Between 1967 and the end of last year, Israel set up 120 settlements in the West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem, and as of this August, over 1,000 new buildings were being erected in the settlements, the report says. “The existence of settlements restricts the freedom of movement of Palestinian residents in the West Bank in several ways, " the Secretary-General notes, with Palestinians barred from entering settlement areas without a special permit. “Despite the claim of the Government of Israel that the internal closure system within the West Bank is imposed on Palestinian residents there for security purposes, most of those internal restrictions on movement are largely premised on the protection of Israeli settlers and settlements and are designed to provide settlers with unobstructed travel capacity between settlements and to Israel itself.” Further, the report, covering the period between January and August of this year, says that one-third of settlements and land incorporated into these areas is private Palestinian-owned land, much of which was expropriated by Israel on the grounds of military necessity. --MORE www.spa.gov.sa/605467