Project Objectives

About The Project

Monitoring Israeli Colonizing activities in the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza is a joint project between the Applied Research Institute in Jerusalem (ARIJ) and the Land Research Center (LRC). The project, funded by the European Union, aims at inspecting and scrutinizing Israeli colonizing activities in their different forms in the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza, and to disseminate the related information to policy makers in the European countries and to the general public. Specifically, the project will be providing accurate updates on the expansion of existing Israeli colonies, associated by-pass roads and land confiscation. It will also provide detailed baseline data related to specific sites where new Israeli colonizing activities are planned or initiated. Methods used to collect data and monitor the colonizing activities will include remote sensing satellite images, field work, aerial photographs, colonies' masterplans, and topographic maps.

General Objectives

To monitor Israeli colonizing activities in their different forms in the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza, and to disseminate the related information to European policy makers in the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza.

There are some corollaries resulting from achieving such an objective as:

1. providing an instrumental early warning information system for peace negotiators to identify nascent encroachments and colonizing activities so that they might tackle issues before they develop into confrontations;

2. assessing impact and damages of each activity; and

3. estimate monetary value of damages and losses due to illegal activities

Specific Objectives

1. provide, on a regular basis, accurate updates on changes in key indicators related to colonizing activities, including expansion in existing Israeli colonies and associated by-pass roads in the occupied Palestinian territories, increase in population size, additional housing units, and land confiscation

2. provide detailed baseline data related to specific sites where new Israeli colonizing activities are planned, and initial assessment of their political, and socio-economic impact on the Palestinian communities is initiated

3. quickly and effectively disseminate all information and analysis generated by this project to Palestinian and European policy makers and to institutions involved in monitoring the colonization activities.

Prepared by The Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem ( ARIJ)