how much israeli settlement

How many settlements has Israel built?

From 1967 through 2017, over 200 Israeli settlements were established in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem); their current population is almost 620,000.

How do Israeli settlements work?

According to the Israeli government, settlements are built on land not registered to Palestinians at the time of the 1967 war, unlike outposts, which are built on land that was registered to Palestinians (and are therefore illegal). Some outposts have been cleared while others were later legalized [source: Simons].

How much land did Israel get?

By the end of 1949, the Jewish state had taken up some 78 percent of historical Palestine. Of the remaining Palestinian territories, the West Bank and East Jerusalem came under Jordan's control, while Gaza was placed under Egyptian control. The international community recognised Israel based on the 1948 borders.

Where are the majority of the Israeli settlements?

Most, but not all, were authorized and supported by the Israeli government. Since 2005 these communities have existed almost exclusively in the West Bank, with a handful located in the Golan Heights.

What is the largest Israeli settlement?

The four largest settlements, Modi'in Illit, Ma'ale Adumim, Beitar Illit and Ariel, have achieved city status. Ariel has 18,000 residents, while the rest have around 37,000 to 55,500 each.

Why is Israel entitled to the land?

Jewish religious belief defines the land as where Jewish religious law prevailed and excludes territory where it was not applied. It holds that the area is a God-given inheritance of the Jewish people based on the Torah, particularly the books of Genesis and Exodus, as well as on the later Prophets.

How much land did Israel give Palestine?

The 1948 war ended with Israeli forces controlling approximately 78 percent of historical Palestine. The remaining 22 percent fell under the administration of Egypt and Jordan. In 1967, Israel absorbed the whole of historical Palestine, as well as additional territory from Egypt and Syria.

How much land has Israel taken from Palestine?

Israel seizes 85% of land in West Bank: Palestine.

Is Israel occupying Palestine land?

BACKGROUND: Palestinian territory – encompassing the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including East Jerusalem – has been illegally occupied by Israel since 1967.

What was Israel before 1948?

In 1517, the Ottoman Empire conquered the region, ruling it until the British conquered it in 1917. The region was ruled under the British Mandate for Palestine until 1948, when the Jewish State of Israel was proclaimed in part of the ancient land of Israel.

What was Palestine before 1948?

In modern times, the area was ruled by the Ottoman Empire, then the United Kingdom and since 1948 it has been divided into Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Why is Israel taking Palestinian homes?

Israel demolishes the homes of two people accused of carrying out a deadly attack in the occupied West Bank last year. Israeli troops have demolished the homes of two Palestinians accused of carrying out a deadly shooting attack in the occupied West Bank last year, the military said.

What land has Israel taken from Palestine?

More than 50 years ago, the state of Israel shocked the world when it seized the remaining Palestinian territories of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza Strip, as well as the Syrian Golan Heights and the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula, in a matter of six days.

Is it ethical to move to Israel?

Despite this polarity, travel to Israel can be ethical, but it is important to be fully aware of the situation there, to balance your trip with a visit to the Palestinian territories, and to ensure that your visit doesn't support the Israeli state but rather local communities and small businesses.

What is an Israeli settlement?

Israeli settlement. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Israeli settlement, any of the communities of Israeli Jews built after 1967 in the disputed territories captured by Israel in ...

How many people lived in settlements in 1993?

Settlements continued to expand in the decades that followed, and by 1993 there were more than 280,000 people living in settlements (130,000 if East Jerusalem is excluded).

What was the purpose of the settlements in the Jordan Valley?

Israel’s political and defense establishments, meanwhile—inspired in part by the peace plan of Yigal Allon, the deputy prime minister (1967–77)—spurred the development of settlements in strategic locations such as the Jordan Valley that would bolster Israel’s security and strengthen its hand in negotiations .

When were the settlements in the Sinai Peninsula evacuated?

Settlements in the Sinai Peninsula were either dismantled or evacuated in 1982, and settlements in the Gaza Strip were dismantled in 2005. It is disputed, moreover, whether communities in the formally annexed territories of East Jerusalem (part of the West Bank territory under Jordanian rule from 1949 to 1967) and the Golan Heights constitute ...

How many settlers were there in 2019?

Despite the agreement, settlement building proliferated, especially in the West Bank, and in 2019 the number of settlers reached nearly 630,000 (413,000 if East Jerusalem is excluded). Most of these newer settlers were motivated less by reasons of ideology or recovering lost property, however, than by cheaper housing and financial incentives ...

Where is Israel located?

Israel, country in the Middle East, located at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. It is bounded to the north by Lebanon, to the northeast by Syria, to the east and southeast by Jordan, to the southwest by Egypt,…

Where is Gilo in the West Bank?

