EXPLAINER: How Israeli settlement expansion in West Bank stirs decades-old conflict

Record ID: 1984162

  • Title: EXPLAINER: How Israeli settlement expansion in West Bank stirs decades-old conflict
  • Date: 13th March 2025
  • Summary: MAOZ ESTER JEWISH OUTPOST, WEST BANK (FILE - JUNE 23, 2020) (REUTERS) JEWISH SETTLER HERDING GOATS, JORDAN VALLEY IN DISTANCE SUN RISING OVER JORDAN VALLEY HORSE AND DOG MAKESHIFT STRUCTURES JEWISH SETTLER YOUTH WEARING PRAYER SHAWL, PREPARING FOR PRAYER YOUTH PRAYING OUTSIDE PRAYER BOOK YOUTH PRAYING (MUTE) VARIOUS OF DRONE SHOTS OF MAKESHIFT STRUCTURE SUNSET BEHIND BARBE
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: Israel Palestinians West Bank outposts settlements
  • Location: VARIOUS
  • City: VARIOUS
  • Country: Palestinian Occupied Territory
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Middle East
  • Reuters ID: LVA00A544701032025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Israel's settlements are among the most contentious issues of the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
    The Palestinians say their expansion eats away at land they seek for an independent state. Much of the international community deems the settlements built on occupied land as a breach of international law and their expansion as undermining the so-called 'two-state solution' which envisions a Palestinian state living peacefully side by side with Israel.
    Israel disputes this view. It cites historical and biblical ties to the land, as well as security needs, and says that the status of settlements should be resolved in negotiations.
    Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 war and has since established around 140 settlements on the land, which the Palestinians see as the core of a future state.
    Besides the Israeli-authorised settlements, groups of Jewish settlers have also built scores of outposts without formal government approval.
    The number of such settler outposts has jumped in the past two years and many have received retroactive authorisation by the government.
    The expansion of settlements and outposts also impacts daily life for Palestinians by cutting off access to roads and farming land and creating displacement.
    Around half a million Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, among around three million Palestinians.
    (Production: Adrian Portugal, Nuha Sharaf)
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2025. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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