# Did the Israeli settlers take the "best land" in the West Bank?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-israeli-settlers-take-the-best-land-in-the-west-bank/479153>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 30, 2008, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-israeli-settlers-take-the-best-land-in-the-west-bank/479153 "2008-12-30T02:12:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-israeli-settlers-take-the-best-land-in-the-west-bank/479153/1 "2008-12-30T02:12:50Z")

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Posted to resolve a dispute that arose in [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=499250) Pit thread, starting at page 8, post #433.

N.B.: For these purposes the [“West Bank”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bank) includes everything between the Green Line and the Wall, and the “settlers’ land” includes all areas, actually settled or not, now barred to Palestinians as shown on [this map.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Settlements2006.jpg)

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**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-israeli-settlers-take-the-best-land-in-the-west-bank/479153/2 "2008-12-30T04:21:57Z")

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> [@BrainGlutton](#):
>
> N.B.: For these purposes the [“West Bank”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bank) includes everything between the Green Line and the Wall, and the “settlers’ land” includes all areas, actually settled or not, now barred to Palestinians as shown on [this map.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Settlements2006.jpg)

That’s not a really good defiition, because a lot of that restricted land on the map, especially along the border with Jordan, isn’t settled by Israeli settlements, and is a security buffer to control the border. Almost all of the peace proposals that have been negotiated have the Israelis handing over all that land to the Palestinians and abandoning the settlements there that do exist.

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-israeli-settlers-take-the-best-land-in-the-west-bank/479153/3 "2009-01-03T20:36:36Z")

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bump

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-israeli-settlers-take-the-best-land-in-the-west-bank/479153/4 "2009-01-03T21:01:00Z")

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> [@Captain\_Amazing](#):
>
> That’s not a really good defiition, because a lot of that restricted land on the map, especially along the border with Jordan, isn’t settled by Israeli settlements, and is a security buffer to control the border. Almost all of the peace proposals that have been negotiated have the Israelis handing over all that land to the Palestinians and abandoning the settlements there that do exist.

WTF? If it’s land in the WB to which the Palestinians have no access, it is land the Israelis have taken; what the Israelis are or not doing with it at the moment, or may or may not do with it in the future, is irrelevant to that point.