Expansion of West Bank settlements continues

The masked assailants sprayed the Hebrew word for "revenge" on the wall of a building in Duman, near the Palestinian city of Nablus. They set the house on fire, killing an 18-month-old toddler. The child's older brother and parents suffered severe burns. Israeli police suspect the attack is part of the "price tag" campaign, a series of hate crimes committed by Jewish fundamentalist settlers who call their acts the "price" Palestinians must pay for limiting the expansion of Israeli settlements.

Many mosques have been burned in the attacks. The violence, once again, draws attention to the extremists among the settlers. But they are not the only ones moving to the occupied territory. More and more families who are not motivated by ideology are moving there. Some of the settlers believe they have a biblical right to the land, but others just want cheap housing.

In the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel captured the West Bank and annexed the eastern part of Jerusalem. Many religious Israelis moved to the new towns built on expropriated Palestinian land, which fundamentalist Israelis believe to be part of biblical Israel. In Hebrew, the region is called Judea and Samaria.

Rapid population growth

The prevailing international view on the settlements is that they are illegal because they have been built on occupied territory. These towns are also considered to be an impediment in establishing peace between Israelis and Palestinians, as well as an obstacle to a two-state solution. The network of settlements makes it almost impossible to create a completely Palestinian state: That is why in the peace agreements of 2003, Palestinians insisted on stopping the construction of settlements.

But instead, the number of Israelis on Palestinian territory has continued to grow. According to the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem, the population has been growing by 4.4 percent annually. The state office for statistics estimates that there are nearly 555,000 settlers and almost 200,000 of them live in the eastern part of Jerusalem. The rest of them are spread over 125 settlements on the West Bank, some of which are mid-sized cities and others, small villages.

In addition, there are about a hundred outposts, which are illegal according to Israeli law. Occasionally, the Israeli army clears them, but the human rights organization Yesh Din accuses the government of nonetheless tacitly allowing the construction.

Vacating causes coalition crisis

Vacating apartment buildings in the captured territories has proven to be difficult and problematic for the Israel government. Restrictions on settlement expansion trigger bitter disputes.

The influential settler movement, which demands more buildings, has many supporters in the government's cabinet.

On Wednesday, a government dispute escalated because the Israeli army had demolished two illegally constructed settler buildings in Beit El near Ramallah. Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Minister of Justice Ajelet Shaked, both members of the nationalist party "Jewish Home," lambasted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. While Netanyahu is often perceived abroad as an uncompromising advocate of conservative Israeli interests, he is too lenient in the eyes of many settlers.

A life surrounded by some two million Palestinians, who see Israelis as occupiers, would seem to be uninviting to Israelis. Again and again, there have been Palestinian attacks on settlers. Nevertheless, an increasing number of students, new immigrants or young families move into freshly constructed apartment buildings.

"The Israeli government pursues a consistent and systematic policy of encouraging Jewish citizens to move to the West Bank," said representatives of the B'Tselem rights group.

Money is also an issue, as many Israelis can no longer afford housing in Haifa or Tel Aviv amid rising housing costs. But the government subsidizes living in the occupied territories, according to B'Tselem, which says that the ministry of construction offers cheap land and cheap loans.

The ministry of education provides incentives for teachers to work in the West Bank and subsidizes school buses for students. The human rights organization says that even agriculture, trade and tourist authorities contribute: Public per capita spending for services in the occupied territories is notably higher than in the rest of Israel.

A vision of one million settlers

Organizations such as the Yesha Council, which brings together Jewish communities in the West Bank, emphasize the importance of the territories for Israel. A Yesha Council brochure reads, "Judea and Samaria are Jewish, essential and realistic."

But the region is vital to Israel for other reasons: It houses water, and its topography is considered to be of strategic importance.

The Yesha Council is promoting the vision of a million Jewish settlers living in the region's growing towns, and Ariel University in Hebron has announced on their website that they are striving for a student population of more than 20,000.

The fact that all this activity is happening on territory that is - from an international perspective - Palestinian has not proven to be a decisive deterrent.