# Why do the Israelis build settlements? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 25, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-israelis-build-settlements/590273 "2011-07-25T15:35:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-israelis-build-settlements/590273/121 "2011-07-27T17:00:39Z")
The reasons vary as much as the people who have built the various settlements. Trying to put some monolithic, lockstep ‘reasons’ on what’s happened there is missing the entire point. -XT ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-israelis-build-settlements/590273/122 "2011-07-27T17:06:28Z")
Ah-hah! So you _admit_ that the Israelis really are Nazis! ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-israelis-build-settlements/590273/123 "2011-07-27T17:13:32Z")
I think there is a squatters right concept in it. When it comes to setting the borders in the future ,the Israelis can show the families living there with clothes on their lines and kids playing in the streets . How can you uproot such normal families ? ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-israelis-build-settlements/590273/124 "2011-07-27T17:30:26Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Reunifying Jerusalem. > Establishing final borders. > Reclaiming Jewish property lost in 1948. > Putting pressure on the Arabs to make peace. > Creating a buffer zone between the Territories and central Israel. > Controlling the high ground. > The belief that all of the land is Israeli by right. > Various religious reasons. > Relieving population pressures. > Supporting the construction industry. > Teenage rebellion. > Catering to religious American Jews. > Providing bases and lines of communication for the military. > Spite. > > And that’s just off the top of my head. It’s all moot, anyway. They’re here, and saying that they shouldn’t have been founded in the first place is pointless. What’s done is done. Okay, thanks. You get bonus points for actually answering my question. So, OP – there you have it: “might makes right.” ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-israelis-build-settlements/590273/125 "2011-07-27T18:01:13Z")
Yes, thanks for answering the question **Alessan**. It’s interesting that the establishment of settlements didn’t seem to be part of a grand plan (although **Sal Ammoniac** ’s explanation about setting the stage for land swaps seems interesting) but rather the result of a series of decisions by multiple Israeli governments and non-governmental organizations with different and sometimes competing goals which led to the situation we have today. This may explain why it seems to me to have been short-sighted. And I don’t know what the solution to the issue might be today. ---
**Author:** ![Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shinna_Minna_Ma)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-israelis-build-settlements/590273/126 "2011-07-27T18:12:55Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > I think there is a squatters right concept in it. When it comes to setting the borders in the future ,the Israelis can show the families living there with clothes on their lines and kids playing in the streets . How can you uproot such normal families ? You missed the disengagement in Gaza? ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-israelis-build-settlements/590273/127 "2011-07-27T18:18:11Z")
> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#): > > Yes, thanks for answering the question **Alessan**. It’s interesting that the establishment of settlements didn’t seem to be part of a grand plan (although **Sal Ammoniac** ’s explanation about setting the stage for land swaps seems interesting) but rather the result of a series of decisions by multiple Israeli governments and non-governmental organizations with different and sometimes competing goals which led to the situation we have today. This may explain why it seems to me to have been short-sighted. And I don’t know what the solution to the issue might be today. Alessan’s a real gem. LOL: I’d encourage you to pull that wool up from over your eyes. Much reporting in the USA of the tens of thousands of Israelis marching in Tel Aviv on Saturday? Nah, thought not. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-israelis-build-settlements/590273/128 "2011-07-27T18:24:44Z")
> [@Sal\_Ammoniac](#): > > “might makes right.” More like “possession is 9/10 of the law.” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-israelis-build-settlements/590273/129 "2011-07-27T18:41:00Z")
> [@PrettyVacant](#): > > Alessan’s a real gem. Somehow I don’t think this was intended to be a compliment. Knock it off or take it to The BBQ Pit. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-israelis-build-settlements/590273/130 "2011-07-27T19:18:13Z")
> [@PrettyVacant](#): > > Much reporting in the USA of the tens of thousands of Israelis marching in Tel Aviv on Saturday? Nah, thought not. Of course, the protest had nothing to do with the Palestinians - it’s about the real estate bubble Israel is currently undergoing and the resulting housing shortage. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-israelis-build-settlements/590273/131 "2011-07-27T19:24:46Z")
[QUOTE=Alessan] Of course, the protest had nothing to do with the Palestinians - it’s about the real estate bubble Israel is currently undergoing and the resulting housing shortage. [/QUOTE] Good grief…why bring facts into a perfectly good and obscure rant?? The point was that there were protests in Israel (regardless of what they were protesting), that the American Media™ didn’t cover them (probably because few would really be that interested) and that Israel is EVIL!! -XT ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-israelis-build-settlements/590273/132 "2011-07-27T20:35:03Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > More like “possession is 9/10 of the law.” Of course, you had to get to that possession by dispossessing the Palestinians first. Hence my “might makes right.” ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-israelis-build-settlements/590273/133 "2011-07-27T21:06:35Z")
> [@Sal\_Ammoniac](#): > > Of course, you had to get to that possession by dispossessing the Palestinians first. Hence my “might makes right.” How exactly did the Palestinians on the West Bank get “dispossessed” by the Israelis? Also when did the Palestinians ever “possess” the land? ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-israelis-build-settlements/590273/134 "2011-07-27T21:13:07Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > How exactly did the Palestinians on the West Bank get “dispossessed” by the Israelis? Bulldozers. > [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Also when did the Palestinians ever “possess” the land? When they were on it? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-israelis-build-settlements/590273/135 "2011-07-27T21:17:43Z")
You still beating your Wife, Sal? ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-israelis-build-settlements/590273/136 "2011-07-27T21:31:29Z")
Sorry, you’ve lost me on that one. ---
**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:** [July 27, 2011, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-israelis-build-settlements/590273/137 "2011-07-27T21:57:24Z")
> [@PrettyVacant](#): > > Much reporting in the USA of the tens of thousands of Israelis marching in Tel Aviv on Saturday? Nah, thought not. It was reported by Bloomberg, the New York Times, and the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, to name a few. And, as was said, what’s the relevance to this thread? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-israelis-build-settlements/590273/138 "2011-07-27T22:20:14Z")
> [@Sal\_Ammoniac](#): > > Of course, you had to get to that possession by dispossessing the Palestinians first. Hence my “might makes right.” Again, most of the land on which the settlements were built was not owned or inhabited by any individual Palestinain. It was state lands, and before the Israelis took possession, they were owned from the Jordanians, who took them from the British, who took them from the Turks, who took them from the Mameluks, who took them from the… ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-israelis-build-settlements/590273/139 "2011-07-27T22:21:38Z")
…all of who beat their wives. And don’t get me started on what they did to the goats… -XT ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-israelis-build-settlements/590273/140 "2011-07-27T22:39:19Z")
> [@Sal\_Ammoniac](#): > > Bulldozers. > When they were on it? Oh, so then you’re not talking about all or even most of the Palestinians on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, just those who had houses demolished because they were being used by people convicted of being involved in violent attacks on Israelis. My mistake, I thought you were suggesting that somehow the Palestinians in the West Bank have been dispossessed of their land which makes no sense because they never “possessed” it in the first place. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-israelis-build-settlements/590273.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-israelis-build-settlements/590273.md?page=8)