Israeli Settlement

Settlements range from cities and planned suburban communities to agricultural villages and small outposts. Israel disputes the classification of Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem as settlements, while Palestinians and many international actors include communities built there after 1967.[5] Definitions and population totals consequently vary according to date, legal status, geographic scope, and whether East Jerusalem or unauthorized outposts are counted.

The 1967 Six-Day War placed the West Bank under Israeli control from Jordan, the Gaza Strip under Israeli control from Egypt, and the Golan Heights under Israeli control from Syria.[6] This created the territorial framework for the modern settlement enterprise, although supporters connect contemporary communities to a much older Jewish presence.

Article 6 of the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine called on the administration to “encourage, in cooperation with the Jewish Agency referred to in Article 4, close settlement by Jews on the land, including State lands not required for public use.”[7] The Jordanian administration prohibited Jewish settlement in the West Bank between 1948 and 1967.[7] Kfar Etzion and neighboring communities fell to Arab forces in May 1948; the cited account states that captured residents were massacred and that descendants of former residents were among the first to return after the 1967 war.[5]

In 1968, Rabbi Moshe Levinger, Miriam Levinger, and thirty families rented Hebron’s Park Hotel for ten days over Passover. In 1971, the government relocated the group to Kiryat Arba.[2] Other sites linked by Israeli sources to pre-1948 Jewish communities include Neve Ya’akov, locations north of the Dead Sea, and Kfar Darom in Gaza.[7]

Labor governments established the first post-1967 settlements, concentrating partly on the Tel Aviv–Jerusalem corridor and Jordan Valley.[2] Some communities began as Nahal military outposts, while broader policy sought to shape Israel’s future border and strengthen control of strategically important areas.[8] Just after Menachem Begin’s 1977 election victory, about 1,900 Jews lived in 38 settlements.[2]

After the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, the Labor government showed greater flexibility toward territorial compromise in exchange for peace. Gush Emunim emerged in opposition, seeking Jewish settlement throughout Judea and Samaria, particularly in the densely Arab-populated highlands.[9]

The movement believed the territory formed part of the biblically ordained Land of Israel and contained the heartland of the ancient Jewish kingdoms. It sought a permanent Jewish presence and followed a principle of never dismantling an existing settlement.[9] After Likud’s 1977 victory, it expanded to a network of approximately twenty settlements.[9] The movement helped establish both authorized communities and unauthorized outposts.[5]

For the period examined by a 1981 study, the West Bank’s Arab population exceeded 600,000, while the non-urban Jewish settlement population was approximately 13,700, with several thousand additional Jews in urban settlements. The study considered the smaller settlement network politically significant because it increased uncertainty over the territory’s future status.[9]

Settlement development in Judea and Samaria can be divided into three broad phases.[8] From 1967 to 1992, settlements were established to shape a future border, strengthen Israeli control, and prevent transfer of the territory to another party. Security, ideological, and religious motivations operated alongside one another.

From 1992 to 2005, policy increasingly differentiated between large blocs associated with possible future annexation and isolated settlements treated as potential bargaining chips or evacuation sites. The Oslo framework reserved settlement status for permanent-status negotiations.[10]

A normalization phase began in 2006, as blocs were increasingly treated in practice as parts of Israel and construction served housing and socioeconomic purposes, especially for ultra-Orthodox residents.[8] At the end of 2024, nearly half of natural increase among settlers was concentrated in Modi’in Illit and Beitar Illit.[3] A demographic study had counted approximately 296,000 Jews and related family members in the West Bank at the beginning of 2010.[11]

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon proposed unilateral disengagement in December 2003. The cabinet approved it in June 2004 and the Knesset in October 2004.[4] Evacuation began on August 17, 2005. Gaza’s settlers had been evacuated by August 22, residents of four northern West Bank communities by August 23, and the Israel Defense Forces formally left Gaza on September 12.[4]

The operation removed more than 8,000 residents, all 21 Jewish communities in Gaza, four communities in northern Samaria, and Israeli military installations in Gaza.[4] Supporters argued that withdrawal would reduce social, economic, and security costs. Opponents described it as a retreat under fire and capitulation to terrorism and objected to uprooting Jews from historically significant territory.[4] Despite predictions of civil conflict, the evacuations proceeded relatively smoothly.[4]

An earlier precedent followed Israel’s 1979 peace treaty with Egypt, which led to the dismantling of settlements in Sinai, including Yamit, and the resettlement of their residents inside Israel.[1]

Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics data for December 31, 2023, list 127 Israeli localities in the Judea and Samaria Area and a population of approximately 504,700, including about 500,000 “Jews and Others” and 3,500 foreigners. The table excludes 28 Bedouin tribes from locality counts and uses preliminary estimates based on the 2022 census.[12] A different administrative dataset cited by the U.S. State Department counted 517,407 settlement residents, excluding East Jerusalem, on the same date.[13]

At the end of 2024, 515,437 Israelis lived in 134 settlements, 221 outposts, and a number of agricultural farms. About 75 percent lived in the Modi’in Illit–Beitar Illit–Ma’ale Adumim triangle surrounding Jerusalem, and roughly 60 percent of the settlement workforce was employed inside Israel.[3] An April 2026 estimate counted 541,085 Jews in 147 West Bank communities while separately excluding approximately 340,000 residents of the Old City and 22 surrounding East Jerusalem communities.[2]

Commonly identified settlement blocs include Ma’ale Adumim, Modi’in Illit, Ariel, and Gush Etzion. The blocs have never been formally demarcated; proposals to retain them under Israeli sovereignty generally envision equivalent territorial transfers to a future Palestinian state.[1]

Settlements are located in Area C, which comprises about 60 percent of the West Bank and remains under Israeli administrative and security control.[14] A 2022 paper described the recognized network as including four cities, six regional councils, thirteen local councils, and the Kiryat Arba municipal committee.[15] A legal guide cited built-up-area estimates of 1.36 percent from Peace Now and 1.7 percent from B’Tselem; the Israeli government separately states that built-up settlement areas occupy approximately 3 percent of the West Bank.[10][16]

The settler population includes secular Israelis, new immigrants, ultra-Orthodox Jews, religious Zionists, and residents who chose their communities principally for affordability or convenience.[5] Many settlers regard settlement as a religious or political obligation, while the cited source says the vast majority of settlers and supporters view the communities as a first line of defense against Palestinian or other Arab attack.[5]

A 2024 Pew survey found that 40 percent of Israeli adults said continued settlement construction helped security, 35 percent said it hurt security, and 21 percent said it made little difference. Among Jewish Israelis, 49 percent said it helped, compared with 8 percent of Arab Israelis. Support reached 85 percent among Haredi and religious Jewish respondents and 21 percent among secular Jewish respondents.[17]

A Mosaic essay characterized the movement as having grown from a small group of religious farmer-soldiers into a varied network of nearly half a million people, including secular, ultra-Orthodox, and other non-ideological groups.[18]

The 1993 Oslo framework and September 1995 Interim Agreement reserved settlements for permanent-status negotiations. Under the Interim Agreement, Areas A and B were placed under Palestinian jurisdiction while Area C remained under Israeli jurisdiction, including responsibility for settlement matters pending a permanent agreement.[10]

The agreements contained no specific freeze on planning, zoning, or construction by either party. Negotiators discussed a side letter restricting Israeli construction in Area C, but the Palestinian leadership ultimately withdrew the request.[10] During Knesset ratification on October 5, 1995, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said Israel had committed itself “not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”[10]

In 2010, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to a ten-month construction moratorium in the West Bank. Palestinians entered direct negotiations during its ninth month, and the talks ended soon afterward.[5]

Israel’s position is that the West Bank is disputed rather than occupied territory because no internationally recognized sovereign controlled it before 1967 and Israeli control resulted from a war of self-defense.[7][10] Israeli legal arguments accordingly maintain that civilian settlement on state or public land does not violate international law.

Regarding Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel argues that its citizens were not deported or forcibly transferred into the territory and that the provision was written to prevent forcible population transfers rather than voluntary residence.[7][10] Israel has also said it voluntarily observes the Convention’s humanitarian provisions despite disputing its legal applicability.[16]

Israeli sources invoke Jewish historical continuity, the Mandate’s endorsement of close Jewish settlement on eligible state land, and the return to communities from which Jews had been displaced.[7] They further argue that settlement construction is supervised by the Supreme Court and that communities may not be established on privately owned Arab land.[7]

Israel interprets UN Security Council Resolution 242’s call for withdrawal “from territories” as not necessarily requiring withdrawal from every territory captured in 1967, leaving final borders to negotiation.[10]

Most states and numerous international bodies consider Israeli settlements to contravene Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which bars an occupying power from transferring parts of its population into occupied territory.[1]

