Why does Israel Persist in Building New West Bank Settlements?

Shortly before its demise, the Obama Administration, citing new impediments to the peace process, blasted the Israeli government’s announcement that it was expanding settlements in the West Bank.

The response was predictable.  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made clear his anger and denied any change in Israel’s support for a two state solution in Palestine.  Republicans, and many Democrats, voiced strong approval for the Israeli decision.

For its part, the PLO – Fatah – certainly was not pleased by the news, and it is seen as a necessary party to any peace settlement, right?  So why would Israel further inflame the situation by building new settlements?  It seemingly makes no sense.  But things are sometimes not what they seem.

Perhaps Israel is using a policy of expanding Jewish settlements as leverage to expedite resolution of the impasse between the two sides.  The longer the delay in reaching an agreement, the more numerous will Jews on the West Bank become.

Consider some demographics.  At present, about 430,000 Jews live in distinct settlements throughout the West Bank, an area roughly twenty miles wide and sixty five miles long.  Since the 1967 war, this area has been controlled by the Israeli government.  Arabs on the West Bank are about two and a half million.  Increasing settlements will certainly strengthen the Jewish presence in territory claimed by the Palestinians and pose greater difficulties for accommodation between the two peoples.

But, ironically, that prod, that incentive to compromise, may be too sensible for that part of the world.  As discussed previously here (TSC 1/15/17l), the genuine hope for a lasting peace is probably illusory.  Neither side expects it nor may want it, actually fearing its potential consequences more than the status quo.

Israel’s leadership is suspicious of Fatah’s claims to want peace and fears that if it were to occur, the lull would be temporary and damage the country’s ability to recover when, as expected, hostilities resumed.

As for the largely secular PLO government, peace, too, is dangerous.  Hamas, its deadly foe, would seize upon the period of peace to oust it from power.  [Israel is hardly unmindful of the fact that Hamas, unlike Fatah, has maintained its vow to destroy the Jewish state.]

Interestingly, it is a well-known secret in the area that Israel provides support to the PLO, military and otherwise, in its struggle to hold the upper hand over Hamas.  The settlements, existing or proposed new ones, accordingly, don’t seem so important to either side.  Of course, the PLO Palestinians don’t like the intrusions, but they need, evidently, Israel’s cooperation for their security needs.  And Israel wants a release for some of its six million Jews (out of eight million citizens within its borders) who have the religious zeal to reoccupy biblical lands.  There seems no downside.  Certainly the more Jews living in the West Bank, the more likely their presence results in a fait accompli, negating any need for a negotiated settlement whatever.  So if the impasse between the two parties proves to be interminable, the continuing settlement influx will have a strategic effect:  the West Bank will simply become absorbed into greater Israel with citizenship rights of Arab inhabitants to be determined.