Since 2005 these communities have existed almost exclusively in the West Bank, with a handful located in the Golan Heights.

How many Israeli settlements are there in the West Bank?

There are 126 Israeli settlements in the West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem), according to the September 2016 report from the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics. Geographically, these settlements are all across the West Bank. The West Bank is broken down into Areas A, B, and C, according to the Oslo Accords, ...

What are settlements?

Settlements are Israeli cities, towns and villages in the West Bank and the Golan Heights. (We will deal with East Jerusalem a bit later.) They tend to be gated communities with armed guards at the entrances. Why are they settlements and not simply Israeli residential areas? Because Israel is widely considered to be an occupying force in the territories. It is land that Palestinians, along with the international community, view as territory for a future Palestinian state.

Why are the West Bank and East Jerusalem considered occupied territory?

Israel began its occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967 during the Six-Day War. Seeing a military buildup in the surrounding Arab countries, Israel launched a preemptive strike against Egypt, after which Jordan, in turn, attacked Israel. Israel annexed East Jerusalem shortly thereafter, unifying the city under Israel’s authority. But Israel has never annexed the West Bank, part of which remains under military law.

Who are the settlers?

This is a very broad question, and requires a fair amount of generalization.

Why are the settlements controversial?

The settlements are built on land the Palestinians and the international community, along with some in the Israeli community, see as a future Palestinian state. Some of the settlements – especially the blocs – may be a part of Israel in a two-state solution through land swaps between Israelis and Palestinians. One concern, expressed by the European Union, and in the past by the US State Department, is that settlement expansion may make a contiguous, whole Palestinian state in the West Bank impossible.

What is the legal status of settlements?

The settlements are illegal under international law. The Fourth Geneva Convention, which concerns civilian populations during a time of war, states in Article 49 that, “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”

What about East Jerusalem? And what is East Jerusalem anyway?

From 1948 to 1967, Jerusalem was divided by the Green Line, which is the cease-fire line of 1948 between Israel and Jordan. Although the city is now under Israeli governance, the distinction remains.

Why do Israelis want to settle in the West Bank?

Israeli civilians moved into the West Bank after Israel took control of it from Jordan in the 1967 war. Every Israeli government since then, whether hawkish, dovish or mixed, has supported Jewish settlements there. The reasons lie in history, politics and security concerns. Some Israelis consider settlements bulwarks against potential attacks of the kind that occurred in 1948, when Arab countries assaulted Israel after rejecting a UN plan partitioning the British-ruled Holy Land. (That plan would have made the West Bank part of a new Arab state, alongside a Jewish one.) Critics of Israeli settlements argue they are illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits an occupying power from transferring its civilians into territories it occupies. Israel says the clause isn’t applicable to the West Bank because Jordan, which held the territory for 19 years before Israel, was never recognized as the sovereign power there, and the area was captured in a defensive war. Some settlers think modern-day Jews have a right to the West Bank because it was the heart of biblical Israel. Others simply like the relatively inexpensive housing. Government subsidies, including favorable mortgages and discounts on purchases of property declared state land, amount to about $700 per settler per year. The presence of settlements makes everyday life difficult for Palestinians. Barriers, fences and buffer zones meant to secure settlers restrict the freedom, movement and commerce of Palestinians. Both populations are frequently attacked by militants from the other side. When Palestinians are accused, 95% of cases are prosecuted and Israeli military law applies. When Israelis are suspected, that figure drops to 9%, and Israeli civil law applies.

What is the annexation of Jerusalem?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the annexation move after U.S. President Donald Trump effectively endorsed it in his proposed resolution of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The U.S., Israel’s most important ally, had earlier said it would no longer consider settlements as inconsistent with international law. About 130 government-approved settlements and 100 unofficial ones are home to around 400,000 Israelis in the West Bank, where an estimated 2.6 million Palestinians live. An additional 200,000 Israelis reside in 12 neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians hope to make their future capital. Israel annexed east Jerusalem decades ago, in a move not recognized outside of Israel. The U.S. under Trump became the only major power to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital while adding that the city’s borders should be negotiated . About 20,000 settlers live on the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Israel continues to face censure for its settlements from the European Union, its biggest trading partner. The EU in 2015 instructed members to ensure imports produced in settlements are labeled as such, giving a boost to advocates of a boycott of such products.

Why would a future Palestinian state lack territorial contiguity?

Because the settlements are sprinkled throughout the West Bank, a future Palestinian state would lack territorial contiguity, which could impede the development of infrastructure and the movement of people and goods. Other Israelis say the access issue can be solved with tunnels and bridges.

