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Unpacked
78,577 views Jul 16, 2025 #israel #palestine #history
To outsiders, they’re a symbol of conflict. To those who live there, they’re a fulfillment of prophecy. Between ancient vineyards and army checkpoints, settlers in the West Bank balance history, faith, and fear.
This isn’t about compromise. It’s about inheritance. And in a region built on memory, every home is a statement — every hill, a battlefield of belonging.
00:00 Intro
00:52 What defines a settler?
01:43 The historical significance of Yehuda & Shomron
04:32 Why is the West Bank Jewish population so small?
08:31 Religious nationalist motivations
10:37 Security motivations
14:57 Quality of life motivations
16:15 Settler opposition to the government
18:12 Settler-Palestinian conflict
20:06 Settler peace efforts in the West Bank
Sources:
-"Military-Strategic Aspects of West Bank Topography for Israel’s Defense." From the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA)
-"The Alon Plan." Center for Israel Education.
-Snitkoff, Ed. "Gush Emunim." My Jewish Learning.
-"The Settlers (inside the Jewish settlements)." Uploaded to YouTube by BestDocumentary, 4 Jan 2024. • The Settlers (inside the Jewish settlements)
-Shipler, David K. "ISRAELI COMPLETES PULLOUT, LEAVING SINAI TO EGYPT." The New York Times, 26 April 1982.
-"The Oslo Accords, 1993." US Department of State Archives
-Like Dreamers: The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation. Harper, 2013.
-Morris, Benny. "Arafat didn't negotiate - he just kept saying no." The Guardian, 22 May 2002.
-Handelzalts, Michael. "Pen Ultimate A Load of Bulldozer." Haaretz, 4 Jun 2004.
-"Settlements and violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem." Pew Research Center, 20 Jun 2024.
-Jarus, Owen. "1,900-year-old coins from Jewish revolt against the Romans discovered in the Judaean desert." LiveScience, 7 Mar 2024.
-"Jordanian Annexation of the West Bank (1950)." The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: An Interactive Database.
-Kaplan, Jonathan. "The Territories After the Six-Day War." MyJewishLearning.
-ICRC - International Human Rights Law Database.
-"Ben‐Gurion Urges Return Of Some Arab Territories." The New York Times, 25 May 1970.
-"ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS IN GAZA AND THE WEST BANK (INCLUDING JERUSALEM): Their Nature and Purpose." The UN.
-"West Bank Settlements." The Israel Policy Forum.
-Kane, Daniel. "The Changing Faces of Israel's Settlement Movement." Mosaic Magazine, 1 Aug 2022.
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Image and footage credits:
Coming soon.
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Executive Producer:
— Barry Skolnick
Co-Executive Producer:
— Shmuel Katz
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Translation credits:
Portuguese: Saymon Pires
About Explainers: From ancient Jewish traditions to the modern State of Israel, we explain it all. Diving into anything and everything related to Jewish culture, history, and even religion.
Understand Jewish holidays, Israeli politics, Jewish diasporic communities, and more. Learn about Judaism in pop culture, debunking myths about Jews, and explore obscure Israeli landmarks. We’re asking questions as basic as “What is the Talmud?”, and as obscure as “How did hip-hop boost Kosher wine sales?”, and everything in between.
About Unpacked: We provide nuanced insights by unpacking all things Jewish. People are complex and complicated — yet we’re constantly being pushed to oversimplify our world. At Unpacked we know that being complex makes us more interesting. Because of this, we break the world down with nuance and insight to drive your curiosity and challenge your thinking.
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1,951 Comments
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@benmasclans4
2 weeks ago
My problem is that when extremist settlers commit violence, they're never punished because it's condoned by the government and Israeli society at large
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8 replies
@md2perpe
2 weeks ago
This did not change my view of the settlers. I still consider them being terrorists because of the way they treat Palestinians: harassing them and destroying their property.
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@Arthur_Callahan-v96
3 weeks ago
I love these channels that are one-sided but actually explain the reason behind and argue for the other side too, not being disrespectful to the other side. Your channel and Rudy Rochman are prime examples of this
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@josepheridu3322
8 days ago (edited)
The issue is that, regardless of religion, a lot of Palestinians are also descendants from ancient Hebrews, and many European Jews have a greater intermix with Europeans and other peoples than Palestinians. It's the same as how Christian Kingdoms established Crusade States on grounds of Israel being their Holy Land too. I don't think there will be a reconciliation anytime soon, but clearly the issue is not "settled". There are also Jews who always lived on those lands and deserve to live there too. Also like half of Israelis are atheist or secular, which means that the claim on religious grounds is kinda convenient but not honest.
