TEL AVIV, February 26, 2007, (WAFA)-A new report released Monday by Peace Now said that several West Bank colonies have seized land from nature reserves for construction purposes.

Haaretz daily reported that the left-wing organization's claim is based on a comparison of aerial photographs of colonies and outposts and maps of nature reserves.

The report, which refers to colonies in the northern West Bank, stated that the phenomenon is widespread and a central reason for the popularity of colonies in the area.

The analysis indicated that the territory claimed by 21 colonies and 10 outposts includes land belonging to nature reserves or national parks. According to the report, the colonies have claimed a total of 1,900 Dunam in land in this manner.

In some cases, structures were built and roads were paved on reserve and park lands.

In extreme cases, dozens of structures were built. In the colony Karnei Shomron, for example, 73 permanent structures were established within the confines of the Kaneh stream reserve. The colonies of Beit Arieh and Negohot combined also saw the construction of over 20 new structures.

According to Peace Now's data, the land of four outposts falls completely within the confines of nature reserves. The most significant of these is the outpost Alonei Shiloh, which consists of 44 structures.

"Those responsible for planning decided that reserve land should be annexed to the settlements, and the motivation was not only preserving nature ? it was political," said Dror Etkes, Peace Now's settlement monitoring coordinator. "When the need to preserve nature stood in opposition to the need to expand construction in the settlement, the settelement's needs triumphed."

Peace Now submitted the list of settlements and outposts that infringe on nature reserves to the attention of the Israeli Civil Administration.

M.H.(13:31 P)(11:31 GMT)