After posting a map showing what Israel's borders could possibly look like if Barack Obama’s vision for a Palestinian state were to become reality, I thought it would be useful to provide a link to a map showing where Israeli settlements are located within the territory that Obama wants the Palestinians to have.
The Wall Street Journal’s website today displayed an excellent map of the Israeli settlements located within the boundaries of the West Bank, which Israel gained control of after the Six Day War in 1967. The map shows the pre-1967 boundaries that Obama wants Israel to return to and the location of virtually all the Israeli settlements that are located within the territory that Obama wants the Palestinians to have.
- You can view the map at the following link
You will probably notice that there are several dozen settlements and outposts located throughout the West Bank when you view the map. I searched for the most up-to-date statistics concerning the total number of Israelis living in settlements in the West Bank. Unfortunately, I could only locate detail data from an article published in fall 2009. Nevertheless, the available statistics demonstrate that there is a sizeable population of Israelis living in settlements in the West Bank.
- Over 300,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank. If we assume the Israeli settler population of the West Bank remained constant at just 300,000 through today, it would make up approximately 3.9% of Israel’s total population (7.7 million).
- According to an article from fall 2010, another 200,00 Israelis live in East Jerusalem, which Israel gained control of in 1967’s Six Day War.
I included statements in my previous article from a former British Lord Chancellor and former U.S. President Ronald Reagan which demonstrate why Israel would be in a difficult security situation if they returned to its pre-1967 borders. Today’s information suggests that Israel could also potentially face a population relocation issue if it were to return to its pre-1967 borders.
- Obama suggested that Israel and the Palestinians could engage in land-swap deals so that Israel could potentially maintain some of its settlements in the West Bank. However, it’s difficult to imagine Israeli settlers wanting to live in a Palestinian-controlled state. In addition, it is unlikely that Israel would be able to retain a large number of settlements in the West Bank since many of them are located far from its pre-1967 borders. The best Israel could perhaps realistically do is to maintain some of its larger settlements located near its pre-1967 boundaries.
- Israel would be a very small country (significantly smaller than it is now) if it were to return to its pre-1967 borders. Consequently, it would be challenging for Israel to relocate potentially several hundred thousand people from the West Bank and East Jerusalem into its reduced territory.
It’s disconcerting to see Barack Obama call for Israel to return to its pre-1967 borders when a return to these borders would cause a lot of major problems for Israel. I can understand why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is very unhappy with Barack Obama…
