The Timeline, Components, and Governing Structure of Israel’s West Bank Settlement Project

Abstract

This article explores the various components of the Israeli settlement project in the West Bank, as well as the Israeli agencies and institutions that plan, implement, and support it, and the status of settlement activity under international law. It begins by highlighting the comprehensive nature of the settlement project as an integrated structure locked in a zero–sum relationship with the Palestinian space. Across four sections, the study presents a historical overview of the development of settlements in the West Bank; an outline of the project’s structural components; an analysis of the four Israeli bodies that administer settlement expansion and shape its legal and planning frameworks; and, finally, the position of international law on Israeli settlements.