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@JamesCosby-r3h
7 days ago
My problem with this video is that it paints Palestine and Arabs as the source of violence, while completely ignoring Israels own history of violence. You can talk about legally purchased land all you'd like, but you can't justify genocide and ethnic cleansing.
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@Bujbrother
2 weeks ago
This video was really interesting. I learned a lot. However, while the presenter says he tries to build bridges, it's really hard not to view this video as little more than distorted propaganda given that it doesn't talk at all about settler violence. If you're going to talk about the settlers who want to connect to their neighbors, it's not enough to balance it only with a settler who sees herself as a guardian. You need to show the settlers who actively attack Palestinians. You need to show the settlers who are trying to ethnically cleanse the West Bank.
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@onemysore6120
2 weeks ago
Irish woman here and I personally like to blame the English for today’s conflict. 😅
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@grouchos_tash
8 days ago
Aw man, now when you put it like that I feel so much better about the starving and maimed children I keep seeing on TV.
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@g.iskandar90
2 weeks ago
I guess this channel will never show the violence exerted by Israeli settlers on Palestinians.
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@TendsToWonder
2 weeks ago
“But if I don’t steal it, someone else is gonna steal it” – Israeli Settler-Colonial Accumulation by Dispossession
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@multivitamin9832
7 days ago
face-blue-wide-eyesall that justification for mass murder, its actually insane.
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@jonl3696
2 weeks ago
One of my best friends in uni lives in Efrat! She used to invite me to her family's Shabbos dinners!
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@yairsaks3654
2 weeks ago
The last thing I expected to hear when I clicked on this video was that it talked about the place where I live!
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@YusufTekci
3 weeks ago
The real question might be this: Why do many pro-Palestine supporters fail to question why Jordan — regardless of whether you call it the West Bank or Judea and Samaria — never established a Palestinian state in that region? It's a crucial point that's often overlooked. Furthermore, under the Oslo Accords, the PLO officially recognized the State of Israel, and in return, Israel recognized the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people. Yet, many pro-Palestine supporters don't even take this historical agreement into consideration. Hopefully, some will begin to investigate these facts more critically and stop blindly believing misleading narratives.
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@ajcschmidt
2 weeks ago (edited)
Just saw that Daniella Weiss, settler leader on Piers Morgan. She’s undermining your hope I fear. I am grateful for your heart and efforts.
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@stvdiapolitica
4 days ago (edited)
Nope. Turns out I was right about everything I thought about settlers.
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@Mogadypopz
7 days ago
This video is literally soft propaganda
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@rishaadgany550
2 weeks ago
I would love to see Native Americans come back to New York to get their Land back.
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@beingjewish
2 weeks ago
I’m sorry but you cannot start off with the guys saying “look how close the “threats” are (looking at a Palestinian village) and assume this will be a thoughtful video
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@thankyou_uncle
2 weeks ago
Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank has made a viable two-state solution increasingly unrealistic. This points toward a de facto “Greater Israel” encompassing all of historic Palestine—Israel, the West Bank, and potentially Gaza. But here’s the catch: in that territory, Arabs now slightly outnumber Jews. So unless Palestinians are granted equal rights, the result is an entrenched system of inequality—what many call apartheid. But if equal rights are granted, Israel would likely lose its Jewish majority. That’s the core contradiction: you can’t have all the land, a Jewish majority, and democracy—at most, you get two out of three.
Unless, of course, the most chilling option is pursued: forced transfer—pushing Palestinians out to secure a permanent Jewish majority. Once a fringe idea, it’s now openly floated by some far-right Israeli leaders including in government , and that causes considerable discomfort amongst friends of Israel and many Israelis themselves.
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@gyangting
2 weeks ago
History is in the heads, not in the land. You can carry your head wherever you want. And history will still be with you...
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@tysonlindley4982
1 day ago
Why didnt he ask why they decided to settle so close to their enemies? If Palestinians are their enemies why didn't they settle in like Turkey or something?
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@Pedro00023
7 days ago
I would say this video is factually vague.
Most settlers in the West Bank are recent immigrants or their descendants—European Jews, Americans, Ethiopians, Russians—some with negligible Levantine ancestry. A large fraction of Ashkenazi Jews, for instance, have ~41% European admixture .
