The Short Answer
This is one of the most contested legal questions in the conflict. Israel's position is that the West Bank is disputed territory to which the Jewish people have deep historical and legal claims, so Jewish communities there are not illegal. Most of the international community, the UN Security Council (Resolution 2334) and a 2024 ICJ advisory opinion take the opposite view under the Fourth Geneva Convention, which Israel rejects.
Israel's legal argument
Israel argues that the Fourth Geneva Convention's ban on transferring populations into occupied territory does not apply, because the West Bank was never the sovereign territory of another state: Jordan's 1950 annexation was not recognized internationally. Israel also cites the 1922 League of Nations Mandate, which called for "close settlement by Jews on the land," and notes that Jews lived in places like Hebron and Gush Etzion for centuries until they were massacred or expelled.
In 2019, the U.S. State Department under Secretary Mike Pompeo announced that the U.S. no longer viewed settlements as "per se inconsistent with international law."
The opposing view
UN Security Council Resolution 2334 (2016) described settlements as having "no legal validity," and in July 2024 the ICJ issued a non-binding advisory opinion calling Israel's presence in the territories unlawful. Israel rejected the opinion as one-sided and argued that only direct negotiations can determine borders.
Most Israelis agree that the final status of the West Bank must be settled in a peace agreement — the disagreement is over what that agreement should look like.
Key Facts
- Israel views the West Bank as disputed, not occupied
- The 1922 Mandate called for "close settlement by Jews"
- UNSC 2334 (2016) took the opposite view
- ICJ advisory opinion (2024) is non-binding; Israel rejected it
Sources & Further Reading
- The Mandate for Palestine (1922) — Yale Avalon Project
- UN Security Council Resolution 2334 (2016)
- ICJ — Advisory Opinion on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (2024)
- Legality of Israeli settlements — overview (Wikipedia)
This answer reflects publicly available information as of October 2026.