Israeli President Shimon Peres called West Bank settlements a threat to Israel.

The remarks, made July 10 at the annual ceremony in memory of Zionism founder Theodor Herzl, appeared to address the Levy Committee  report released July 8 that said “Israel does not meet the criteria of ‘military occupation’ as defined under international law” in the West Bank, and that therefore settlements and West Bank outposts are legal.

“It is doubtful that a Jewish state without a Jewish majority can remain Jewish,” Peres said, inferring that settlements would lead to the inextricable inclusion of the Palestinians living on the West Bank.

The Obama administration also criticized the findings of the report.

“We do not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity, and we oppose any effort to legalize settlement outposts,” State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell told reporters July 9 in answer to a question about the Levy Committee report.

The committee, formed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and headed by former Israeli Supreme Court Justice Edmond Levy, said in its 89-page report released July 8 that “Israel does not meet the criteria of ‘military occupation’ as defined under international law” in the West Bank, and that therefore settlements and West Bank outposts are legal.

The report, which calls for legalizing all outposts and allowing people who built homes on Palestinian-owned land to pay compensation to the alleged owners, recommends changing the legal regulations concerning Jewish settlement in the West Bank in the areas of zoning, demolitions and building.

Dovish Jewish groups in the United States also criticized the report.

The findings of the committee are subject to the review and approval of Israeli Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein.

Netanyahu established the committee in January after settler leaders called for a response to the 2005 Sasson Report on illegal outposts, which concluded that more than 100 West Bank settlements and outposts constructed from the 1990s and forward were illegal. — jta