Zionist ideology frames this immigration as “repatriation,” but genetically and culturally, many are not rooted in Palestine in the same way Palestinians are.
Multiple independent studies show that Palestinians fully cluster with indigenous Levantine DNA—closer than any diaspora Jewish group . Many Palestinian Y-chromosomes and maternal lines are unique to the region or derived from pre-Islamic Levant.
Even shared Y-haplotypes between Jews and Palestinians (70% similarity) support common regional origins—but again. coexistence does not equal land ownership .
Yes, names like "Yehuda and Shomron" have historical origin-but to twist that into a claim of modern land rights ignores legal frameworks like the Geneva Conventions, UN resolutions, and rights of indigenous people. Naming isn't ownership.
Palestinians possess far stronger claim by genetics, culture, language, continuous residence, and displacement history.
Zionist claims rest on religious myth, ideological interpretation, and selective use of history—not universal or moral truth.
Modern settlers are largely outsiders, many with recent arrival and minimal cultural roots in Palestine.
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@stevenlindstrom8457
2 weeks ago
I really appreciate this video. I have seen some others done, and almost all are very one sided and unbalanced. This video was very balanced showing the diversity of opinion even among “settlers”. You allowed the people to speak for themselves without spin, providing balanced historical context for why they think the way they do. Well done.
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@crukeg
2 weeks ago
The part at the end made me cry - peace IS possible. Keep up the good cause.
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@Superplatanoman
10 days ago
how about give the palestnian rights like you give those settlers. thats what the world has been asking for years
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@themeatyjew
2 weeks ago
Alright as a proud zionist who's even somewhat pro-settler I have to call out how insanely propagandistic this is. How are you gonna show kids who are clearly hilltop youth and then the community in yitzhar without mentioning how violent these groups are towards local arabs? I appreciate giving their perspective but these groups are often very clearly obstacles to peace.
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@anyarbach
1 day ago
Propaganda will never erase the truth.
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@SrtaLiAngel3087
3 weeks ago (edited)
The report was very good, and it also showed the points of view of different communities.
For there to be peace in the Middle East, and I really hope for that, it is necessary to address the cause of all this evil called anti-Semitism that has been instilled in the imagination and minds of many people. And here I am referring more specifically to the countries that have been Islamized, where mainly children are raised in a system where being Western, wanting to follow a religion other than the one you were born into, and still being a free person is seen as something backward.
Of course, there are exceptions in countries such as Albania and Azerbaijan, where things are slowly changing. And when I see videos or reports showing the reality of the places that have been given the name West Bank, I am happy to see that many different communities are fighting together to bring peace to the region.
Good morning everyone on the channel. God bless you all and bless Unpacked for their magnificent work.
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@Fal-911
8 hours ago
Israel is South Africa before 1990, there is no way this colony will survive in the next 50 years. What will happen after that I just don’t know but it will not survive 100%
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@nejihiashi
13 days ago
The Zs signature Zs steal/lie then play victim card
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@paulkennedy927
2 weeks ago
I totally get it! My grandfather's German friend moved into a totally empty farmhouse in Poland way back in the 1940s. It was great, it was free!
He really grooved on it but then something went wrong. Can't remember how it ended, but my grandfather lost touch with his buddy...
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@Agustín_Cordoba
2 weeks ago
The more i learn about the conflict in the middle east, the more i think that there will be no peace in that region, not now, not never.
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@homemadegreen4478
3 weeks ago
Excellent report, thank you!!!
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@HorusWings
11 days ago
Why isnt the godmother of settlers, daniela weiss, interviewed?
