Hailey Johnson
The number of Israeli settlers in the West Bank is a highly contentious issue. The United Nations Human Rights Council estimates that there are over 700,000 Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as of 2023. This figure has grown from 520,000 in 2012. The establishment and expansion of these settlements are considered a violation of international humanitarian law and infringe upon Palestinian human rights. Israel's settlement policy has been largely driven by the Allon Plan, which implies Israeli annexation of major parts of the Israeli-occupied territories, particularly East Jerusalem, Gush Etzion, and the Jordan Valley. The expansion of settlements has resulted in increased violence against Palestinians, with the United Nations verifying 3,372 violent incidents by settlers in the past decade.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Number of Israeli settlers in the West Bank | 500,000 excluding East Jerusalem, 700,000 including East Jerusalem |
| Number of Israeli settlers in East Jerusalem | 220,000 |
| Number of Israeli settlements in the West Bank | 144, including 12 in East Jerusalem |
| Number of Israeli outposts in the West Bank | 196 |
| Number of Jewish Israelis living in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem | 534,224 |
| Number of Jewish Israelis living in the Golan Heights | 20,000 |
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What You'll Learn
Over 500,000 settlers in the West Bank
The Israeli settlement in the West Bank is considered a major obstacle to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The ICJ found that Israel's settlements and the Israeli West Bank barrier violate international law. As of January 2023, there are 144 Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including 12 in East Jerusalem. There are also at least 196 Israeli outposts in the West Bank that are not authorised by the Israeli government.
In total, over 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem, with an additional 220,000 settlers in East Jerusalem. The number of settlers in the West Bank has been steadily increasing. By 2011, the number of Jewish settlers in the West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem, had increased to 328,423. In June 2014, this number grew to 382,031, with over 20,000 Israeli settlers in the Golan Heights.
The establishment of Israeli settlements in the West Bank began with the Allon Plan, which implied Israeli annexation of major parts of the Israeli-occupied territories, especially East Jerusalem, Gush Etzion, and the Jordan Valley. Many settlements began as Nahal settlements, which were established as military outposts and later expanded and populated with civilian inhabitants. The first settlement was Kfar Etzion in the southern West Bank.
The Israeli government has continued to expand its control over the West Bank through various means, including declaring lands as "state lands", constructing infrastructure to connect settlements and outposts, and retroactively legalising outposts. This takeover of land and resources has consolidated the Israeli presence while infringing upon Palestinians' freedom of movement and access to resources. The expansion of outposts has also been correlated with an increase in settler attacks against Palestinians. The United Nations has verified 3,372 violent incidents by settlers, injuring 1,222 Palestinians over the past decade.
The Israeli settlement in the West Bank is a highly contentious issue, with the International Court of Justice set to rule on the legality of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory. Despite criticism and concerns about violations of international law, the Israeli government and settlers continue to expand their presence and control in the West Bank.
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220,000 settlers in East Jerusalem
As of 2025, there are an estimated 220,000 Israeli settlers in East Jerusalem. This figure has been consistent since 2020, with a slight dip in 2019 to 200,000. The number of settlers in East Jerusalem is in addition to the over 450,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem.
The settlements in East Jerusalem are considered illegal under international law. The International Court of Justice reaffirmed this in 2022, stating that Israel's presence in the occupied Palestinian territories is unlawful and must end as soon as possible. The Jerusalem Law of 1980, however, defines East Jerusalem as part of Israel and its capital.
The establishment of these settlements has been described as a coordinated campaign to forcibly displace Palestinians from key areas of the West Bank. Settler violence has reached record levels, with the United Nations verifying 3,372 violent incidents by settlers, injuring 1,222 Palestinians over the past decade. The spike in settler attacks has forced hundreds of Palestinians to flee their homes.
The settlements in East Jerusalem have grown from 12 in 2023 to 14 in 2023, with a total of 229,000 people. The population growth is attributed to internal migration and around 1,000 new immigrants from outside Israel annually. The settlements range from farming communities to urban suburbs, with the four largest settlements of Modi'in Illit, Ma'ale Adumim, Beitar Illit, and Ariel achieving city status.
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The number of Israeli settlers in the Golan Heights has been a growing concern. The Golan Heights, a region captured from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, has seen a significant increase in Israeli settlers over time. While the exact number of settlers in the Golan Heights is not always clear, estimates place the figure at around 20,000 Israeli citizens as of 2010, with some sources citing 25,000 as a more recent estimate. This number has surpassed that of the Syrian native population for the first time since 1967, according to the United Nations.
