West of the wall, settlement building continues

Palestinians in the Qalqiliya district, where Israel's separation wall extends 22 kilometers into the West Bank, have watched rapid construction in the settlement of Oranit continue despite the call for a partial freeze on building.

A spokesman from Israel's Civil Administration confirms officials are "familiar with the issue and are working to resolve it."

The Oranit settlement is located just beyond the Green Line, on lands internationally recognized as Palestinian, (just below the Matan settlement pictured in the series above), Oranit's 6,328 (circa 2008) settler inhabitants are preparing to receive hundreds more as housing units are completed.

Dozens of stop work orders handed were handed over in the area by the Israeli military and police, an Israeli source confirmed. In spite of this, Palestinian residents observed ongoing construction.

Though on Palestinian land, the settlement is west of Israel's separation wall, which curves and cuts between Palestinian villages and settlements, effectively annexing huge swaths of land to Israel. Locals have speculated that the construction moratorium does not apply to settlements on the West side of the separation wall, on lands effectively annexed to Israel.

According to the Israeli group Peace Now, more than 50% of the land Oranit occupies is privately owned by Palestinians. The organization's reports show that of the 164 Israeli settlements in the West Bank, 66 of them are built to the West of the separation wall.

The website Palestine Monitor calculates the number as 80. According to the Palestine Liberation Organization research department, over 100,000 settlers live in those 66 settlements.

An Israeli official who preferred not to be identified said this was not the policy, but would not speak on record.

For years, Palestinians in the Salfit, Tulkarem and Qalqiliya areas have observed settlements beyond the barrier expand, despite decisions by the International Court of Justice in the Hague deeming them illegal, and now also despite the Israeli declaration of a freeze.

The moratorium, announced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in November, applied only to settlements in the West Bank and not to those in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem. It is not clear how many other settlements west of the separation wall also continue to build homes illegally.