Israeli settlements were erected for a variety of reasons. In some cases, Israelis sought to recover property lost in the 1948 war and the hostilities leading up to it, such as the core settlements of Gush Etzion between Jerusalem and Hebron.
Why is Israel building settlements on occupied land?
For decades, Israel has pursued a policy of building Jewish settlements on occupied territory Palestinians seek for a state. Most countries view the settlements as an obstacle to peace but many in Israel disagree, citing a biblical, historical and political connection to the land as well as security interests.
What are the Israeli settlements in the West Bank?
They are Jewish communities built in Gaza, the West Bank and parts of East Jerusalem — areas captured by Israel during the 1967 war with neighboring Egypt, Jordan and Syria. According to Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, at least 125 Israeli settlements are “authorized” by the Israeli state.
Do Israeli settlements constitute a land grab?
It is commonly claimed that the establishment of Israeli settlements constitutes a land grab, however this claim does not stand up to scrutiny.
What is Israel willing to give up in the West Bank?
The settlement blocs Israel wishes to keep in an agreement with Palestine comprise only a few percent of the West Bank, and Israel is willing to transfer an equal amount of land in exchange for those settlements.
Why is Israel allowed to have settlements?
Israel has justified its civilian settlements by stating that a temporary use of land and buildings for various purposes appears permissible under a plea of military necessity and that the settlements fulfilled security needs.
Why is Israel building settlements in Palestine?
Israel wanted "a Palestinian entity, less than a state, which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank". It wanted to keep settlements beyond the Green Line including Ma'ale Adumim and Givat Ze'ev in East Jerusalem.
Why did Israel build settlements in the West Bank?
If it's so controversial, why does Israel want to do it? Israel claims historical and religious rights to the West Bank as the ancestral land of the Jewish people. It also says its presence there - especially in the Jordan Valley - is strategically vital for its self-defence.
Is Israel building illegal settlements?
Israel advanced plans for the construction of more than 4,000 homes in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, a rights group has said, a day after the Israeli army demolished homes in an area where hundreds of Palestinians face the threat of expulsion.
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.
How much land has Palestine lost to Israel?
During and immediately following the state's creation in 1948, Israel expropriated approximately 4,244,776 acres of Palestinian land. In the process, more than 400 Palestinian cities and towns were systematically destroyed by Israeli forces or repopulated with Jews.
Does Israel Own West Bank?
Presently, 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.
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 human rights has Israel violated?
Israel's continued policies and practices had resulted in flagrant human rights violations and abuses, including brutalisation of children, torture, forcible transfers, and colonisation of land.
Are Palestinians allowed in Israel?
Since 2008, they are not allowed to live or stay in Israel because of marriage with an Israeli. Israelis who want to visit their partner in Gaza need permits for a few months, and Israelis can visit their first‐degree relatives in Gaza only in exceptional humanitarian cases.
How many Israeli settlements are in Palestine?
From 1967 through 2017, over 200 Israeli settlements were established in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem); their current population is almost 620,000.
What are the historical causes of the conflict between Israel and Palestine?
The history of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict began with the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. This conflict came from the intercommunal violence in Mandatory Palestine between Arabs and Jews from 1920, and erupted into full-scale hostilities in the 1947–48 civil war.
What are Palestinian settlements?
Settlements are Jewish communities in historic Palestine built by the Zionist movement pre-1948 and thereafter by the state of Israel. These communities can range in size from single-person outposts to entire cities. One of the first settlements built by Zionists was Tel Aviv in the early 20th century.
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].
Why are settlements not illegal?
While a more thorough discussion of why the settlements are not illegal is can be found in detail elsewhere , in short, the settlements are not illegal because there was not a sovereign from which Israel could “occupy” these settlements.
Which mountain ridge should Israel retain?
Israel should retain the Judea and Samaria’s mountain ridge. The ridge looks down on Israel’s coastal plain, which contains 70 percent of its population and 80 percent of its industry, and surrounds Jerusalem on three sides.
Why is the Jordan Valley important?
Retention of the Jordan Valley is vital given the prevention of smuggling of weapons, infiltration of terrorists, and land invasions.
How long is the border between Israel and Jordan?
With control of the Jordan Valley, Israel only needs to patrol a 62-mile long border, instead of the 223-mile long “Green Line.”.
What was the name of the country that invaded Judea and Samaria?
Jordan , which was created out of cloth by a partition of the British Mandate of Palestine, invaded Judea and Samaria (1948), annexed it (1950), lost it to Israel in a war that Jordan started (1967), and finally relinquished all claims to it (1988).
Why did Israel withdraw from Judea and Samaria?
An Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria would likely not bring peace, because previous withdrawals have brought war. Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000, only to see Hizb’allah instigate war in 2006, as well as massively arm itself. Israel’s withdrawal from parts of Gaza and Judea and Samaria during the Oslo Accords in the 1990s was met with the Second Intifada (2000-2005). In exchange for Israel’s full civilian and military withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, Hamas gave Israel at least three wars. Since 2005, Hamas massively armed itself, and other terrorist groups have set up shop in Gaza as well. Lastly, while the benefits of Israel’s peace with Egypt should not be understated, there are now jihadi groups in Sinai targeting Israel, despite Israel completely withdrawing its civilian population from there in the 1980s.
When did Israel withdraw from Lebanon?
Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000, only to see Hizb’allah instigate war in 2006, as well as massively arm itself. Israel’s withdrawal from parts of Gaza and Judea and Samaria during the Oslo Accords in the 1990s was met with the Second Intifada (2000-2005).
