Editing Israeli settlement (section)

=== Proposals for land swap ===

{{see also|Settlement blocs}}
[[The Clinton Parameters]], a 2000 peace proposal by then U.S. President [[Bill Clinton]], included a plan on which the Palestinian State was to include 94–96% of the [[West Bank]], and around 80% of the settlers were to be under Israeli sovereignty, and in exchange for that, Israel will concede some territory (so called 'Territory Exchange' or 'Land Swap') within the Green Line (1967 borders). The swap would consist of 1–3% of Israeli territory, such that the final borders of the West Bank part of the Palestinian state would include 97% of the land of the original borders.<ref name=peacelobby>[http://www.peacelobby.org/clinton_parameters.htm Clinton Parameters] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150117011736/http://www.peacelobby.org/clinton_parameters.htm |date=17 January 2015 }}, The Jewish Peace Lobby website, full text (English)</ref>

In 2010, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that the Palestinians and Israel have agreed on the principle of a land swap. The issue of the ratio of land Israel would give to the Palestinians in exchange for keeping settlement blocs is an issue of dispute, with the Palestinians demanding that the ratio be 1:1, and Israel insisting that other factors be considered as well.<ref name=JP>{{cite news|last=Abu Toameh|first=Khaled|title=Abbas: Land swap principle reached|url=http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=176148|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post|access-date=4 September 2010|archive-date=26 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121126061000/http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=176148|url-status=live}}</ref>

Under any peace deal with the Palestinians, Israel intends to keep the major settlement blocs close to its borders, which contain over 80% of the settlers. Prime Ministers [[Yitzhak Rabin]], [[Ariel Sharon]], and [[Benjamin Netanyahu]] have all stated Israel's intent to keep such blocs under any peace agreement. U.S. President [[George W. Bush]] acknowledged that such areas should be annexed to Israel in a 2004 letter to Prime Minister Sharon.<ref name="factsheet">{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-ldquo-consensus-rdquo-settlements|title=The "Consensus" Settlements|website=www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org|access-date=11 September 2019|archive-date=4 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190504155030/https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-ldquo-consensus-rdquo-settlements|url-status=live}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=January 2023}}

The [[European Union]] position is that any annexation of settlements should be done as part of mutually agreed land swaps, which would see the Palestinians controlling territory equivalent to the territory captured in 1967.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=378&PID=1857&IID=6797|title=The European Union: Challenges for Israeli Diplomacy|publisher=Jewish Center for Public Affairs|access-date=28 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110917192246/http://jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=378&PID=1857&IID=6797|archive-date=17 September 2011}}</ref> The EU says that it will not recognise any changes to the 1967 borders without an agreement between the parties.

Israeli Foreign Minister [[Avigdor Lieberman]] has proposed a [[Lieberman plan|plan]] which would see settlement blocs annexed to Israel in exchange for heavily [[Arab citizens of Israel|Arab]] areas inside Israel as part of a [[population exchange]].

According to [[Mitchell Bard|Mitchell G. Bard]]: "Ultimately, Israel may decide to unilaterally disengage from the West Bank and determine which settlements it will incorporate within the borders it delineates. Israel would prefer, however, to negotiate a peace treaty with the Palestinians that would specify which Jewish communities will remain intact within the mutually agreed border of Israel, and which will need to be evacuated. Israel will undoubtedly insist that some or all of the "consensus" blocs become part of Israel".<ref name="factsheet" />{{better source needed|date=January 2023}}