Facts on the ground is a diplomatic andgeopolitical term that means the situation in reality as opposed to in the abstract.[1][failed verification] The term was popularised in the 1970s in discussions of theIsraeli–Palestinian conflict[2] to refer toIsraeli settlements built in theoccupiedWest Bank, which were intended to establish permanent Israeli footholds in Palestinian territory.[3]
Rashid Khalidi wrote in 2010:
One reason Israel continues to build settlements is that, according to the so-calledClinton parameters laid down in 2000, a final Israeli–Palestinian agreement would grant sovereignty over Jewish-occupied areas to Israel, and Palestinian-inhabited areas to the new Palestinian state. Indeed, well over a decade of failed negotiations have only led to an acceleration of Israel's land grab in the Holy City. Israeli planners have spent this time pushing settlers into heavily Arab-inhabited areas of the city, such asSheikh Jarrah,Silwan, andAbu Dis, in order to create fresh "facts on the ground"—a tactic used by the Zionist movement for over a century in order to obtain control over more and more of Palestine.[4]
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