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@geistakageist2932
2 days ago
this leaves so much out. but this channel is by Israel, about Israel and Jewish experience which is fine. but this was made 2 weeks ago. leaving out interviews with Palestinians living near about their experience is to hide what this actually is, stealing land little by little. Why didn't he interview Danielle Weiss, referred to as the godmother of the settler movement. If you watch the Louis Theroux documentary from a few months ago, where he spends a lot of time with her she is not shy to tell more about the movement. she says that they do the work on the ground the government cant officially do, but she is still in contact with Netanyahu. but once they move some where the government can legitimize it. she took Louis to view Gaza from a distance and showed him a map of where she plans to take new settlements. He asked about the Palestinians. she told him they will be gone. So now here we are some months later, Gaza has been bombed to rubble (despite hostages being in gaza) and the Palestinians are on the brink of starvation and 60000s dead and 140000s missing. what happens now, Israel will never allow a 2 state solution even with Hamas removed,. there is no homes or building for them to go to in Gaza. so the ones that don't starve, the last choice Israel and Trump (he said right after being elected) will say they have to go to other countries , its the best and safest thing. but that means they are ethnically cleansing and annexing Gaza. it's been the plan the whole time. Israle will shout its hammas fault. October 7th was a absolute tragedy. awful. But when the Nova festival got moved from its original site by 100km, close to the boarder. Then a few days before the start of the event granted a extra day to run... it was meant to stop on the 6th. The boarder at gaza is the most advanced tech heavily guarded border ever. that hammas flying over in diy powered guliders were not seen straight away. the idf response was very slow, 8 hours later at one location. it's starting to look like a longer much darker plan. October the 7th united the Israelis in a path of revenge. it was never about the hostages. its Zionism throughout the government. 80 days block of any aid made sure there would a slide in to crisis and famine. this will get removed so i will screen shot, because Israel has launched a massive a campaign to change the information and reports and vidoes to try twist it to hamas propaganda, since the world is now starting to challenge and hold them accountable to the crisis in gaza.
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@MonsieurKonthaar
11 days ago
Great perspective. It actually makes me dislike Israel even more.
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@sophieliberty7585
2 weeks ago
Yes, long times ago... And, between time, if they dare not to respect their mission, They were told : "And I will you scatter among the nations, and I will draw out the sword after you: and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste" (Lévitique 26/33).
So, no land for them anymore. Best to you all from France.
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@user-up5kh2mz4n
3 days ago (edited)
This video is digusting. @unpacked how do you sleep at night knowing what your army is doing to defenseless children????
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@michalkonvalinka1419
2 weeks ago
Thank you for this video! Especially the last part gave me hope that there's a chance for peaceful living. The whole history is about Jews and Arabs cooperating and living in peaceful coexistence. This video showed that it's realistic to continue this legacy.
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@LibbySameaj
3 weeks ago
My fiance and I pray to HaShem to return to the land of our ancestors and live with our people❤
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@robertnegru4622
6 days ago
Nice video ,hasbara is strong with this one😂😂
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@Once.TwiceForever
2 weeks ago (edited)
Israel has a deeply rooted historical and cultural connection to the land that goes back thousands of years.
The renaming of Judea to “Syria Palaestina” by the Romans in 135 CE was an early form of identity erasure — one that still echoes in today’s debates.
A Palestinian state has never been formally established, and integration of Palestinian populations in surrounding nations remains limited.
Despite repeated offers, peace agreements have been rejected, while certain groups still advocate for a future without Jewish sovereignty.
The core challenge isn’t geography — it’s the persistent refusal, in some circles, to accept the legitimacy of Jewish self-determination.
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@SantiagoClaros-z2o
2 weeks ago
Ummm.. what would think Daniela Weiss about this “documentary” 🤨
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@CuriousJoorge
3 weeks ago
Very well done video, though I disagree with your takeaway.
I don't believe that the woman's opinion is extreme, I believe it is grounded in life experience.
The communities of Beeri, Kfar Aza, and Nir Oz were home to many peace activists who shared your opinions on what a shared future could look like. Unfortunately, the reality they were faced with on Oct. 7 says otherwise.
I'm not saying that it is every last Palestinian that would rather fight to their death (or send their child to do so) than have a shared land, but I do believe that it is the vast majority that are like that. If the truth is otherwise- it is on them to bear the burden of proof, not those who risk putting their lives at stake to bend over backwards and assume that those that are indoctrinated to murder from birth want to do anything but that.
There is no future of our two nations living peacefully together. That has been proven.
Now we can either put our own interests first (as every other government in the world would), or we can continue to unsuccessfully pursue peace with an unwilling partner and pay the heavy heavy price.
I don't believe there is another option.
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@paulcorrigan8530
9 hours ago
It's salutary to be reminded that the national-religious are not all alike, and that at least some are serious about living in peace with their Palestinian neighbours. But when Israeli politicians thrust into the Knesset by settlers are openly calling for a Second Nakba, it's no surprise that the outside world thinks them a threat to peace in the region and to Israel's own continued existence as a country any Jew who wasn't a national-religious hardliner would care to live in.
