Before settlements Arabs wanted to destroy Israel
Before settlements existed Arabs were still calling for the destruction of Israel, that is a clear indication to where the root of the conflict is, which is extremist Palestinians unable to accept Jews having a nation of their own in the Middle East.
The status of settlements which compromise 5%-10% of the West Bank could have been finalized by Arafat at the 2000 Camp David Summit peace talks, infact land swaps were negotiated, however the plan was rejected by Arafat.
In 2005, Israel destroyed more than 20 settlements and evicted 9,000 Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip. The move did not leave an impression on the overwhelming majority of Palestinians, especially those affiliated with Hamas and radical groups in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas and its allies misinterpreted the disengagement from the Gaza Strip as a sign of weakness, not a goodwill gesture on the part of Israel. Since 2005 they have fired over 55,000 rockets and mortars indiscriminately out of Gaza into Israeli civilian areas and perpetrated the crimes of Oct 7th massacres.
Are Settlements the Major Obstacle to Peace?
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3008/settlements-obstacle-to-peace
US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday said Israeli settlement building was not an obstacle to peace with the Palestinians, instead blaming the failure to reach a peace accord on the Palestinian refusal to accept the Jewish state.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/schumer-settlements-not-an-obstacle-to-peace/
Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria (the “West Bank”) take up less than 2 percent of the land currently proposed for the creation of a Palestinian-Arab state. Meanwhile, Palestinian-Arab communities take up roughly 40 percent of the land, while 58 percent of the land is uninhabited. It is misleading for one who advocates for a Palestinian-Arab state to argue that communities on less than 2 percent of the land block an entire state from coming into existence.
Israel completely withdrew from Gaza in 2005 and evacuated numerous settlements and 9,000 residents. Many thought this would bring peace; however, in return for this move, Israel received even more terrorism. Hamas took Gaza from the PA and launched thousands of rockets at Israeli civilians and initiated three wars. If settlements were the obstacle to peace, there would be peace in Gaza.
To argue that the removal of Jewish communities from Judea and Samaria is necessary for peace is to argue that the ethnic cleansing of Jews from the area is necessary to bring peace. Ethnic cleansing is never the answer. If a Palestinian-Arab state were to be created today, there would be roughly 100,000 Jews within the boundaries of the state (after land swaps recognized by the international community to keep most Jews from Judea and Samaria in Israel). Israel currently has a roughly 25 percent Arab minority living in Israel with equal rights, so why can’t a future Palestinian-Arab state have a roughly 4 percent Jewish minority with equal rights? Unfortunately, the reason this is not possible is because PA leaders regularly say that no Jews would be allowed to live in a future “Palestine.” Moreover, given the fact that PA leaders incite their people to kill Jews (read below), the citizens of a future “Palestine” would most likely attack the Jewish residents.
If settlements were the obstacle to peace, the PA would have accepted Israel’s offers in 2000 and 2008 of nearly all of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza to create a sovereign Palestinian-Arab state. These offers would have destroyed all settlements in a future “Palestine” and given all of the land in question to the PA. Instead, however, the PA rejected both offers and resorted to an increase in incitement and terrorism.
The real obstacle to peace is the Palestinian Authority’s refusal to make peace and its continued incitement and funding of terrorism. Instead of preaching peace and coexistence, PA leaders preach the genocide of the Jewish people and the destruction of the Jewish state. Through their media outlets, mosques, and schools, PA leaders teach their children that Jews are root of all problems and that Israel must be destroyed. It is impossible to make peace with a government that has a stated goal of Israel’s annihilation. It is impossible to make peace with a government that has created the most anti-Semitic society on Earth (according to the ADL’s 2014 Survey of Global Anti-Semitism, 93 percent of Palestinian-Arabs hold anti-Semitic views – the highest rate in the world).
Moreover, PA President Mahmoud Abbas refuses to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, stating that the Jews have no claim to the land and that all the land belongs to the Palestinian-Arabs. He also names schools, streets, summer camps, and more after the terrorists who have killed the most Jews, thus furthering the hate-based education of his people and leading them further away from peace.
No one owned that land before those Jews moved there. In 1967, when Israel gained control of Judea & Samaria from Jordan, well over 90% of the land in Judaea & Samaria (what Jordan called the “West Bank” for the first time after 1950) was unoccupied and completely empty open land.
Other than discrimination there is no legal basis for claiming that Jews can’t live in and establish Jewish communities in Judea.
When Jordan attacked Israel in 1948 – as a part of the entire Arab League’s war in support of their stated goal to destroy Israel – it seized control of all of Judea & Samaria and the Old City of Jerusalem and either murdered or ethnically cleansed from the lands they seized every single Jew. Many whose ancestors had lived in those areas for millennia.
Also notably, when Jordan controlled Judea & Samaria and Egypt controlled Gaza, no one – not even the leaders of the Palestinian Arabs – called out for those lands to be “liberated” or even called them “Palestinian land” or territory.
In fact, the PLO’s original charter (in 1964) expressly disclaimed any rights or interest in either the “West Bank” or Gaza.
Back then, the only land they claimed to want to “liberate” was land that Jordan, Syria and Egypt had not been able to conquer and control in the 1948 war.
Why do you think that is? How is land – when it is controlled by Egyptians governing from Cairo and Jordanian Hashemites governing from Amman – NOT considered by the PLO (and people like you) to be “Palestinian land,” but it magically transforms into “Palestinian land” after it’s under the control of Israelis governing from Jerusalem?
No.1 You all know they are buildings on Area C the area which Israel is legally allowed to build on ……
No.2 For the first time in 3000 years, after Jordan illegally annexed Judea and Samaria ( renamed it West Bank ) in 1948, there was no Jewish presence after they ethnic cleansed all Jews.
So it is understandable why Jews would want to move there.
No.3 The PA, Fatah and Hamas have declared war on Israel – never in a million years will they give Palestinian citizenship to an Israeli person. Where as an Arab can become an Israeli citizen and can buy and build in the state.
No.4 If a Jewish person can live in France or Germany buy land and build why can’t they in Judea and Samaria (West Bank ) ?? The birthplace of the Jewish people
An Israeli state – with both Jews and Arabs (already exists)
A Palestinian state – with both Jews and Arabs that won’t be permitted.
Most settlements are near the green line and naturally grow, they are only 7% of the West Bank.
In the last two peace plans considered land swaps would be negotiated.