The issue of Israeli settlements in the West Bank is historically complex. Prior to both Israel’s founding and Jordanian control of the West Bank, Jewish communities thrived there. After Israel captured the territory in 1967, the first Israeli settlements in the West Bank began to emerge, marking a significant shift in the region.
Before 1948, the West Bank was home to several Jewish communities deeply intertwined with millennia of Jewish history. Key religious sites, such as the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, underscored the area’s importance to Judaism. However, the 1948 war led to Jordan’s occupation of the West Bank and the expulsion of approximately 17,000 Jews. By the time Israel gained control of the West Bank in the 1967 Six-Day War, the territory was almost entirely devoid of Jewish inhabitants. The first move to re-establish a Jewish presence came with Kfar Etzion in 1967, reviving a community that had existed before the displacements of 1948.
In the decade following the 1967 war, about 32 Israeli settlements in the West Bank were established. These early settlements were primarily located in the Jordan Valley and around Jerusalem. The Labor-led Israeli governments of this era largely justified these settlements based on security concerns. The strategic thinking aimed to solidify the Jordan River as Israel’s eastern security border, create a buffer around Jerusalem, and strategically position settlements around the central West Bank Palestinian population centers.
This strategy was closely aligned with the Allon Plan, developed by Labor Minister Yigal Allon after the Six-Day War. The Allon Plan proposed annexing the Jordan Valley and areas around Jerusalem, while suggesting a return of the more densely Palestinian populated areas of the West Bank to Jordan. Although never officially adopted by the Israeli government, the Allon Plan significantly influenced settlement policy during Labor’s governance. Consequently, the majority of the initial Israeli settlements in the West Bank were located in areas earmarked for potential Israeli annexation under this plan.
