Israel rushes settlement growth after UNESCO accepts Palestinians

Israel is to expedite the construction of about 2,000 homes in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in response to the Palestinians' successful bid to join Unesco. Israel also imposed a temporary halt on the transfer of tax revenues which it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA) pending a final decision on whether to impose a long-term freeze. Israel collects about £630m a year in VAT and customs revenues which it passes on to the PA. A meeting of eight senior cabinet ministers agreed the punitive measures – which include a ban on Unesco missions to Israel – on Tuesday following the symbolically significant vote at the United Nations' cultural and educational agency.
Settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank are illegal under international law.

source: http://lawrenceofcyberia.blogs.com/photos/maps/landloss.html

Also see:The Israel Separation Barrier: Security Wall or Confinement Wall? - The "Separation Barrier" is not an isolated issue; it is the culminating issue of a suspect agenda. The suspect agenda has Israel creating settlements that intrude on Palestinian life and provoke Palestinian militants to terrorist actions. The terrorist actions are then used as a reason for constructing a barrier, a security wall whose intention shields aggressive responses to Israel's territorial ambitions in the West Bank.

Expropriation of Palestinian lands deep in the West Bank for use in Israel's "Separation Barrier," also called The Security Wall, has emphasized Israel's transgressions on Palestinian life and property. The United Nations (UN) overwhelmingly voted (144 to 4) a resolution that demands a stop to construction of the barrier and removal of the sections already completed. A UN Report concludes that "Palestinian families and communities are being separated from each other. Communities adjacent to Jerusalem are being cut off from the city, which they rely on for commerce, work and essential social services."  

The occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own population into the territories it occupies."Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention (August 12, 1949)

The settlements, declared illegal by several UN resolutions and deemed as possible war crimes, were started by a Labor government immediately after the 1967 war and have steadily increased with each Israeli government. The infrastructure of buildings, roads, and utilities have encroached upon the physical, social and economic well being of the Palestinians.