Americans For Peace Now - Controversial Claims

Controversial Claims

In an October 2006 report based on Israeli Civil Administration records, Peace Now claimed that “a large proportion of the settlements built on the West Bank are built on privately owned Palestinian land,” including 86.4% of Ma'ale Adumim's land and 35.1% of Ariel’s. Overall, the report claims, “Palestinians privately own nearly 40% of the land on which settlements have been built." At the time, the Israeli government did not admit that land for settlements were built on any private Palestine land. CAMERA rebutted the Peace Now allegations. In a subsequent update based on more recent Israeli Civil Administration records officially released to the public, the percentage of the land of West Bank settlements privately owned by Palestinians was nearer to 30%. This included a vast reduction for the Ma'ale Adumim settlement to no more than 0.54%.

The report based on the first records stated that 71.15% of the land in Revava was built on private Palestinian land. After disclosure of more current Israeli government records, the figure was reduced to 22%. Sued for libel in Jerusalem Magistrates Court by The Fund for Redeeming the Land, who formally owns Revava’s land, Peace Now was convicted of libel and ordered to pay the Fund 20,000 NIS and to make a public apology which they must publish in the newspapers Haaretz and Maariv.