We are constantly being told that the IDF is short of tens of thousands of soldiers. The proposed solutions are familiar: recruit more ultra-Orthodox men, extend compulsory service, lengthen reserve duty and demand still more from those who already carry the burden.

But this debate avoids a more fundamental question.

Perhaps Israel does not primarily suffer from a shortage of soldiers. Perhaps the state has created far more security obligations than any reasonable army should be expected to sustain.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the occupied West Bank.

Alongside the established settlements, there are now more than 200 settlement outposts. In recent years, another form of settlement expansion has grown rapidly: isolated agricultural and shepherding farms, now numbering more than 100. Some consist of only a few families or even a handful of individuals, yet they extend control over enormous areas of land and create a disproportionate security and political burden for the State of Israel.

Every isolated settlement, outpost and farm creates a military obligation. Access roads must be protected. The surrounding area must be patrolled. Soldiers must respond to attacks and confrontations, provide intelligence coverage, deal with friction between settlers and Palestinians and remain available to reinforce forces already deployed.

That burden falls on the IDF.

The settlers and their political patrons decide to establish themselves on another hilltop or isolated tract of land. But the consequences are imposed on the entire country.

Young Israelis serve longer. Reservists are called up repeatedly. Families lose parents for weeks and months. Businesses lose employees. The economy pays the price. Military units that should be preparing for Israel’s genuine strategic threats are instead dispersed across hundreds of points in the West Bank.

And then we are told that Israel does not have enough soldiers.

Before demanding tens of thousands more, we should ask a different question:

Why are we continually creating more places that soldiers must defend?

Israel’s security resources are not unlimited. The IDF’s first responsibility must be to defend the State of Israel against genuine security threats. It should not become a permanent security service for an ideological settlement project that expands year after year and........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)