Rights Group Examines Israeli Settlements in West Bank
About 40 percent of the West Bank is now controlled by Jews, a major obstacle for the creation of a Palestinian state even though most of the land is empty, a report said Monday.

The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem published the findings of its nine-month study just hours after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud party adopted a motion ruling out Palestinian statehood.

Though the settlements themselves occupy only about 2 percent of the territory, about 40 percent of the land is under the management of Jewish local authorities. Most settlements have grandiose expansion plans on paper, incorporating land many times the present size of the enclaves.

Since Israeli occupied the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war, successive Israeli governments have dotted the territory with 123 settlements housing 198,000 Israelis along the main north-south highway and ringing Palestinian towns and cities, B'Tselem said.

Those Israelis surround and divide about 1.8 million Palestinians, the report said.

Palestinians want to create a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and are demanding that all Israeli settlements be removed.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Israel-Settlements.html