The Macro Center for Political Economics built a unique database of the Israeli Settlements in the West Bank – The Settlements Encyclopedia. The database, constructed in 2004, is based on aerial photographs of the West Bank. A new set of aerial photographs (taken in mid-2008) was recently used to update the database, now containing 131 settlements. The database is unique as no official data of the construction in the West Bank was ever released by the Israeli government.

 

By analyzing the aerial photographs the center's experts were able to build a complete and accurate inventory of all the construction performed by Israel in the West Bank. Data from various secondary sources, such as The Central Bureau of Statistics, Regional Councils, etc. was gathered in order to complete the information about each settlement.

The value of the inventory of each settlement was assessed using surveys of construction costs. In addition assessments by contractors and engineers were used to evaluate the costs.

 

Currently a 2008 updated database is available. The Encyclopedia contains the following data for each settlement:

-         Demographic and economic data about the settlement.

-         Inventory of construction by usage: municipal institutions, residential, industrial, commercial, and agriculture. The inventory is given both in number of units and in total sq. meters by usage.

-         Infrastructure inventory: roads, gas stations, water and electric installations.

-         Value (cost) estimates for each item (in current US Dollars).

-         Aerial Photograph of the settlement.

For each settlement, inventory data is available for both 2004 and 2008.

A total of 131 settlements are available.