Are Israeli settlements legal?
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs - November 2007
www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Palestinian+terror+since+2000/Israel-+the+Conflict+and+Peace-+Answers+to+Frequen.htm

Israeli settlements in the West Bank are legal both under international law
and the agreements between Israel and the Palestinians. Claims to the
contrary are mere attempts to distort the law for political purposes. Yet
whatever the status of the settlements, their existence should never be used
to justify terrorism.

The Palestinians often claim that settlement activity is illegal and call on
Israel to dismantle every settlement. In effect, they are demanding that
every Jew leave the West Bank, a form of ethnic cleansing. By contrast,
within Israel, Arabs and Jews live side-by-side; indeed, Israeli Arabs, who
account for approximately 20% of Israel's population, are citizens of Israel
with equal rights.

The Palestinian call to remove all Jewish presence from the disputed
territories is not only discriminatory and morally reprehensible; it has no
basis either in law or in the agreements between Israel and the
Palestinians.

The various agreements reached between Israel and the Palestinians since
1993 contain no prohibitions on the building or expansion of settlements. On
the contrary, they specifically provide that the issue of settlements is
reserved for permanent status negotiations, which are to take place in the
concluding stage of the peace talks. The parties expressly agreed that the
Palestinian Authority has no jurisdiction or control over settlements or
Israelis, pending the conclusion of a permanent status agreement.

It has been charged that the provision contained in the Israel-Palestinian
Interim Agreement prohibiting unilateral steps that alter the status of the
West Bank implies a ban on settlement activity. This position is
disingenuous. The prohibition on unilateral measures was designed to ensure
that neither side take steps that would change the legal status of this
territory (such as by annexation or a unilateral declaration of statehood),
pending the outcome of permanent status talks. The building of homes has no
effect on the final permanent status of the area as a whole. Were this
prohibition to be applied to building, it would lead to the unreasonable
interpretation that neither side is permitted to build houses to accommodate
the needs of their respective communities.

As the Israeli claim to these territories is legally valid, it is just as
legitimate for Israelis to build their communities as it is for the
Palestinians to build theirs. Yet in the spirit of compromise, successive
Israeli governments have indicated their willingness to negotiate the issue
and have adopted a voluntary freeze on the building of new settlements as a
confidence-building measure.