Report on Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories

Israel will hold national elections on May 29, 1996, to choose both a new prime minister and a 120-member Knesset. For the first time in Israel's history, these votes will be separate, with voters selecting a nominee for prime minister as well as a party slate for the Knesset.

The assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the redeployment of the Israeli Defense Forces reinvigorated efforts by settlement opponents to encourage settlers to leave their homes in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Golan Heights. The main focus of the political effort to assist in relocation to Israel is in the settlement of Kiryat Arba, near Hebron, where 200 families are said to be interested in leaving.

The two articles below address the conventional wisdom in Israel that Palestinians will acquiesce in the permanent existence of settlements.

How do settlers and their supporters manage to find the time to attend what at times has been a frequent calendar of protests and demonstrations? This question has vexed journalists and other observers for years. Many have conducted informal polls among participants at daytime demonstrations, seeking an answer to the simple question: How can you take off work to do this?