Israeli settlement

Israeli settlement, any of the communities of Israeli Jews built after 1967 in the territories occupied by Israel after the Six-Day War—the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula. 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 in the Golan Heights. 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 settlements: Israel applied full sovereignty to these territories in 1967 and 1981, respectively, but the legitimacy of these unilateral annexations remains unrecognized by most international observers and by the original inhabitants who still reside in those territories.

History of settlement activity

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. 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. Ideological settlers, seeking to maximize Jewish possession of biblical lands, set up settlements such as Kiryat Arba near Hebron.

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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). That same year Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) agreed in the Oslo Accords to implement a two-state solution, which required the two parties to come to an agreement on matters that would have direct consequences for the borders and contiguity of a future Palestinian state, including the final status of Israeli settlements. Despite the agreement, settlement building proliferated, especially in the West Bank, and by early 2025 the number of settlers reached more than 737,000 (503,000 if East Jerusalem is excluded). Most settlers between the Oslo Accords and the Israel-Hamas War were motivated less by reasons of ideology or recovering lost property than by cheaper housing and financial incentives offered by the Israeli government.

Legality and discussions about annexation

The permanence of Israeli settlements is a matter of great controversy. Many Israelis, especially those living in the settlements, intend for the settlements to eventually become incorporated into Israel. However, most specialists of international law and numerous international bodies, including the United Nations, regard any permanent Israeli settlement in the territories occupied in 1967 as illegal: International conventions such as the Charter of the United Nations and the fourth Geneva Convention prohibit both the acquisition of territory by force and the transfer of a country’s civilian population to territory it occupies. Israel’s foreign ministry contends that the type of occupation described in the fourth Geneva Convention does not apply to Israel’s presence in the West Bank because the territory has “no previous legitimate sovereign” and because some Jewish settlements were established legally under the Ottoman regime and subsequent British mandate that preceded the 1948 attempt at partition.

Under Israeli law, a distinction is made between settlements sanctioned by the state and those the state considers illegal. Authorized settlements must be established on land classified by Israel as state land, and all construction must receive building permits. In late 2025 there were about 150 settlements (excluding East Jerusalem) authorized by the state, and the vast majority of the 503,000 settlers outside of Jerusalem lived in those settlements. There were also about 220 small settlements, with a population collectively in the tens of thousands, that had been established without authorization and are considered by the Israeli government to be illegal outposts. Although some outposts are dismantled by Israeli security forces, many are left untouched, and others later receive retroactive approval. In 2023 administration of settlement activity shifted from military control to a new political body. The shift coincided with a sharp decline in law enforcement, a steep rise in outposts, and a spike in vigilantism by settlers against Palestinians.

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Israelis who support a two-state solution often call for bilateral land swaps with the Palestinians in order to retain Israeli control of the settlements. Some Israelis who oppose a two-state solution call for the settlements to be annexed—a position most notably advocated by right-wing settler activists such as Naftali Bennett and Bezalel Smotrich—or for Israel to extend sovereignty over the entire West Bank in a one-state solution. Following Israel’s 2005 disengagement from the Gaza Strip, when the government dismantled its settlements there amid fierce protest, public support in Israel for dismantling settlements declined sharply.