To many Israelis, the lands of Judea and Samaria are their God-given right. They believe that settling there will speed the return of the Messiah. “This land belongs to us. Full stop,” proclaims one young settler. The problem is that this land is now the Palestinian West Bank. If there is ever to be a viable Palestinian state, outposts here will have to be removed. However, settlers are determined to prevent this from ever happening. And they don’t appear to be facing too much opposition from their government. “Ariel Sharon is the father of all the settlement process,” explains Ron Nachman, Mayor of the Ariel settlement. “He was the visionary, he was one who supported us and asked us to come.” During the 1990s, Sharon succeeded in doubling the number of settlers in the West Bank. Today, his government offers a range of economic incentives to encourage immigrants to move to the settlements. “Not only is the Israeli government not dismantling outposts, it’s also giving the settlers the freedom to keep building new ones,” complains Yariv Oppenheimer from the Peace Now group. Sharon has declared that he will not consider evacuating established settlements until final negotiations in several years. For now the settlers appear to be winning the struggle for the West Bank.

Produced by SBS Australia.