Once again there is discussion of the idea of stabilizing the permanent borders of the State of Israel vis-a-vis a future Palestinian state by changing the cease-fire lines that marked the boundaries of Israel up until the Six-Day War, and adjusting them to the present demographic situation in the Land of Israel. The cease-fire lines were created as a result of agreements between Israel and the Kingdom of Transjordan [later Jordan] after the 1948 war. These agreements drew a line that included within it an Arab population in areas that were not captured by Israeli forces during the war. Included in these areas were the communities of Nahal Iron (Wadi Ara) and communities of lower Samaria, from Baka al-Garbiyeh to Kafr Qasem. Those areas were transferred to Israel without the residents who lived in them being asked their opinion on the matter, in order to ensure transportation and defense routes for Israel.

During the years until the Six-Day War, a situation was created in which a Muslim Arab population existed all along the cease-fire line, and only here and there were a few Jewish communities built along the line, including Mei-Ami, Metzar, Eyal and Yad Hannah, but the Jewish population in those areas was and remains sparse.

The 1967 War led to the de facto (but not de jure) cancellation of the cease-fire line, and during the past 40 years, Jewish settlement has become established east of this line. Today this population numbers about 240,000 people (excluding the Jewish settlers in the Greater Jerusalem area).