Begin’s government in 1979 to decide to expand the scope of the settlements. A key
element flowing from this decision was the creation of five large communities, known
as settlement blocs, that have since grown to include the majority of Jewish settlers in
the West Bank.
The official policy of every U.S. administration since the early 1970s has been to
oppose Israel’s establishment of settlements in the territories, referring to them as
“obstacles” to peace. Every U.S. administration since that of Ronald Reagan, in the
1980s, also has called on Israel to “freeze” settlement construction, a request that Israeli
governments have interpreted as applying to the construction of new settlements, not
the expansion (or “thickening”) of existing ones. President George W. Bush substan-
tially altered U.S. policy in April 2004, however, by asserting that Israel should be
allowed to keep its major West Bank settlements as part of any eventual peace agree-
ment with the Palestinians. Bush’s aides said his statement merely reflected reality, and
they noted that Washington policymakers long had assumed that some settlements
would be included in a final agreement. Palestinians were angered that the United
States presumed to dictate the ultimate outcome of negotiations between themselves
and the Israelis.
One of the most controversial aspects of Israeli settlement has been disputes over
the ownership of land. Before the 1967 war, most of the land in the Gaza Strip, Golan
Heights, and West Bank (including East Jerusalem) was owned by private individu-
als, some of them absentee Arab landlords who lived in neighboring countries or by
Islamic charities known as waqfs.After 1967, the Israeli government took possession
of much of the private and waqf lands in these areas through a variety of maneuvers.
In some cases, the army seized land for “security” reasons, then turned it over to civil-
ian Jewish settlers. The government also decreed that all landholdings in the territo-
ries had to be newly registered; many absentee Arab owners, including those who had
fled during the war, were unable to register their lands, enabling the Israeli govern-
ment to take possession of them. Over the years, the government and military also
confiscated thousands of acres of Palestinian land for such public purposes as build-
ing access roads between settlements and erecting the separation barrier surrounding
much of the West Bank and Jerusalem. Some Palestinians were compensated for their
losses, but many were not.
In general, Israelis have moved to the settlements for one of two reasons. Mem-
bers of Gush Emunim and similar groups established settlements in the West Bank
and other territories primarily for religious reasons, to fulfill what they said was God’s
command. Thousands of other Israelis, however, were attracted by more practical con-
siderations: the housing, tax, and other subsidies provided by the government as
inducements. Most of the settlements near Jerusalem were established as suburbs for
people who work in the city and desire affordable housing nearby.
The eventual fate of the settlements will depend on the state of affairs if Israel and
the Palestinians are able to negotiate a “final status” peace agreement. The Israel-
Palestinian agreements of 1993–1995 committed Israel to handing over the adminis-
tration of Gaza and parts of the West Bank to the newly established Palestinian
Authority. All prime ministers since that time have, however, said that Israel would
hold on to all of East Jerusalem and the surrounding neighborhoods that Israel has
annexed, plus the West Bank settlement blocs. The Palestinians have insisted on their
right to designate East Jerusalem as the capital of their state. They also have argued
ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIANS 181