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@andrewlim9345
2 weeks ago
Thanks for covering a thorny topic and speaking with some settlers.
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@The_Tisch
2 weeks ago
I wrote my MA thesis on the ideological settlers. I spent a couple of years travelling to many settlements, often staying for a night or two, praying alongside settlers and interviewing many of their leaders.
The large majority of settlers are not there for ideological reasons and live either in Ariel, along the Green Line (the 1949-'67 border) or, as with Efrat, in the Etzion settlements south-west of Jerusalem which, taken together and with Beitar Ellit, are effectively also on the Green Line.
That aside, there are probably around 45,000 ideological settlers deeper in the West Bank/Judea and Samaria whose purpose is Jewish control of The Land—notice "Jewish", rather that than Israeli. The majority of these support almost any means, certainly including violence, to further that goal, ie. to prevent any kind of Palestinian sovereignty and to "encourage" Palestinians to leave. Many of the younger generation see the state and the IDF as the enemy, seeing as they sometimes stand in their way, and are completely out of the control of their elders.
There are outliers. Some settlements are genuinely friendly with their Palestinian neighbours. There are ideological differences between different strands and different settlements: Ofra and Yitzhar have very different outlooks.
But overall they have a purpose which they see as supreme and while they used to see the state and the IDF as the manifestation of God's divine will, they now have either list that sense completely, or else tend to see the removal of Arabs as being far more important. This enables above and everyone with any reason or tendency towards anger, aggression or violence to express it with the full support and validation of his (normally his) piers and community/society.
This is a brief summary of 12,000 words I wrote a few years ago which included much primary research, as well as psychological, sociological and philosophical thought.
The violent ideological are now also supported by a government which relies on their two parties and which Netanyahu needs to maintain office and avoid the end of his criminal trials. Not more than ever they are the tail which wags the Israeli dog.
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@karoori2582
2 weeks ago
22 minutes of straight propaganda for Israel. Your next video should be interviewing Palestinians who have lived there for generations longer than the settlers. If this Canada were doing this to America, legality would be out of the question.
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Show transcript
Intro
- Welcome to Efrat.
You'd never guess that
this is some of the most disputed territory on earth,
that a significant percentage
of the world considers this community
to be not only illegal, but immoral.
That's because this isn't just any sleepy suburb.
This Israeli community is nestled
in the Judean Mountains,
in a region most of the world knows as the West Bank.
The Jewish communities out here
are most commonly known as settlements,
which means I'm standing at ground zero
of the fight between Israelis and Palestinians.
Most of the time, people run away from battlegrounds.
But despite the danger, Jews from all over the world
flock to this little sliver of land.
So, why would someone choose to build their life
in the most disputed territory on the planet?
- Construction on new settlements
What defines a settler?
is in full swing.
- The starting point of any conversation
about Israeli settlements is first knowing
what and who we're talking about.
For many Palestinians, all Israelis are so-called settlers,
whether they're on a hilltop
surrounded by Palestinian villages,
or living in the heart of Tel Aviv.
But for most of the international community,
the term settler is more limited.
It refers to those Israelis living in this area,
commonly known as the West Bank.
And while they see Israelis living in Tel Aviv
as legitimate, they find the presence
of Jews in the West Bank to be illegal
and a barrier to peace.
But many Israelis, especially those living here,
don't see it that way at all,
and they're eager to tell their side of the story.
It's part of the reason they welcomed me
and my camera crew into their communities.
I wanted to tell the whole story,
and they gave me the access to do it.
The historical significance of Yehuda & Shomron
The first stop on my whirlwind tour was Efrat.
Despite being 10 minutes south of Jerusalem,
Efrat looks like any comfortable suburb around the world.
You'd never know its humble origins,
200 people on an empty hillside.
You know, we're right next to a mall
that when you're inside, it could be anywhere in Israel,
it could be anywhere in any developed country.
And then you walk just a few meters in this direction
and there's a fence,
and then we have a Palestinian village right next door.
- Yeah, I mean, that's the reality I think across Israel.
You don't have to go very far to understand
that there are threats around you.
- Okay.
- So are we leaving Efrat right now?
- Yeah, we're leaving Efrat.
- Our tour wasn't confined to Efrat proper.
Dov braved the wind and rain to show me the Eitam Hill,
a new neighborhood of Efrat named
after the 3000-year-old Judean town of Eitam.