UN Security Council Resolution 2334 was adopted on December 23, 2016, by a vote of 14–0 with the United States abstaining.[19] It states that settlements in Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, have “no legal validity,” constitute “a flagrant violation under international law,” and are a major obstacle to a two-state solution. It demands an immediate and complete cessation of settlement activity.[20]

The Congressional Research Service reports approximately 141 official settlements and 360 outposts created without authorization under Israeli law. It also records that some observers describe the integration of settlements into Israel’s legal, economic, and political systems as “creeping annexation” or “de facto annexation.”[21]

The State Department’s 2023 human-rights report records criticism by Israeli and Palestinian human-rights groups and UN bodies concerning Palestinian construction permits, confiscations, demolitions, evictions, movement restrictions, and separate legal regimes applied to settlers and Palestinians.[13] In May 2023, the United States also said that permitting a permanent presence at Homesh was inconsistent with Israeli law and called settlement advancement an obstacle to a two-state solution.[22]

On June 9, 2020, Israel’s Supreme Court issued an 8–1 ruling striking down the 2017 Law on the Regulation and Settlement in Judea and Samaria.[23] The law would have granted rights of use and possession for construction undertaken “in good faith or with the consent of the state,” including on land described as privately owned by Palestinians. The majority held that it disproportionately violated Palestinian residents’ property, dignity, and equality rights by prioritizing settlers and retroactively legitimizing unlawful construction.[23]

The decision illustrates the domestic distinction among authorized settlements, outposts without formal recognition, and construction on privately held Palestinian land. Palestinian residents may petition the High Court of Justice over property and other claims.[16]

Outposts are Jewish communities established in the West Bank without formal government recognition or permission. They range from a few families to hundreds of residents and may begin as groups of caravan homes without ordinary electricity or water connections.[24]

Published counts vary substantially. The Congressional Research Service reports approximately 360 outposts, while an INSS count identified 221 at the end of 2024: 154 on state land and 67 on privately owned land.[21][3] The latter total included 122 agricultural-farm outposts. It also recorded 37 new outposts after October 7, 2023, most described as shepherd outposts operated by young individuals and hilltop youth.[3]

An earlier INSS analysis described outpost construction occurring with tacit governmental support that included basic services and defense.[8] The 2020 Supreme Court ruling addressed legislative efforts to retroactively legalize construction on privately owned Palestinian land.[23]

Settlements are central to Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy. Palestinians regard their expansion as a principal obstacle to peace, while Israel argues that settlements are one of several questions reserved for final-status negotiations.[5] Critics contend that construction deep inside Judea and Samaria creates “facts on the ground” that could impede the borders and territorial viability of a future Palestinian state. Israeli governments have maintained that withdrawals could occur under a comprehensive peace agreement, and settlements outside the principal blocs have often been expected to be evacuated.[5]

Negotiating proposals commonly envision Ma’ale Adumim, Modi’in Illit, Ariel, and Gush Etzion remaining under Israeli sovereignty in exchange for equivalent territory inside the Green Line, although no bloc boundaries have been formally agreed.[1]

For 2023, the State Department report cited Peace Now figures of 26 new outposts, 15 previously illegal outposts legalized, and 12,349 housing units advanced.[13] It also cited 1,442 Palestinians displaced by extremist settler violence and access restrictions and 1,277 settler-attack incidents recorded by UNOCHA, including 15 Palestinian deaths.[13]

The principal legal dispute concerns Article 49(6) of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Israel and its legal supporters interpret the provision as addressing forcible mass transfers and argue that it does not prohibit voluntary civilian residence in disputed territory.[7][10] Most states and international bodies instead consider settlements to contravene the Convention’s prohibition on an occupying power transferring parts of its population into occupied territory.[1]

The territory’s classification is likewise disputed. Israel describes the West Bank as disputed territory without a previously recognized sovereign, whereas Resolution 2334 refers to Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 and declares the settlements legally invalid.[7][20]

Population totals also differ by date and scope. The CBS counted approximately 504,700 residents in 127 Israeli localities in Judea and Samaria at the end of 2023, while an April 2026 estimate counted 541,085 Jews in 147 communities and excluded East Jerusalem.[12][2] CRS and INSS report different totals for settlements and outposts, reflecting different dates and definitions.[21][3]

Historical arguments are contested as well. Israeli sources frame some communities as restorations of Jewish presence disrupted before 1967, while scholarship on East Jerusalem examines how biblical history and pre-1948 property claims are used to justify contemporary settlement activity.[7][25]