David Makovsky is the Ziegler Distinguished Fellow at The Washington Institute and director of the Koret Project on Arab-Israel Relations.
Articles & Testimony
By almost any measure, the Israeli settlement movement has failed. Despite religious, ideological, and financial incentives, only around 5 percent of Israel’s Jewish population has relocated to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since the land was captured in the 1967 war. Moreover, polls indicate a majority of Israelis are now prepared to evacuate the settlements and accept the establishment of a Palestinian state if doing so would bring lasting security. At the Camp David summit convened by then U.S. President Bill Clinton in 2000, a plan emerged that would have allowed Israel to annex land accommodating 80 percent of the settlers while creating a contiguous Palestinian nation. A closer look at the settler movement suggests the Clinton plan remains feasible. Approximately 63,800 people, or just 1 percent of Israel’s Jewish population, would need to be uprooted to make a two-state solution possible. Habitually described as a “major obstacle to peace,” the settlement issue can be resolved by using a careful hand to redraw just 5 percent of the West Bank map—and by summoning the ample political will required to see the process through....
