In the opinion of informed Israelis, it is conceivable that Israel might some day voluntarily relocate one or two of the settlements in the context of a peace agreement with the Arabs. But most, if not all, are designed to remain where they are.

Debate Over Settlement

In addition, despite the mounting criticism in the United States and elsewhere of the settlement policy, Israel is planning more than a dozen new settlements throughout the occupied areas. The Government is keenly aware that this is likely to cause further friction with Washington, but it seems determined.

It is against this background that the current debate over the controversial settlement at Camp Kadum, near Nablus, can be understood. The controversy is not over the wisdom of the settlement policy. A broad consensus favors that. Rather, the argument is whether the 69th settlement should be at Kadum and whether the Government or pressure groups will decide, settlement policy.

The site is important because it is in dead center of one of the last unsettled areas still open for territorial concession In some future negotiation. Stud. ing the settlement map, it is clear that only two such areas remain—Sinai and the central. heavily populated portion of the West Bank where most of the occupied area's 700,000 Arab residents live. Kadum is in the heart of the latter.

On the West Bank, the Israeli policy since 1967 has been the Allon Plan. First proposed by Yigal Alton, now Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, shortly after the 1967 war, it calls for an S‐to‐12‐mile‐wide “security belt” of settlements along the Jordan River and settlements in the sparsely populated areas of strategic significance elsewhere on the West Bank. It would leave open for eventual return to Arab control an hour‐glass‐shaped piece of territory in the heavily‐poPulated heart of the West Bank.

A Threat to Allon Plan

Kadum, therefore, threatens the Allon Plan. If a settlement is to be established in the heart of this central portion, one of the last negotiable pieces of unsettled real estate will be nailed down for eventual incorporation into Israel. This is exactly what the zealously nationalistic Kadum settlers want to accomplish.

Under the terms of the compromise worked out by the Cabinet on Sunday, the Kadum settlers are to be offered an alternative site for their settlement. This will almost certainly be in one the areas designated by the Allon Plan.