Editing Israeli settlement (section)

== Name and characterization ==
Certain observers and Palestinians occasionally use the term "Israeli colonies" as a substitute for the term "settlements".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Matar |first=Ibrahim |date=1981 |title=Israeli Settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip |journal=Journal of Palestine Studies |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=93–110 |doi=10.2307/2536048 |issn=0377-919X |jstor=2536048 |quote=The pattern and process of land seizure for the purpose of constructing these Israeli colonies...}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Isaac |first1=Jad |last2=Hilal |first2=Jane |date=2011 |title=Palestinian landscape and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict |journal=International Journal of Environmental Studies |volume=68 |issue=4 |pages=413–429 |doi=10.1080/00207233.2011.582700 |bibcode=2011IJEnS..68..413I |issn=0020-7233 |s2cid=96404520 |quote=The continuous construction of Israeli colonies and bypass roads all over the Palestinian land...}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Thawaba |first=Salem |date=2019 |title=Building and planning regulations under Israeli colonial power: a critical study from Palestine |journal=Planning Perspectives |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=133–146 |doi=10.1080/02665433.2018.1543611 |bibcode=2019PlPer..34..133T |issn=0266-5433 |s2cid=149769054 |quote=Moreover in 1995 38,500 housing units were built in Jewish settlements (colonies)...}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Abu-Laban |first1=Yasmine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Meq-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT243 |title=Israel, Palestine and the Politics of Race: Exploring Identity and Power in a Global Context |last2=Bakan |first2=Abigail B. |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-83860-879-8 |quote=The ongoing occupation has been heavily shaped by the issues of land confiscation and the building of Israeli Jewish settlements (or what Palestinians often refer to less euphemistically as "colonies").}}</ref> Settlements range in character from farming communities and frontier villages to urban suburbs and neighborhoods. The four largest settlements, [[Modi'in Illit]], [[Ma'ale Adumim]], [[Beitar Illit]] and [[Ariel (city)|Ariel]], have achieved city status. Ariel has 18,000 residents, while the rest have around 37,000 to 55,500 each.