Matt has a bit more on the Akiva Eldar discussion from this morning. He writes:
[Eldar] said that while just two percent of the Occupied Territories are actually under settlement control, a much larger swathe of the West Bank is now off-limits to Arabs, either because it's been set aside for further settlement expansion or else because it's part of the network of no-Arabs-allowed roads that connect the settlements, etc.
This really was remarkable: According to Eldar, two percent of the Occupied Territories are used for housing of settlers. Because of zoning, roads, buffers, future expansions etc, another 40 percent is under Israeli control (more on this here -- the stat seems to refer to the West Bank). So it's not just the settlers -- it's the settler-industrial complex, if you will -- that's the problem. Somewhat depressingly, Eldar and Daniel Levy both seemed to agree that there was little hope of demolishing the settlements, and the final deal will instead include some sort of land swap leaving the settlements intact and giving Palestinians land within Israel. That's fine if it works, but it's a substantially more complicated arrangement to hammer out.
