Currently, about 58 percent of Israelis living in the West Bank live in just five settlement blocs – Ma’ale Adumim, Modi’in Ilit, Ariel, Gush Etzion
Gush Etzion
Gush Etzion is a cluster of Jewish settlements located in the Judaean Mountains, directly south of Jerusalem and Bethlehem in the West Bank. The core group includes four Jewish agricultural villages that were founded in 1940–1947 on property purchased in the 1920s and 1930s, and …
Where do most Israelis live in the West Bank?
Currently, about 58 percent of Israelis living in the West Bank live in just five settlement blocs – Ma’ale Adumim, Modi’in Ilit, Ariel, Gush Etzion, Givat Ze’ev – which, with the exception of Ariel, all lie within only a few miles of the 1949 armistice line (often inaccurately referred to as the 1967 border),...
What are the Jewish settlements in the West Bank?
Israeli Settlements: Facts About Jewish Settlements in the West Bank. by Mitchell G. Bard. The term “Settlements” usually refers to the towns and villages that Jews have established in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and the Gaza Strip since Israel captured the area in the Six-Day War of 1967.
What are the settlements in Israel?
The term “Settlements” usually refers to the towns and villages that Jews established in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and the Gaza Strip (prior to the disengagement) since Israel captured the area in the Six-Day War of 1967.
Do Israel’s West Bank settlements violate international law?
Editor’s note: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Nov. 18 said that Israel’s settlements in the West Bank do not violate international law. That pleased Israeli Jews who see the territory as rightfully theirs and infuriated the Palestinians who live there and claim it as their land.
See more
Do Arabs live in Israeli settlements?
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Little noticed amid the furor over one of Israel's most contentious policies, a small but growing number of Arabs are moving into Jewish settlements on occupied land in East Jerusalem, drawn by cheaper rent and better services.
Who lives in the West Bank in Israel?
The population of the West Bank and Gaza is almost completely Palestinian Arab. The bulk of these are Sunni Muslims: 92 percent of West Bankers and 99 percent of Gazans, with the rest Christians.
Why do Israelis live in the West Bank?
Israel has cited several reasons for retaining the West Bank within its ambit: a claim based on the notion of historic rights to this as a homeland as affirmed in the Balfour Declaration of 1917; security grounds, both internal and external; and the deep symbolic value for Jews of the area occupied.
What percent of the West Bank is Israeli settlements?
Roughly 75 percent of settlers live on or near the West Bank border with Israel.
What's the difference between Gaza and the West Bank?
The Gaza Strip is 140 sq miles of land located in the southwest corner of Israel, along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It also shares a border with Egypt to the south. The West Bank is another area of land located within the country of Israel, but it is much larger than the Gaza Strip at 2,173 sq miles.
Is the West Bank an Arab state?
The West Bank, as demarcated by the Jordanian-Israeli armistice of 1949, was broadly similar to (but smaller than) one of the zones designated as an Arab state by the United Nations (UN) partition plan for Palestine in 1947 (see United Nations Resolution 181).
Was Palestine a country before Israel?
Israel Becomes a State In May 1948, less than a year after the Partition Plan for Palestine was introduced, Britain withdrew from Palestine and Israel declared itself an independent state, implying a willingness to implement the Partition Plan.
Who controls West Bank?
IsraelPresently, most of the West Bank is administered by Israel though 42% of it is under varying degrees of autonomous rule by the Fatah-run Palestinian Authority. The Gaza Strip is currently under the control of Hamas.
Does Israel occupy Palestinian land?
Despite multiple UN resolutions, Israel has continued to appropriate Palestinian land and support at least 600,000 settlers living in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Until 2005, more than 9,000 Israeli settlers were illegally residing in Gaza.
Who occupies the West Bank?
IsraelThe West Bank has been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East war, but decades of difficult on-off talks between Israel and the Palestinians - both of whom assert rights there - have left its final status unresolved.
Who does the West Bank belong to?
IsraelPresently, most of the West Bank is administered by Israel though 42% of it is under varying degrees of autonomous rule by the Fatah-run Palestinian Authority. The Gaza Strip is currently under the control of Hamas.
How many Israeli settlers live in the West Bank?
450,000 Israeli settlersNumber of settlements and inhabitants In total, over 450,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank excluding East Jerusalem, with an additional 220,000 Jewish settlers residing in East Jerusalem. Additionally, over 20,000 Israeli citizens live in settlements in the Golan Heights.
Why is it called the West Bank?
The geography of Palestine is marked by a separation between two regions- West Bank and Gaza. The former region owes its name to its positioning on the west of the Jordan river. It was named so after Jordan won this region in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
Where did Sarhan Ganayem live?
Sarhan Ganayem, an Arab Israeli, has lived in Jerusalem settlements for 12 years, first in French Hill and then in Neve Yaakov. But he and his family have had enough.
Where are Arabs moving to?
Arabs move in to Jewish settlements. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Little noticed amid the furor over one of Israel’s most contentious policies, a small but growing number of Arabs are moving into Jewish settlements on occupied land in East Jerusalem, drawn by cheaper rent and better services.
Where is Abu Steve?
Palestinian Abu Steve who resides in Pisgat Ze'ev, an urban settlement in an area Israel annexed to Jerusalem after capturing it in the 1967 Middle East war, poses for a photo outside his store (on L) in the East Jerusalem settlement December 7, 2014. REUTERS/Ammar Awad.
How many sons does the family next door have?
The family next door has two sons in the Israeli army and he said there was never any exchange of greetings with them.
Where does Moussab Abu Ramouz live?