- We are here, the closest point
to say where King David grew up.
He grew up right across here in ancient Bethlehem.
King David's backyard.
We're talking, what, 3000 years ago.
So this site is of tremendous historic importance.
- Long before there were Israelis and Palestinians,
before nationalism, before checkpoints
or security fences, this was the home
of the ancient tribes of Israel.
The West Bank is a new name for a very old place.
It's original name was Yehuda and Shomron,
home to the ancient Israelite kingdoms.
This is the land where the Hebrew Bible takes place,
where our history as a people began.
And that's a powerful motivator for many of the people
who have chosen to build their lives
in this fraught, contentious place.
To them, this land is our ancestral inheritance,
a promise from God that has finally come true.
And that's why the Hebrew word
for settlement comes from the word for inheritance.
- The Jews who live here see themselves
as the direct inheritors of our biblical ancestors.
This is the land of Joshua
and King David and the Maccabees.
Our forefathers and foremothers are buried in this soil.
Jewish history is alive here
in a way it just isn't in the modern cities
of Tel Aviv or Haifa.
Why is the West Bank Jewish population so small?
Yet only 7% of Israeli Jews
make their home in Judea and Samaria.
Why is that?
The answer has a lot to do
with modern political history, surprise, surprise.
Many of the Jews who arrived
in British mandate Palestine
at the turn of the 20th century
wanted to build their lives in the Jewish heartland.
So they started buying land in the Judean Hills,
eventually establishing organizations
like the Jewish National Fund to expedite the process.
But the JNF's negotiating partners changed a few times.
At first, they were buying from the Ottomans,
who had ruled the region for 400 years.
Sometimes they cut property deals with wealthy Arab elites.
And when the Ottoman Empire fell
and the British showed up to administer the region,
the British authorities imposed new rules
around land purchases.
The JNF jumped through all those hoops,
and that's how the state of Israel acquired the Eitam Hill.
- The Eitam was purchased in the 1920s and 1930s.
So this is part of the original planning
in 1984 of the entire city of Efrat.
- Okay, so if Jews bought this land
before the state of Israel even existed,
why are settlements so controversial?
For that matter, if they bought this land in the 20s,
why did it take till 1984 to actually build here?
The long answer is long, like long enough
to fill a college semester
and several very heavy textbooks.
But the short answer goes something like this.
The Arabs in British mandate Palestine
started to get worried about
all these Jews coming in and purchasing land.
A few Jews was one thing,
but these guys were talking about building a whole state,
and the Arab population wasn't keen on becoming a minority
in what they understood to be their own land.
Tension spiraled.
Rioting and mob violence
forced a few nascent Jewish communities to shut down,
and by the 1940s, they threatened
to engulf the region completely.
The UN tried to avert catastrophe
by voting to split the land into two states,
one Jewish, one Arab.
The vote passed, but the Arab world refused to recognize it.
The attacks on Jewish civilians began the very next day.
For six months, the Arabs and Jews of Palestine
duked it out, then the British left for good,
and the gloves really came off.
The Jewish state officially declared independence,
and five Arab armies showed up to wipe it off the map.
They failed, but they did manage to bite off
a chunk of territory that the UN had earmarked
for a Palestinian state,
including Judea and Samaria,
which were now in Jordanian hands.
The Jordanians didn't waste any time.
While they did not establish a Palestinian state,
they did keep this new territory for themselves.
But as soon as they took control of Judea, Samaria,
and East Jerusalem, they kicked out
or killed the thousands of Jews
who had acquired their land legally.
These days, we call that ethnic cleansing,
and a lot of Israelis are quick to point out
what they see as a double standard.
- Therein is an assumption
that while Palestinians have the right
to have land anywhere they want, Jews who purchased land
that predated the Israeli state,
they have land that belongs to them,
don't have the right to live
in the land that they purchased.
So that's pretty bigoted.
It would be unacceptable to make that statement
towards any other people,
so I'm not sure why that's legitimate
to make that statement towards Jews.
- As I said, this story is complicated.
So for 19 years, Israel's borders looked like this,
and there was no slipping through the cracks,
not if you wanted to stay alive.
Visiting Judea and Samaria was a distant dream,
so was reclaiming the lands
they had legally acquired decades before.
And Jordan made sure
that Jews couldn't even visit their holy sites.
The Temple Mount Complex was off limits,
so were the Western Wall, the Mount of Olives,
and the tombs of our forefathers and foremothers.
