Zionist Settlement Ideology and Its Ramifications for the Palestinian People

The settlement policy of Israel is not a concise subject confined to the territories occupied during the war of 1967. Neither is it a process which began only fourteen years ago. The issue of settlement has been at the heart of the political Zionist movement since its inception and has been a central subject of debate within Zionism ever since. This fundamental nature of the settlement issue has caused it to be one of the determining factors of the various political streams in the Zionist movement and subsequently the Israeli state. It is intrinsically linked to other key questions such as religion and land. Settlement policy played - and continues to play - a major role in the Zionist confrontation with, and dispossession of, the Palestinian people.

Donald S. Will is Resource Specialist, Middle East Affairs, United Methodist Office for the United Nations. This paper in its original form was prepared for the First United Nations Seminar on the Question of Palestine, held in Arusha, Tanzania from July 14-18, 1980; it was subsequently updated by the author.