ABSTRACT
Of all the territories occupied by Israel, Judea and Samaria are the hardest nuts to crack, because of both the demographic complexity of the region and the political sensitivity prevailing there. The Israeli settlement policy in the region has exhibited a variety of paces, methods and strengths, some planned and most sporadic. They began with military conquest, continued with political decisions regarding selected areas, and ended with a massive settlement sweep for the purpose of establishing rapid and unequivocal faits accomplis in the territory. Although this latter phase is still in full progress, we shall attempt to analyse its main components against the background of the physical features and the possibility of establishing autonomy there in the future.
