Settlements are antithetical to peace…Settlements are, at every level, a liability for Israel. It is because of
settlements that the route of Israel's "separation barrier" has been distorted, lengthening and contorting Israel's
lines of defense. It is because of settlements that Israeli soldiers are forced to act as police within the West
Bank, rather than focusing on their real mission - defending Israel. Settlements are also a huge drain on Israel's
economy, with the government continuing to fund construction and to provide settlers a wide range of financial
benefits.
It is because of settlements that Israel is forced to rule over a huge - and growing - non-Jewish,
disenfranchised population, contrary to basic democratic values. Settlement policies and the actions of settlers
erode Israel's image in the world as a democratic state that respects the civil rights of all people under its
rule. If allowed to block a two-state solution, settlements will ultimately leave Israeli decision-makers with an
impossible choice: be a democracy and give full rights to the Palestinians, at the cost of Israel's Jewish
character, or deny rights to the majority of the people under Israeli rule - which the Palestinians will soon be -
validating accusations that Israel is increasingly an Apartheid-like state.
-- From APN's They Say, We Say
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Learn more about settlements – the more you know, the more you can
do
- The debate about settlements has been going on for nearly 50 years. In our seminal publication, “They Say, We Say,” APN takes on the most common
pro-settlement canards, one by one, offering factual, substantive responses, updated to include new pro-settlement
arguments and narratives put forth by settler advocates in both the U.S. and Israel.
- The Israeli Peace Now movement & Americans for Peace Now are the leading forces tracking settlement-related
developments and exposing them to the public, inside and outside Israel. Click here for APN and Peace Now reports, analyses, and
commentary.
- Supporting Israel is synonymous with opposing settlements and the occupation. This is why APN calls for people
who care about Israel to support Israel by boycotting settlements and the occupation. Click here to learn more about our policy and our call to action.
- APN and its Israeli sister organization, Peace Now, maintain a comprehensive database of settlement-related
information. We have put much of that data into an interactive map – Facts on the Ground – that you can use online
or download and use via APN’s Map App. Click here for Facts on the
Ground/APN’s Map App.
- “Price Tag” actions – violence and vandalism against Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and
increasingly inside Israel – have for years been a tactic of some extremist nationalist Israeli settlement
supporters. To learn more, see APN’s Introduction to Price Tag and APN’s
Price Tag Timeline.
- Watch APN’s “Settlements 101” video (below) and
read our concise introduction to settlements, "Settlements 101," document, which explains the what, who,
why and when.