How fast has the Jewish population grown in the West Bank?

The population of Jewish settlers in the West Bank has grown four times faster than Israel’s itself since 1995. Settlers regard themselves as inhabiting land that is rightfully theirs. A different view is held by the International Court of Justice, a branch of the United Nations, which Israel regards as biased against it.

Why do some settlers think modern day Jews have a right to the West Bank?

Some settlers think modern-day Jews have a right to the West Bank because it was the heart of biblical Israel. Others simply like the relatively inexpensive housing. Government subsidies, including favorable mortgages and discounts on purchases of property declared state land, amount to about $700 per settler per year.

Which country recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel?

The U.S. under Trump became the only major power to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital while adding that the city’s borders should be negotiated . About 20,000 settlers live on the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Can the Palestinians be compensated for land annexed in the West Bank?

Other Israelis say the access issue can be solved with tunnels and bridges. They argue that the Palestinians can be compensated for land annexed in the West Bank with other territory in Israel, mainly in the Negev desert, as Trump’s plan suggests.

Who collects the population statistics for Israeli settlements in the West Bank?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The population statistics for Israeli settlements in the West Bank are collected by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. As such, the data contains only population of settlements recognized by the Israeli authorities.

How many settlers were there in 2012?

The total number of settlers east of the barrier lines in 2012 was at least 67,702, plus 11,528 in the Jordan Valley. By comparison, the number of Gaza Strip settlers in 2005 who refused to move voluntarily and be compensated, and that were forcibly evicted during the Israeli disengagement from Gaza was around 9,000.

Is the population of the Nahal settlement tracked?

Israeli outposts are not tracked, and their population is hard to establish. In addition to these, Nahal settlements are formally considered military outposts, and their population is counted, but not reported. Once a Nahal settlement becomes a civilian locality, it starts to be reported.

Where are the settlements in Israel?

Most of the settlements are in the West Bank, an area that Israel controls but never has formally annexed.

Why are there settlements in the West Bank?

Opponents see the settlements as part of an intentional Israeli strategy to take over the West Bank permanently. To them, the settlements' presence throughout the area gives the Israeli military a justification for being there as well, and makes it impossible for the Palestinians to ever really have an independent nation. They see the settlements rising in the hills around Palestinian cities — and the security buffers of empty land around them —as evidence that their chance for independence is fading. Additionally, they see the hundreds of checkpoints and roadblocks that the Israelis have created to thwart terror attacks on the settlements as restricting Palestinians' freedom of movement [source: BBC News ].

What Is a Settlement?

Cranes hover at a construction site in the Israeli settlement of Ramot, built in a suburb of mostly Arab East Jerusalem. AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty Images

What does the settlements represent?

To the Israeli government and supporters of the movement, including many people in the U.S., the settlements represent Israelis returning to live in places that once were part of ancient Israel, and where Jews lived in the centuries that followed. But to the Palestinians and much of the rest of the world — including 14 nations belonging to the U.N. Security Council who voted in December 2016 to condemn the settlements — they violate international law and are a major obstacle to the long-elusive vision of a two-state Israeli-Palestinian solution.

How many Israelis live in East Jerusalem?

Add to that another 200,000 Israelis who live in East Jerusalem and about 20,000 in the Golan Heights — areas also seized in the 1967 war that Israel eventually annexed — and you've got roughly 600,000 Israelis or 10 percent of Israel's 6.3 million Jewish citizens living outside Israel's pre-war borders [sources: Myre and Kaplow, BBC News ].

What was the Israeli government's goal after the 1967 war?

In 1968, they drove from Jerusalem to the West Bank city of Hebron, where Jews had been driven away by Arab armies in 1929; checked into a hotel and didn't leave. As the group's leader, Rabbi Moshe Levinger, told an interviewer years later, the objective was to reclaim land that was part of biblical Israel: "Jews are entitled to have it," he said.

What is the holiest site in Judaism?

This shot of Jerusalem shows the Wailing Wall in the foreground, the holiest site in Judaism, with the gold Dome of the Rock in the background, the third most-sacred site in Islam. Daniel Zelazo/Getty Images

When did Israel take over the West Bank?

In 1967, the West Bank came under Israeli military administration. Israel retained the mukhtar ( mayoral) system of government inherited from Jordan, and subsequent governments began developing infrastructure in Arab villages under its control. (see Palestinians and Israeli law, International legal issues of the conflict, Palestinian economy ). As a result of " Enclave law ", large portions of Israeli civil law are applied to Israeli settlements and Israeli residents in the occupied territories.

What is the Israeli occupation of the West Bank?

