Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
geographic expansion of existing ones. At times, especially in 2005, small groups of activists
established outposts, called “illegal settlements,” which were often but not always dismantled
by the government.
Settlements were established for several reasons. The government constructed a few for
security purposes soon after the 1967 war — for example, in the Jordan Valley and the Golan
Heights. By 1977, Jews had established twenty kibbutzim and moshavim in the Golan Heights;
today thirty-three settlements are there, with a total Jewish population of 18,000. The largest
settlements in the West Bank were commercial residential bedroom communities just across
the pre-1967 border, allowing the Palestinians and Jordanians working in Israel to enjoy decent
housing. Gush Etzion was a special case, rebuilt to replace Jewish towns captured by Jordan
whose residents were expelled in the War of Independence.
Most of the smaller settlements, both in the Gaza Strip and farther from the pre-1967 bor-
der in the West Bank, were, however, built as political acts by those who wanted to ensure that
Israel retained that land. In the case of some Dati communities, they were also built in the
belief that settling the land would bring the Messiah.
The West Bank—which many Israelis call by its historic Jewish name, Judea and Samaria —
was captured from Jordan in the 1967 war. Once no speedy peace settlement was forthcoming,
one involving return of the territories, Israelis began to establish settlements there, more than
twenty-fi ve by 1977. Today, an estimated 187,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, 20,000 in the
Golan Heights and 175,000 in areas of Jerusalem beyond the 1967 borders. About 4,500 settlers
lived in the Gaza Strip before Israel removed them in withdrawing from that territory in 2005.
The settlement in Hebron is unique in being located in the middle of a Palestinian city,
which is why the Israel-PA agreement in 1996 gave Israel's forces control over 20 percent of the
town, with the rest under PA rule. Massacres in 1929 prompted the original Jewish population
there to fl ee. The current settlement was established in Hebron in April 1968, and the nearby
village of Kiryat Arba was created two years later. The former has 600 residents; the latter,
7,000. Hebron is also the location of the Tomb (or Cave) of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, a
holy site for Jews, Muslims, and Christians, where Jews were not allowed to pray before 1967.
A Jewish settler massacred Muslim worshippers there in 1994; much of the building is now
maintained as a Muslim endowment.
The international community has often criticized the settlements, declaring them to be
not only illegal but roadblocks to peace. Within Israel, opponents say that the settlements
tie down military forces, their defense risks soldiers' lives, and their maintenance takes away
funds that could be better used for domestic needs. In 1993, however, the PLO — and in subse-
quent agreements, the PA— agreed that the settlements would remain until a comprehensive
peace treaty was signed.
Within Israel, even most critics agree on removing the settlements from all places to be un-
der Palestinian rule if a peace agreement is reached. The Palestinian side, by failing to agree to
peace, is thus ensuring that they remain in existence, which brings into question the criticism
that the settlements themselves are blocking the road to peace.
Israel has in fact dismantled settlements on two occasions related to its withdrawals from
captured territory. The fi rst occasion was in 1982, when it removed all fi fteen settlements in
