The West Bank settlements are Israeli civilian communities, overwhelmingly inhabited by Jews, in territories acquired by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War that are not under its sovereignty. There are over 144 Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including 12 in East Jerusalem, and over 100 Israeli illegal outposts in the West Bank. According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, there are 451,700 Jews living in West Bank settlements as of the year 2020, and between 20,000 and 30,000 more live in illegal West Bank outposts. All settlements are located in Area C, the 60% of the West Bank controlled by Israel.

The West Bank is a Palestinian territory under Israeli military occupation since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. There are 2.8 million Palestinians living in the West Bank, but 475,000 Israelis also live in the same territory, which they call Judea and Samaria. Settlements can be as small as a few houses or as large as an entire town with a university, as in Ariel. Under international law, they are illegal, but Israeli law recognizes a number of them, and the Israeli army protects their inhabitants.

The reasons why Israelis move to settlements in the West Bank are complex and multifaceted. According to a report by Shaul Arieli, one-third of Jews in the West Bank are motivated by religious ideology, while the rest were drawn to the region by the potential to improve their quality of life. Of the 127 recognized settlements, 64 were established for religious reasons, while 63 (home to 67% of Jews in the West Bank) were built with the motivation to provide a high quality of life. Most of the spending goes to the security of the Israeli citizens living there.