The Yesha settlement council on Saturday condemned a Peace Now report released November 20 claiming that 130 settlements in the West Bank were constructed completely or partially on private Palestinian lands.

According to the council, the report represents a "fraud and sleight of hand, through which Peace Now seeks to deceive Israeli society and the international community in order to apply pressure for a full withdrawal of the areas Israel liberated in the [1967] Six Day War."

The council's position paper, released to synagogues this weekend, makes no reference to specific communities cited in the Peace Now report, and the criticism directed at the report is primarily ideological.

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The paper states that, "the point of origin for the authors of the report is that all the areas of Judea and Samaria are private Palestinian lands unless proven otherwise, even though some 80 percent of it is rocky terrain."

The council claims the report uses inaccurate information and ignores land purchases paid in full and registered at the land registry office.

The Peace Now report received widespread press coverage worldwide and in the Palestinian Authority, and Palestinian media recommended presenting it to the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

Peace Now said the figures presented in the report are those used by the government, and were passed to it by the civil administration - a statement the administration has not denied.