Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has broken a previously "written in stone" policy against the Arab demand for the "right of return" of foreign Arabs and has allowed 41 Iraqi Arabs to settle in Judea and Samaria. The Prime Minister's office has confirmed the "good will" gesture to Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

The Arab demand for the "right of return" refers to more than five million Arabs living in foreign countries and claiming to be descendants of about a half a million Arabs who fled Israel during the War of Independence, when Arab countries encouraged them to leave in anticipation of their return after the expected annihilation of the new Jewish state.

Every previous government has rejected the demand, and the Foreign Ministry has insisted that the move does not set a precedent. If Prime Minister Olmert repeats the revolutionary move in the future, it would encourage Arab immigration into Judea and Samaria and overwhelm the growing Jewish presence. One of the arguments for promoting the destruction Jewish communities in the Gaza and northern Samaria regions and the expulsion of their residents two years ago was that the Arabs represented a large majority of the population.

Arabs within the 1949 Armistice Lines also comprise up to 100 percent of the population in the areas of Taibe, near Netanya, and in several areas of the Galilee.