{"id":247988,"date":"2023-11-13T12:00:09","date_gmt":"2023-11-13T12:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=247988"},"modified":"2023-11-10T04:43:19","modified_gmt":"2023-11-10T04:43:19","slug":"who-are-israeli-settlers-and-why-do-they-live-on-palestinian-lands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/11\/who-are-israeli-settlers-and-why-do-they-live-on-palestinian-lands\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Are Israeli Settlers, and Why Do They Live on Palestinian Lands?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As many as 700,000 Israeli settlers are living illegally in the occupied West Bank as settler violence surges.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

6 Nov 2023<\/em> – Since Israel unleashed its brutal bombing campaign in Gaza on October 7 in the wake of a deadly Hamas attack, settler attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem have more than doubled from an average of three to eight incidents a day, according<\/a>\u00a0to the United Nations.<\/p>\n

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The spike in settler attacks have forced hundreds of Palestinians to flee their homes in the past three weeks amid the Israeli bombardment of Gaza that has killed more than 9,500 people.<\/p>\n

So, who are the settlers and where do they live?<\/p>\n

Who are the settlers?<\/h2>\n

Settlers are Israeli citizens who live on private Palestinian land<\/a>\u00a0in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. The vast majority of the settlements have been built either entirely or partially on private Palestinian land.<\/p>\n

More than 700,000 settlers \u2013 10 percent of Israel\u2019s nearly 7 million population \u2013 now live in 150 settlements and 128 outposts dotting the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

A settlement is authorised by the Israeli government while an outpost is built without government authorisation. Outposts can range from a small shanty of a few people to a community of up to 400 people.<\/p>\n

Some of the settlers move to the occupied territories for religious reasons while others are drawn by a relatively lower cost of living and financial incentives offered by the government. Ultraorthodox Jews form one-third of all settlers.<\/p>\n

A plurality of Israeli Jews who live in the West Bank say that the construction of settlements improves the security of the country, according to the Pew Research Center. The argument is that settlements act as a buffer for Israel\u2019s national security as they restrict the movement of Palestinians and undermine the viability of a Palestinian state. However, some on the Israeli left argue that the settlement expansion hurts the two-state solution and thereby Israel\u2019s own prospects for peace.<\/p>\n

\"INTERACTIVE
(Al Jazeera)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When were the first settlements built?<\/h2>\n

Israel started building settlements just after capturing the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip in the June 1967 Six-Day War.<\/p>\n

In September 1967, the Etzion Bloc in Hebron was the first settlement built in the occupied West Bank. The settlement now hosts 40,000 people.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Kfar Etzion, one of the oldest settlements, houses around 1,000 people while the largest \u2013 Modi\u2019in Illit \u2013 has around 82,000 settlers, most of them ultraorthodox Jews.<\/p>\n

Successive Israeli governments have pursued this policy leading to a rise in settler population in the occupied territories.<\/p>\n

About 40 percent of the occupied West Bank land is now controlled by settlements. These settlements \u2014 along with a vast network of checkpoints for Palestinians \u2014 effectively separate the Palestinian parts of the West Bank from each other, making the prospect of a future contiguous state almost impossible, according to critics.<\/p>\n

The first Jewish settlement in Palestine goes back to the early 20th century when Jews facing widespread discrimination, religious persecution and pogroms in Europe started to arrive. Back then Palestine \u2013 which was still under British colonial control \u2013 was overwhelmingly Arab with a tiny Jewish minority.<\/p>\n

Tel Aviv, Israel\u2019s largest city, was built as a settlement in the suburb of the Arab city of Jaffa in 1909.<\/p>\n

The mass migration of Jews to Palestine triggered an Arab uprising. But in the ensuing violence, the well-armed Zionist militias ethnically cleansed 750,000 Palestinians in 1948. Palestinians call their expulsion the Nakba, which is Arabic for catastrophe.<\/p>\n

Are settlers backed by the government?<\/h2>\n

The Israeli government has openly\u00a0funded and built<\/a> settlements for Jews to live there.<\/p>\n

The Israeli authorities give its settlers in the West Bank some 20 million shekels ($5m) a year to monitor, report and restrict Palestinian construction in Area C, which is over 60 percent of the West Bank. The money is used to hire inspectors and buy drones, aerial imagery, tablets and vehicles among other things.<\/p>\n

On April 4, Israeli authorities asked to double that amount in the state budget, to 40 million shekels ($10m).<\/p>\n

Over the past few years, the Israeli army has been operating a hotline it calls War Room C, for settlers to call and report<\/a> Palestinian construction in Area C.<\/p>\n

Several Israeli laws enable settlers to seize Palestinian land:<\/p>\n