And it wasn't just Israelis who were barred from visiting.
It was every single Jew.
The Jordanians even demanded baptismal certificates
before they'd let tourists visit these sacred sites,
just to make sure that Jews didn't somehow sneak in.
So when Israel took the territory during the Six-Day War,
hundreds of thousands of Jews flocked to the holy sites
they'd been barred from for decades.
Others returned to the land they and their parents
had been expelled from 19 years earlier,
Religious nationalist motivations
and some are still returning, including Eldad,
who grew up in Jerusalem
but now lives on the Eitam Hill.
- Eldad's grandpa was one of the Jews
who lived in Judea and Samaria
before the establishment of a state.
The Jordanian army destroyed
his little kibbutz of Ein Tzurim,
and hauled its inhabitants into a Jordanian POW camp.
Almost a century after Eldad's grandpa
founded his doomed kibbutz,
his grandson is forging a similar path.
Israelis like Eldad grew up on the stories
of the pioneers who mucked out swamps,
and built bustling modern cities
where there were once only dunes.
But Eldad has no interest in building another Tel Aviv.
He wants to break ground on a new community
in the Jewish heartland.
The vision for the Eitam Hill is ambitious.
Their goal is that there will be 900 homes here,
ready to welcome sprawling families,
a triumphant reclamation of his historic Jewish land.
Eldad and his friends aren't just history buffs,
they're proud nationalists,
a segment of Israeli society
known as the Dati Leumi or national religious.
This patriotic and religious identity
is powered by a mix of religious conviction,
historical pride and modern nationalism.
They love the people of Israel,
the land of Israel, and the Torah of Israel,
and these three pillars are inextricably braided together.
Security motivations
- But just as it was in the times of the Bible,
the land is not quiet.
Even at the height of the Israelite monarchy,
other nations made their homes here too.
Sometimes the relationship between neighbors was peaceful,
other times not so much.
The 21st century seems to be
one of those not so peaceful times,
and so the Jews who choose to live
in Judea and Samaria see themselves
as warriors on the front lines,
taking on the difficult
but necessary task of defending the homeland.
- This has become an increasingly popular
point of view in Israel.
A 2024 Pew survey revealed
that 49% of Jewish Israelis believe
that the settlements bolster Israeli security.
But security means different things to different people,
and the most fervent warriors in Judea and Samaria
aren't fighting solely for Israel's physical security.
Their battle has spiritual dimensions,
and they'll sacrifice a lot for it.
(bell ringing)
- Shalom. - Shalom.
- Wow.
- Ayelet and her husband moved here
as starry-eyed teens,
full of righteous conviction and boundless energy,
which they channeled into building this community.
Neither their faith nor their energy
has dimmed in the years since.
- It's a compelling argument,
one that Israeli leadership
has been making in one form or another since 1967.
After Israel won the Six-Day War,
many in the government assumed
they'd trade in their newly acquired territories
in exchange for peace with the Arab states.
Many Israelis had no interest in holding onto territory
that was home to over a million Palestinians.
But Israel's neighbors had other ideas.
A few months after the war,
the Arab League released the infamous Khartoum Resolution,
clarifying their position on the Jewish state.
No recognition of Israel, no negotiation with Israel,
no peace with Israel.
The UN Security Council must have missed the memo
on the Arab League's position, because shortly after,
it also passed a resolution.
This one called on Israel
to withdraw from all its new territories,
and asked every country in the region
to give peace a chance.
Every country in the region declined.
For them, all of Israel was a colonial settlement
that needed to be destroyed.
So Israelis began to build small communities
in the highlands of Judea and Samaria.
At first, only the faithful came out
to break ground on their new territory.
Quality of life motivations
But in the late 1970s,
a new prime minister appointed
a settlement czar named Ariel Sharon,
though many called him simply The Bulldozer,
which fit both his personality
and his aggressive expansion plans in Judea and Samaria.
Soon, these lands were dotted with new
and increasingly diverse communities,
built on land not purchased but conquered.
And it wasn't just the faithful anymore.
The government offered significant incentives
for Israelis to move to Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.
Cheap property, tax breaks,
and government subsidies are a powerful draw,
especially in a country like Israel
with its prohibitive cost of living.
So the Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria
grew and grew and grew,
and they show no sign of slowing down.
Israel is expensive.
The prices in Judea and Samaria are a lot more reasonable,
and apparently so is the quality of life.
