AL QUDS: As the Palestinian intifada enters its fifth year, Israel seems more determined than ever to expand its settlement enterprise in the West Bank, arguably the most contentious aspect of the conflict.

Since the 1967 Six Day War, when Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Jewish settlement on Palestinian lands has become one of the most intractable problems of their bloody confrontation.

Although Israel has recently decided to withdraw from all 21 settlements in Gaza, settlement activity in the West Bank has positively flourished since the start of the intifada in September 2000.

There are currently around 225 Jewish settlements scattered across the West Bank, 127 of which are "government approved" settlements, and around a hundred which are known as "unauthorized" outposts.

Despite the labels, the international community considers all settlements in the occupied territories illegal. Figures published by Israel's central bureau of statistics showed there were some 232,000 settlers in the West Bank and Gaza at the end of 2003, compared with 198,000 at the end of 2000.

"There is no doubt that in terms of how much land is occupied by the settlers, the last four years have been one of their best periods ever," said Dror Etkes, a director of the settlement watchdog Peace Now.

Since September 2000, Etkes said there has been "a very significant increase" in the amount of land held by settlers, largely through the creation of outposts. Four years ago, Peace Now statistics showed there were around 40 makeshift outposts dotted around the West Bank.

Today, that number is closer to 100, many of which have since been connected to the water and electricity networks in a creeping "authorization" process. Under terms of the internationally drafted peace roadmap launched in June 2003, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon committed to tear down all outposts and halt the expansion of all existing settlements.

But while security forces have dismantled around 20 uninhabited outposts, and a handful of inhabited ones, many have been swiftly rebuilt. Furthermore, Israel has recently accelerated its settlement expansion drive, with public records showing that since June, tenders have been issued for more than 2,300 new housing units in the West Bank.

From the Palestinian perspective, the most serious development over the past four years was an April statement by US President George W. Bush that it was "unrealistic" to expect Israel to withdraw completely from the West Bank.

There has also been tacit agreement by the Bush administration to allow "natural growth" building projects in some of the biggest settlements. "The most damaging thing from the Palestinian perspective is seeing the shift in US policy, which effectively rewards Israel for building (settlements) and makes a two-state solution completely unviable," said Michael Tarazi, legal adviser to the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).

The US position has been that the settlements were an obstacle to peace. "The difference now is that Bush has, in effect, recognized Israel's construction of settlements and given them the incentive to build more - and if they become large enough, they can hold onto them."

Tarazi believes Israel is likely to dismantle more West Bank settlements, but only as part of a broader strategy. "Many of these settlements are set up as negotiating tools," he said. "They know that if they build up settlements everywhere, they can trade off the unimportant ones in exchange for the strategic ones."

Settler leaders, meanwhile, are convinced that Sharon's plan to pull out of Gaza and from four isolated settlements in the northern West Bank next year, is merely a taste of things to come.

"There is no value in Sharon's promises about keeping hold of communities (settlements) in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank)," said Shaul Goldstein, mayor of the southern Gush Etzion settlement bloc.

"Two years ago Sharon said that Netzarim (a settlement in Gaza) was like Tel Aviv, but today he's not only evacuating that, but all the other communities in Gaza too," he said of the man once known as the "father of the settlements". "There is no way we trust him." -AFP