The main consideration behind the route for "numerous segments" of the separation fence was settlement expansion, according to a report published Tuesday by the human rights groups B'Tselem and Bimkom - Planners for Planning Rights.
The report, entitled "Under the Guise of Security: Routing the Separation Barrier to Enable Israeli Settlement Expansion in the West Bank," looks at four areas: the settlements Tzofin and Alfei Menashe near Qalqilyah, Modi'in Illit and the separation fence surrounding the Neveh Yaakov neighborhood in northern Jerusalem. The conclusion: a direct link between the route already built by the Defense Ministry and the future master plans for those settlements.
The report also concludes that in most of the cases in which the fence route was pushed eastward from the Green Line, this was done to include settlements within the fence and not out of security considerations - the main reason the state gives for the route of the fence in most areas and the main reason accepted by the courts.
The report says the fence runs east of 60 settlements, 12 of them within the Jerusalem municipal boundaries.
