Since assuming control of Western Sahara in 1976, Morocco has become economically and politically invested in the forced integration of that country, recognized by the United Nations and virtually the entire international community as non-self-governing territory. A major aspect of Moroccan integration policies has been encouraging large numbers of Moroccan — now estimated between 200,000 to 300,000 people — to settle in the territory, either permanently or for shorter-term residence. Not counting Morocco’s sizable security and military presence in Western Sahara, civilian settlers have arrived either as a result of the state’s campaign to induce and entice residency in what the government refers to as the ‘Saharan Provinces,’ enhanced in part through heavy government subsidies, an important inducement given the struggling Moroccan economy of recent decades. This settlement campaign, combined with the mass exodus of nearly half of the indigenous Sahrawi population in the immediate aftermath of the 1975 invasion (now primarily living in refugee camps in Algeria), Moroccan settlers now constitute the majority population in the occupied Western Sahara. Despite the importance of this influx of Moroccan settlers, their role in the evolution of the conflict over the fate of the territory is little understood. Western Sahara continually posts some of the highest voter turnout rates in Moroccan elections, yet there are growing signs that the political allegiance of many Moroccan settlers is more ambiguous than might be thought possible. In this article, we will attempt to untangle the little understood demographics and identity politics at play in the Moroccan occupied Western Sahara. Understanding the politics of settlement and settlers in Western Sahara not only provides significant insight into the conflict’s historical evolution and current impasse, it suggests future possibilities for resolution.