A settlement is any residential area built across the Green Line, the 1949 cease-fire line between the newly established state of Israel and its Palestinian/Arab neighbors (TheCEPR.org.) These settlements currently exist in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Golan Heights, which is in Syria. These lands were occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War. After the Six-Day War, Israel extended Israeli law to East Jerusalem (and later, the Golan Heights), which in practical terms meant annexation. But the rest of the West Bank remained under military occupation, with Palestinian autonomous rule in some areas (Gorenberg 1.) The issue with the settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is that these settlements are built on the "proposed " Arab State.

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             In the year of 1996, the Israeli government responded to international pressure, by saying they would finally halt settlements in occupied territories. However, when religious settlers began to establish their own colonies, no legal action was taken, even though these settlements were considered to be unauthorized, and illegal (TheCEPR.org.) These unofficial settlements, called outposts are "usually clumps of mobile homes on a hilltop, created after the government stopped approving new settlements in the mid-1990's (Gorenberg 1.) According the 2003 U.S backed "roadmap " for peace, Israel must evacuate those false settlements, but so far, very few have been demolished, and new ones are still being built. .

             Even today, Benjamin Netanyahu is receiving backlash from most international leaders, but he refuses to halt the settlements. These settlements are being built on occupied territories that were claimed by Palestinians for a future state (Heilprin 1.) If these settlements continue, there would ultimately be no land for the Palestinians. "More than 500,000 Israelis already live in settlements that dot the West Bank and ring east Jerusalem, the Palestinians' hoped-for capital.