Jordan Valley annexation. West Bank annexation. The Israeli-occupied territories refers to the territories occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967. It also sometimes refers to areas of Southern Lebanon where Israeli military was present to support local Lebanese militias during the civil war and after it.

Where are the Palestinian territories?

From 1999 to early 2013, the term Palestinian territories, Occupied became utilized to refer to territories that the interim governing body of the State of Palestine, or Palestinian National Authority, controlled in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

What resolution did Syria reject?

Syria rejected UNSC Resolution 242 of 22 November 1967, which called for the return of Israeli-occupied State territories in exchange for peaceful relations. Israel had accepted Resolution 242 in a speech to the Security Council on 1 May 1968.

What war did Israel occupy?

In addition to the territories occupied following the Six-Day War, Israel also occupied portions of Southern Lebanon following the 1982 Lebanon War, and maintained a military presence there until withdrawing in 2000. From 1967 to 1981, the four areas were governed under the Israeli Military Governorate, referred to by the UN as occupied Arab ...

Which region was incorporated into the Northern District of Israel?

In the process, Israel handed the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt, the Golan Heights was incorporated into the Northern District by the Golan Heights Law, and West Bank continued to be administrated via the Israeli Civil Administration, the latter two of which the UN continued to refer to as the occupied Arab territories.

Did the Geneva Conventions apply to Jordan?

For a number of years, Israel argued on various grounds that the Geneva Conventions do not apply. One is the Missing Reversioner theory which argued that the Geneva Conventions apply only to the sovereign territory of a High Contracting Party, and therefore do not apply since Jordan never exercised sovereignty over the region. However, that interpretation is not shared by the international community. The application of Geneva Convention to Occupied Palestinian Territories was further upheld by International Court of Justice, UN General Assembly, UN Security Council and the Israeli Supreme Court.

How many Israeli settlements are illegal?

There is, of course, a fundamental point missed by a debate over percentages. Every single one of the more than 200 Israeli settlements in the OPT – some 'official', others 'unofficial' – are illegal under international law. This is a view shared by, among others, the United Nations (including in both Security Council and General Assembly resolutions), and the International Court of Justice.

What percentage of the West Bank is settlement?

Israeli NGO B'Tselem, meanwhile, describing how Palestinians are prevented from using land in 'Area C' (around 60 percent of the West Bank), states that settlements and their regional councils constitute 36.6 percent of the West Bank as a whole.

What was the Israeli government's legal advice in 1967?

The Israeli government itself was given legal advice in 1967 that civilian colonies in the OPT would be a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention – but proceeded nonetheless. And every single Israeli prime minister since has maintained, consolidated, and expanded, these illegal settlements. 5.

How many hectares are there in the West Bank?

As described in a Human Rights Watch report earlier this year, while "the built-up area of residential settlements covers 6,000 hectares", there are also "approximately 20 Israeli-administered industrial zones in the West Bank covering about 1,365 hectares, and Israeli settlers oversee the cultivation of 9,300 hectares of agricultural land."

What is the area of jurisdiction of the Jewish local authorities, most of which extend far beyond the built-up area,?

Furthermore, "the areas of jurisdiction of the Jewish local authorities, most of which extend far beyond the built-up area, are defined as 'closed military zones '… [and] Palestinians are forbidden to enter these areas without authorization from the Israeli military commander."

Is the West Bank an obstacle to peace?

The Israeli government and its supporters routinely play down the significance of West Bank settlements as an obstacle to peace with the Palestinians. One recent example of this came from a Jewish Agency spokesperson, who tweeted: "Jewish communities in the West Bank take up under 2% of the land; that is, over 98% of the West Bank contains no ...

Is Palestinian construction prohibited in Jordan Valley?

As an example, the report describes how "almost all of the [Jordan Valley and Dead Sea] area falls under the jurisdiction of two [settler] Regional Councils" – the "practical implication" of which "is that, in almost the entirety of the Jordan Valley, Palestinian construction is prohibited."

What Are Settlements?

Why Are The West Bank and East Jerusalem Considered Occupied Territory?

Where Are The Settlements?

• There are 126 Israeli settlements in the West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem), according to the September 2016 report from the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics. Geographically, these settlements are all across the West Bank. The West Bank is broken down into Areas A, B, and C, according to the Oslo Accords, a series of peace agreements made in ...

See more on cnn.com

Who Are The Settlers?

What’s The Difference Between Settlements and Outposts?

Why Are The Settlements Controversial?

What Does President Donald Trump Think of The Settlements?

What Is The Legal Status of Settlements?

What About East Jerusalem? and What Is East Jerusalem Anyway?

What About The Golan Heights?