an official document of the General Assembly, under
item 69 of the preliminary list, and of the Security Council.
Israeli settlements during February 1983
During February 1983, the occupation authorities confiscated 220,056 dunums of West Bank land, as follows:
1. 23,000 dunums of the land of Yatta, Hebron district, confiscated on 1 February 1983.
2. 2,800 dunums of the land of Qaryat Salim, Nablus district, confiscated on 2 February 1983.
3. Six dunums of the land of Sha'fat, Jerusalem district, confiscated on 2 February 1983.
4. 4,000 dunums of the land of Deir al-Hatab and Azmut, Nablus district, confiscated on 4 February 1983, for audition to the settlement of Elon Moreh.
5. 500 dunums of the land of south Bituniya, Ramallah district, confiscated on 5 February 1983.
6. 170,000 dunums of the land lying between Hebron and the Dead Sea, containing 10 Palestinian villages, including the village of Yatta, south of Hebron, confiscated on 8 February 1983.
7. 20,000 dunums of the land of Ain Faris, Abu al-Zulf, Ras Qanat Salih, Far'ah (north-west of Dura, Hebron district), confiscated on 13 February 1983.
8. 200 dunums of the waqf land of Deir Dibwan in the Ramallah district, confiscated on 15 February 1983.
The most important settlement news received during this month was as follows:
1. During the period 1980-1982, the Israeli land Department appropriated 2,479 dunums of West Bank land.
2. The occupation authorities established 229 Israeli factories in the West Bank settlements, and 82 other factories are to be transferred from Israel to the West Bank.
3. The Israeli Ministry of Housing is building 2,000 housing units in five existing Israeli settlements in the West Bank, namely, Ariel, Emmanuel, Karney Shomron, Tsvat and Alve Munash.
4. The local councils of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, in co-operation with the Gush Emunim movement, have formed a joint cooperation committee to prevent attacks on and stoning of Jews by West Bank and Gaza Strip residents.
5. Israel's total expenditure on settlements in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights, not counting its expenditure in the Sinai Peninsula, from the June 1967 war up to the present, totalled, at current prices, $1,300,000,000, including the new settlement budget prepared for the current financial year.
6. A report issued by the Israeli Ministry of Housing stated that, by 6 February 1983, 8,876 housing units had been built in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights and that 2,808 housing units are currently under construction, bringing the number of existing units and units to be erected by the end of the current year to 11,684.
Minister for Occupied Territories Affairs
