Israel’s settler population is now more than 300,000, plus the Jewish residents of East Jerusalem.
The government’s opposition for the past eighteen years to building new settlements has allowed concentration of investments on the existing villages, and considerably improved their living standards. While the kibbutz population dwindles as the new generation leaves the communist farms, the settlers’ children usually stay in the settlements.
Recognizing the need for border adjustments in any future deal with the Palestinians, the Israeli government is mulling evicting from 60 to 250 thousand Jews who have lived in the settlements for up to four generations. There is no discussion of dismantling Arab villages as a way to rectifiy the borders.
