Why does the Israeli government not halt settlement activity?
Most coalition governments depend to some degree on pro-settler parties or settler votes for power and isolating them would place their government in jeopardy. The government of Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has said that construction needs to continue in established settlements to cope with the “natural growth” of their populations. Critics charges that Israel maintains the settlements to influence any future agreement on a two-state solution with the Palestinians. All settlements in the Gaza Strip were abandoned in 2005 and about 8,000 settlers were forcibly evicted.