- The socioeconomics have, you know, play a part in it,
but I really think that the quality of life, it's amazing.
- So there are practical reasons to live here,
ones that have nothing to do
with ideology or history or faith,
and everything to do with wanting
a decent and affordable life.
Settler opposition to the government
But it's always the loudest
and most passionate ideologues who get the most attention,
particularly when they feel like they're being threatened.
And the settlers of Judea and Samaria
have felt very threatened at times,
not just by their neighbors, but by their own government.
In the early 90's, Israel and the PLO
signed the Oslo Accords.
The terms of the agreement were pretty simple
and pretty unremarkable.
The Israelis would withdraw
from certain areas of the West Bank.
The Palestinians would establish
a semi-autonomous government
and get a taste of what it's like
to manage their own country.
If it went well, they'd all check back in
five years down the line and start talking about
building a real Palestinian state,
not just a more or less autonomous government
ruling a fraction of the West Bank.
Many settlers opposed the accords.
Their government seemed to be throwing them under the bus,
because if things went well, what would happen to them,
to the communities they had built?
Would they simply be uprooted
and forced to start again?
Most of the settlement movement
never had to answer that question,
because the Oslo peace process was never completed.
The Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria
were never uprooted.
The Jewish communities of Gaza,
however, were not so lucky.
Yeah, Jews used to live in Gaza.
In 2005, around 10,000 Jews
lived among 1.3 million Gazans.
For Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon,
these Jewish enclaves in Gaza
were a never ending security nightmare.
Plus, it was expensive to maintain
the IDF presence in Gaza
to protect a small amount of people.
And so the Prime Minister decided
that leaving Gaza was in Israel's best interest.
Yeah, the one time settlement czar
who had once spearheaded
so much construction in Judea and Samaria
was now advocating for a unilateral withdrawal from Gaza.
The idealists hoped that the withdrawal
would be a kind of trial run for Gazans.
The Palestinians would manage their own affairs.
They'd build a strong society.
The West Bank would follow suit.
Eventually, two states would flourish side by side,
and both Israelis and Palestinians would enjoy
self-determination and security.
Settler-Palestinian conflict
Instead, Hamas took over,
and after decades of rocket attacks and incitement,
they upped their game.
For some, October 7th came as a horrific surprise.
For others, it merely confirmed what they already believed.
- This was really tough for me to hear.
Ayelet and I agree on so much.
We both love the land and the people
and the Torah of Israel.
We're both idealists in our own way,
but our idealism runs in opposite directions.
I spend my days trying to build bridges
between Arabs and Jews.
I learned Arabic because I think every Israeli should.
I have Arab friends that are like family.
I served under Arab commanders in the army.
I believe this should be a country
that honors all of its citizens.
Look, I know we have enemies,
and I will never forget October 7th,
but I know that not every single Palestinian
has it out for me or for the Jewish people.
So it pained me to hear Ayelet proclaim confidently
that all of our neighbors hate all of us,
that she condemned all Arabs.
That is all or nothing, eat or be eaten.
Settler peace efforts in the West Bank
I don't believe that. I think it's wrong.
I think that extremist thinking could lead
to extremist actions, as do other settlers.
This is Leora, a mother, a therapist,
a settler, and a peace activist.
And she came to her community hoping to build bridges
with the women right next door.
- Leora wasn't alone.
There's a small but robust movement
of Israelis in Judea and Samaria who want to connect
to their Palestinian neighbors, who see no contradiction
between living in the Jewish heartland
and supporting Palestinian rights.
- Peace can come from unlikely places.
Egypt and Jordan were once Israel's sworn enemies.
Now we have an enduring peace, even cooperation.
And it didn't come from the liberals,
but from a right wing party.
The prime minister who appointed Ariel Sharon
as the settlement czar, who built up Judea and Samaria,
also invited the Egyptian president
to Jerusalem to talk peace.
And that Egyptian president
who had planned the devastating surprise attack
that started the Yom Kippur War
actually got on a plane to Tel Aviv.
I believe peace can come from anywhere,
and there's something deeply poetic to me
about a peace movement rooted in Judea and Samaria.
This is our heartland.
This is where our story started,
but it's also become the heart of the Palestinian story,
two stories now inextricably bound together,
and it's up to both of us to decide on our next chapter.
What If Everything You Think About West Bank Settlers Is Wrong? | Unpacked
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