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 ...
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 .
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).
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 ...
What is the West Bank?
West Bank, area of the former British-mandated (1920–47) territory of Palestine west of the Jordan River, claimed from 1949 to 1988 as part of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan but occupied from 1967 by Israel. The territory, excluding East Jerusalem, is also known within…
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 are the settlements in Israel?
What are these settlements? They are Jewish communities built in Gaza, the West Bank and parts of East Jerusalem — areas captured by Israel during the 1967 war with neighboring Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
Why did Israel build a separation barrier?
Israelis say the barrier is to keep them safe. Palestinians say it amounts to nothing but a land grab and that the Israelis are taking water and other resources from Palestinian land.
What do Palestinians say about Israel?
Every time a settlement is built, Palestinians say, a little more is taken away from a future Palestinian state. The possibility of peace seems to grow less and less likely, and Palestinians accuse Israel of confiscating lands and taking away resources from the areas that Palestinians want for their statehood.
What are the security measures in the settlements?
The settlements have a lot of security measures including Jewish-only roads and restrictions that split up Palestinian territory, often making it difficult for people to get to work, visit family or even go to the hospital when they are sick.
What is the U.N. resolution condemning Israel for building Jewish settlements on disputed land?
A controversial U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israel for building Jewish settlements on disputed land has ripped open old wounds. Secretary of State John Kerry warned in his last major Mideast speech Wednesday that Israel was abandoning its chance for a two-state solution if it did not stop its settlement practices in ...
When did Israel withdraw from Gaza?
In 2005, Israel withdrew from Gaza and later placed a blockade on the Hamas-ruled territory. Israel has since fought two wars there. The West Bank and East Jerusalem are still in Israeli hands, although they are nominally governed by the Palestinian Authority based in Ramallah.
Is settlement activity illegitimate?
Washington, along with most of the world’s governments, continues to consider settlement activity illegitimate.
Why did Israel build settlements in the West Bank?
You will find a lot of false historical statements in many other answers, but the real reasons are that Israel builds settlements in the West Bank because they want to, because no one cares about the fact that it is pure Palestinian land, because due to many political and economical reasons, some powerful countries support them.
Why does Israel have to conquer all of its land?
Because right-wing extremists in the Israeli government and among voters prefer expansion to security: the Jewish state isn't enough, the State of Israel must conquer and take all the land its namesake kingdom covered a couple thousand years ago: even if that's a war crime; even if that proves to the Palestinians that they have no true partner for peace; even if that means putting Israeli civilians inside occupied enemy territory during a conflict, while bending over backwards to perpetuate that conflict.
What did Barak offer the Palestinians in 2000?
In 2000, Premier Barak offered the Palestinians a peace deal including the establishment of a Palestinian state in over 90% of the West Bank, and all of Gaza. Their response, a massive terror campaign against Israel, hoping to suicide bomber it into offering submission.
Why did Israel build Judea and Samaria?
Dear Anonymous OP, Israel builds in Judea and Samaria, because it is an Israeli land, gained in the defensive war.
What was the land east of Jordan supposed to be?
The portion of the land east of the Jordan was supposed to be a Palestinian homeland (and they got 77% of the land), and the part WEST of the Jordan was a Jewish homeland. Then Jordan seized the West Bank. Bad.
How many times is Jerusalem mentioned in the Old Testament?
Netanyahu told a parliamentary session commemorating Israel’s capture of East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 war that “Jerusalem” and its alternative Hebrew name “Zion” appear 850 times in the Old Testament, Judaism’s core canon.
Which country invaded Israel after the British left?
The Jews accepted, and established Israel the day the British left. The Arabs rejected it, and invaded Israel. They were defeated. Jordan then annexed the West Bank, instead of allowing the Palestinians to establish the state mandated in the 1947 UN resolution.
Why did Israel occupy the West Bank?
Israel suffered an unprovoked attack and occupied those territories in order to better defend itself from future attacks. Biblically speaking, Israel has every right to possess, occupy, and build homes in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, Gaza, and far more.
What is the resolution condemning Israel for its settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank?
However, the resolution was nothing but a formal statement of what most nations in the world already believed about the settlements.
What war did Israel fight in 1948?
This conflict became known as the Arab-Israeli War of 1948, and Israel defeated the armies of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq. After fighting ended, the nation of Israel stayed within the borders designated for it by the United Nations in 1948. Nineteen years later, in 1967, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq attacked again, ...
Which territories did Israel control?
After this conflict, however, Israel seized control of the West Bank and East Jerusalem (from Jordan), the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza (from Egypt), and the Golan Heights (from Syria). Ever since, Israel’s occupation of those territories has been a matter of international debate. Israel gave the Sinai Peninsula back to Egypt in 1979 as part ...
What happens when a nation seizes territory from the nations that attacked it?
When a nation seizes territory from the nations that attacked it, the action is normally seen as a justifiable way for that nation to solidify its defense. In any situation not involving Israel, there would be universal recognition of the nation’s right to control the seized territories.
When did Israel give Egypt the Sinai Peninsula back?
Israel gave the Sinai Peninsula back to Egypt in 1979 as part of the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty, but it still retains control of the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights. Israel has been building settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank since 1972, although the building of settlements has been greatly expanded in recent years.
When did Israel become a sovereign nation?
Israel and its relationship to its neighbors and the West Bank (and Gaza) is a complicated issue. Here is a brief history: Israel became a sovereign nation in 1948 when the United Nations officially recognized its existence.