The Israeli government has expressed intentions to increase the number of settlers in the Golan Heights. In 2021, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced a plan to double the number of settlers in the region, citing the recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the territory by the Trump administration in 2019 and the Biden administration's indication that it would not challenge this decision. This plan includes a multimillion-dollar investment in housing and infrastructure, with 7,300 housing units to be built in Katzrin, Israel's main settlement in the area.
The establishment of Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights is considered illegal under international law, and the majority of the international community does not recognize Israel's annexation of the region in 1981. The United Nations has criticized Israeli practices in the Golan Heights, stating that they "isolate the population from their familial and cultural links to Syria and enforce integration into the Israeli economy and education system." Despite this, Israel has vowed to eventually quadruple the settler population in the Golan Heights to around 100,000.
The situation in the Golan Heights is part of a broader context of Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which has also been characterized by a growing settler population and the establishment of unauthorized outposts. The expansion of Israeli control over these areas has been met with widespread criticism and is considered a major obstacle to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The international community, including the United Nations and the International Court of Justice, has weighed in on the issue, with the latter finding that Israel's settlements violate international law.
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Israeli settlement legality
The legality of Israeli settlements in the West Bank is a highly contested issue. The international community, as reflected in numerous UN resolutions, regards the building and existence of these settlements as a violation of international law. UN Security Council Resolution 446 refers to the Fourth Geneva Convention, which states that an "occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies". The convention also prohibits the "individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory".
Israel, however, disputes the illegality of its settlements, arguing that Israeli citizens were neither deported nor transferred to the territories, and that the territory is not occupied as there was no internationally recognised legal sovereign prior. Israel does not accept that the Fourth Geneva Convention applies in this case, although it has stated that it will govern itself by its provisions on humanitarian issues. The Israeli Supreme Court has also repeatedly ruled that Israel's presence in the West Bank is subject to international law.
The Israeli government has authorised the construction of settlements, both military and civilian, for security purposes. These settlements are considered by Israel to be consistent with international law, with the state arguing that they meet urgent military needs and are temporary measures. However, critics argue that the settlements are not temporary and that they violate the rights of Palestinians, including their right to housing, livelihood, freedom of movement, and equality.
Under Israeli law, West Bank settlements must meet specific criteria to be legal, including being built on state land and having building permits from the government. Settlements that do not meet these criteria are considered illegal outposts, both under Israeli law and international law. From 1992 to 2020, Israel established seven settlements, but this period also saw the emergence of over 100 illegal outposts, constructed without government approval. Several of these outposts have since undergone retroactive legalization by the government.
The debate over the legality of Israeli settlements in the West Bank remains ongoing, with legal experts, international organisations, and governments offering differing interpretations of international law and the specific circumstances of the region.
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Settler violence
Settler violence in the West Bank has become a daily occurrence, with Palestinians being the primary targets. Masked settlers often sneak into Palestinian villages at night, setting fire to vehicles and buildings. In some cases, they enter during the day, leading to confrontations with residents and, at times, the involvement of the Israeli military. This violence has resulted in injuries, deaths, and damage to property and land. Examples include blocking roads, throwing stones at cars and houses, raiding villages and farmland, torching fields and olive groves, damaging crops, and physical assault.
The United Nations (UN) has recorded a sharp increase in settler violence, with 3,372 violent incidents injuring 1,222 Palestinians over the past decade. In the first half of 2025, there were an average of 17 attacks per month in a 40-square-mile area, approximately double the monthly rate in 2024 and five times that of 2022. The UN also reported that Israeli settlers carried out over 750 attacks on Palestinians and their property in the first half of 2025, the highest monthly average since record-keeping began in 2006.
The surge in violence is attributed to various factors, including the election of a far-right government in 2022, which proposed expanding Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories, and the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel. The outbreak of the 2025 Israel-Hamas war and the subsequent ceasefire, which included the release of Palestinian prisoners, further fuelled tensions. The Israeli government's authorisation of new settlements and its failure to prevent and address settler violence have also contributed to the escalating situation.
While the majority of the approximately 700,000 Jewish Israeli settlers in the West Bank are not involved in violence, extremist settlers are carrying out some of the most brutal campaigns of intimidation and land-grabbing since the Israeli occupation of the West Bank in 1967. The expansion of Israeli settlements and outposts in the West Bank has been deemed a violation of international law and a major obstacle to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The International Court of Justice is set to rule on the legality of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory, a decision that could provoke a strong reaction from Israeli settlers and the broader settlement movement.
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Frequently asked questions
As of 2023, there are over 700,000 Israeli settlers living in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
No. The United Nations has declared that the establishment and expansion of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory is prohibited under international humanitarian law and amounts to a war crime.
There are 279 Israeli settlements across the occupied West Bank, including 14 settlements in East Jerusalem. There are also at least 147 outposts, which are illegal even under Israeli domestic law.