Moussab Abu Ramouz, a Palestinian who works in a supermarket in Neve Yaakov but lives in Beit Hanina, said rents in his area were up to 25 percent more expensive than in the settlement, which also has better public transport.
Is Israel encouraging Jews to settle in Jerusalem?
REUTERS/Ammar Awad. For decades, Israel has encouraged Jews to settle in East Jerusalem, changing the population balance, provoking Palestinian anger and drawing international condemnation. But in one such settlement, around Mount Scopus where the Hebrew University is based and many Palestinians study, about 16 percent of residents are ...
Who is Sabrine Jabber?
Sabrine Jabber, 26, is a Muslim Arab who has spent half her life in Neve Yaakov, a collection of white high-rises that expanded as a settlement in the 1970s.
How many Israelis live in the West Bank?
The population of Israelis living in the West Bank has mushroomed over the years. An estimated 430,000 Israeli Jews now live in 132 officially recognized “settlements” and in 121 unofficial “outposts” that require, but haven’t yet received, government approval.
Why is Hebron a holy city?
Hebron is a holy city for Jews because it is believed to be the burial place of the Jewish patriarchs and matriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca and Leah.
Why are there checkpoints in the West Bank?
The Israeli army security checkpoints that dot the West Bank, which are meant to protect Israelis from terror attacks, also restrict and complicate the ability of Palestinian people to move around.
Why is the West Bank considered occupied territory?
According to the International Court of Justice, the UN’s main judicial body, the West Bank is considered occupied territory because it was not part of Israel before the Israeli army conquered it in 1967. Territorial conquest is also forbidden by international law. The Israeli government says that the Geneva Convention is not applicable to ...
Why do Jews live in the West Bank?
Most Jewish settlers in the West Bank, however, live there for economic reasons. Israeli government investment and incentives aimed at encouraging Jews to settle there make the cost of living lower than inside Israel.
What are the Palestinians' claims to the West Bank?
Palestinians contend that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are built on stolen land and that the settlers’ use of water – a scarce resource – is likewise illegal.
Why is the Geneva Convention not applicable to the West Bank?
The Israeli government says that the Geneva Convention is not applicable to the West Bank because it only refers to a state occupying another state’s land. Israel considers the West Bank “disputed territory,” not occupied territory.
What did Israel do to Gaza?
Israel gave up all the territory it held in Gaza and evacuated some West Bank settlements without any agreement from the Palestinians , who now have complete authority over their population within Gaza. This offered the Palestinians an opportunity to prove that if Israel made territorial concessions, they would be prepared to coexist with their neighbor and to build a state of their own. Instead of trading land for peace, however, Israel exchanged territory for terror. Hamas came to power in the Palestinian Authority and instead of using the opportunity to build the infrastructure for statehood, the Gaza Strip became a scene of chaos as rival Palestinian factions vied for power. Terrorism from Gaza also continued unabated and Israeli towns have been repeatedly hit by rockets fired from the area Israel evacuated.
How many Jews will live in Israel in 2020?
In 2004, for example, Arnon Soffer, Israel’s most prominent demographer, forecast that in 2020 approximately 6,300,000 Jews would live in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza combined while the Palestinian population would be 8,740,000 leaving the Jews as the minority (42% – down from the current 74%) in their own country.
What percentage of the West Bank was annexed by Israel?
Instead of calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state in more than 90% of the West Bank, the plan envisioned a state in 70% and, rather than expecting Israel to dismantle and evacuate a majority of settlements, it approved of Israel’s annexation of all the settlements.
How much of the West Bank is built up?
The overall area in dispute is very small. According to one organization critical of settlements, the built-up areas constitute only 1.7% of the West Bank. That is less than 40 square miles. Even if you add the unbuilt areas falling within the municipal boundaries of the settlements, the total area is only 152 square miles.
How many settlements are there in Israel in 2021?
The estimate for the Jewish population in 128 West Bank settlements at the beginning of 2021 was 475,481, roughly 5 percent of Israel’s total population.
What political parties supported Israel during the Six Day War?
Following Israel’s resounding victory over the Arab armies in the Six-Day War, strategic concerns led both of Israel’s major political parties - the Labor and Likud - to support and establish settlements at various times. The first settlements were built by Labor governments from 1968 to 1977, with the explicit objective to secure a Jewish majority in key strategic regions of the West Bank - such as the Tel Aviv - Jerusalem corridor - that were the scene of heavy fighting in several of the Arab-Israeli wars. In 1968, only five sparsely populated settlements existed beyond the Green Line.
Why did Jews move to the West Bank?
A third group of Jews who are today considered “settlers,” moved to the West Bank primarily for economic reasons ; that is, the government provided financial incentives to live there, and the towns were close to their jobs.
What was the settlement movement?
Following Israel’s resounding defeat of the invading Arab armies in the Six-Day War, strategic concerns led both of Israel’s major political parties – the Labor and Likud – to support and establish settlements at various times. The first settlements were built by Labor governments from 1968 to 1977, ...
How many acres of land is Israel in the West Bank?
Israel declared as state land this week nearly 1,000 acres in the West Bank, beginning the process to build settlements in more areas Palestinians say should be part of a future Palestinian country.
Why did Jews move to the West Bank?
A third group of Jews who are today considered “settlers,” moved to the West Bank (Judea and Samaria, ed.) primarily for economic reasons; that is, the government provided financial incentives to live there , and the towns were close to their jobs.
When did the second wave of settlements begin?
The second wave of settlement construction began with the1968 occupation of the Park Hotel in Hebron, a city with a long, rich Jewish history dating back to biblical times that had only been interrupted by a massacre of Jewish residents by Arabs in 1929.
