The Commandment to Settle the Land in Talmud and Jewish law books, and the impact of this on Israeli practices on Israeli-occupied territories.

Since 1967 the Israeli governments made an effort to build and expand settlements, today, about 745.467 Israeli settlers who hold Israeli citizenship live in the settlements of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Israeli government still encourages citizen to reside in West Bank settlements to this day. While Israeli governments carried out economic motivation to achieve the goal of settling the Palestinian lands; the rabbis in Israel carried out religious motivation to achieve the goal of settling the Palestinian lands. They considered the settlement of the Palestinian lands a religious Commandment for every Jew. They called it the term "מצוות ישוב הארץ", meaning "the Commandment to settle the land.
Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook said in an article published in the Hatzofeh newspaper in 1952 on the anniversary of the celebration of the occupation of the Palestinian territories in 1948: “With the occupation of the land of Palestine and the announcement of the establishment of our state four years ago, we established the Commandment of settling the land; it is a miracle from heaven. On the day of the announcement the establishment of the of Israel is like the day the Lord gave us the law. Then the rabbis follow him and issue teachings that encourage Jews to reside within the occupied territories and expand the construction of Jewish settlements in order to preserve the fulfillment of the Commandment of settlement of the Land.