The 5 Percent Solution

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By Eran Benedek, David Makovsky

September/October 2003

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Plotting the Future

Disentangling 226,000 Israeli settlers living in 144 settlements from 3.5 million Palestinians is a daunting task. Most Israelis acknowledge that the 7,500 or so settlers in Gaza will have to go. The West Bank poses a bigger problem. However, the Green Line marking Israel's pre-1967 border will likely serve as the border dividing Israel from a future Palestine. Nearly 75 percent of the West Bank settlers reside in blocs—clusters of settlements—adjacent to the Green Line. The rest are in small settlements—"non-blocs"—scattered throughout the West Bank. The Clinton plan called for redrawing the border so that the blocs, comprising 5 percent of the West Bank, could be incorporated into Israel proper. In exchange, Israel would hand over compensatory land to the Palestinians.

Settling Differences

Broadly speaking, there are two types of settlers: nationalist-ideologues and suburbanites (a mixture of religious and secular Israelis). Nationalist-ideologue settlers live in the West Bank because they consider the land part of Jewish biblical patrimony. Two thirds of West Bank settlements—some 80 in total—are populated by nationalist-ideologues, but a growing majority of West Bank settlers are...

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