[🇮🇱] Israel's War on West Bank

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The West Bank settlements at the heart of the Middle East conflict

Israeli settlement building, a point of contention at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has come back into focus after Israel's far-right finance minister revived a plan that would divide the West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem. WHAT IS A SETTLEMENT? An Israeli settlement is

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

The West Bank settlements at the heart of the Middle East conflict

REUTERS
Published :
Aug 14, 2025 19:30
Updated :
Aug 14, 2025 19:30

A view of part of the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, August 14, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

Israeli settlement building, a point of contention at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has come back into focus after Israel's far-right finance minister revived a plan that would divide the West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem.

WHAT IS A SETTLEMENT?

An Israeli settlement is made up of housing units built for Jewish Israelis on land captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war, primarily in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The land is home to Palestinians who seek a future independent state.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's nationalist government has backed settlers, and building and settler incursions have ramped up since the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023 triggered the Gaza war.

Palestinians have accused heavily armed Israeli settlers of stealing their land and destroying their olive trees, a symbol of Palestinian identity.

Palestinians say Israeli forces do not protect them from settler violence. The Israeli military says soldiers are often dispatched to deal with any trouble.

WHAT DOES ISRAEL SAY ABOUT SETTLEMENTS?

Israel says it has historical and biblical ties to the area that it calls it Judea and Samaria, though most world powers consider all the settlements illegal.

Numerous UN Security Council resolutions have called on Israel to halt all settlement activity, but Israel says settlements are critical to its strategic depth and security.

In 2019, during US President Donald Trump's first term, the US dropped a long-held stance that deemed settlements illegal. President Joe Biden restored that stance in line with international consensus.

In January, in his second term, Trump rescinded sanctions imposed by the former Biden administration on far-right Israeli settler groups and individuals accused of being involved in violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

HOW SETTLEMENTS AFFECT THE IDEA OF A TWO-STATE SOLUTION

A 1993 agreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), known as the Oslo Accords, was designed to pave the way for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip alongside Israel.

The UN and most world powers say settlement building is eroding the viability of that two-state solution by fragmenting Palestinian territory.

Israel's allies, including France, Britain and Canada, have said they may move to recognise Palestinian statehood in September.

WHAT IS THE CURRENT STATUS OF SETTLEMENTS?

Israel has expanded and consolidated settlements in the West Bank as it continues its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, according to a UN report that was based on research between November 1, 2023 and October 31, 2024.

About 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in a move not recognised by most countries.

Israel refuses to cede control of the West Bank, a position it says has been reinforced since the Hamas-led militant attack on its territory, launched from Gaza October 7, 2023.

It says the future of the settlements should be resolved in peace negotiations.​

 

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Palestinians protest against military demolitions in West Bank as Israelis vote

Israeli troops fired a stun grenade on Tuesday to disperse Palestinians who gathered to protest against an Israeli military operation that has displaced thousands of residents from a neighbourhood in Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The unrest, which follows the deaths of two Israeli sol

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Palestinians protest against military demolitions in West Bank as Israelis vote

Palestinians run to take cover from a crowd-control grenade fired by Israeli troops, during a protest against the displacement of Palestinians residents from a neighbourhood, amid ongoing Israeli military operations, in Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, October 27, 2026. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma

Israeli troops fired a stun grenade on Tuesday to disperse Palestinians who gathered to protest against an Israeli military operation that has displaced thousands of residents from a neighbourhood in Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The unrest, which follows the deaths of two Israeli soldiers shot by Palestinian gunmen ‌at a checkpoint last week, unfolded as Israelis were voting in an election in which the country's posture in the West Bank has been a major political issue.

Some Palestinian officials have accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of launching a crackdown in the West Bank to coincide with the vote, as a way to energise his right-wing supporters. The government says its operation is a response to the attack on its soldiers.

A group of Palestinian men, women, ⁠and children gathered at Tuesday's protest. One elderly man held a placard that said: "No to collective punishment, no to closures, and no to displacement."

The military said it had fired a stun grenade to disperse them so that its operation could continue.

On Monday, the United Nations said that over 3,000 Palestinians had been forced from their homes by the Israeli military operation, which targeted neighborhoods near the checkpoint where Palestinian gunmen killed the two Israeli soldiers on Friday.

"Collective punishment is a grave violation of international law," said UN human rights chief Volker Türk in a statement. "Threats to empty and erase entire neighbourhoods also raise serious concerns of ethnic cleansing."

The Israeli military said in a statement on Sunday that troops would carry out demolitions in ‌the area. ⁠It said soldiers had not located any weapons in searches of the houses.

Since Friday's attack on the checkpoint, Israel has blocked the entrances to most Palestinian cities and towns across the West Bank, severely curtailing Palestinians' freedom of movement.

Nassar, a displaced resident who attended the protests, said she had struggled to get medical treatment because of the blockages.

"Where is the democracy in all of this? Their ⁠elections are today, sure, but what about us? Aren't we human beings? We want to go out, we want to visit the doctor," said Nassar.

Netanyahu and his main rival Gadi Eisenkot both oppose the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. Residents expelled from the ⁠Hebron neighbourhood said Tuesday's election in Israel would do little to change the reality on the ground in territories Israel has occupied since 1967.

"Among themselves they will elect who is the oppressor and who will destroy the Palestinian people. That ⁠is their election," said Sana' Salman Abu Sneineh, another expelled resident.

Netanyahu's government has presided over a rapid expansion of Israeli settlements, which are deemed illegal by UN bodies and most countries, though Israel disputes this. Under Netanyahu's right-wing coalition there has also been a surge of militant settler violence against Palestinians.​