{"id":120315,"date":"2023-10-23T12:01:57","date_gmt":"2023-10-23T12:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leviolonrouge.com\/?p=120315"},"modified":"2023-10-23T12:01:57","modified_gmt":"2023-10-23T12:01:57","slug":"satellite-imagery-shows-israeli-settlement-expansion-in-west-bank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leviolonrouge.com\/world-news\/satellite-imagery-shows-israeli-settlement-expansion-in-west-bank\/","title":{"rendered":"Satellite imagery shows Israeli settlement expansion in West Bank"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rishi Sunak says he ‘stands with Israel’<\/h3>\n

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) bombarding the Gaza Strip for two weeks now have been told they “will soon see it from the inside”.<\/p>\n

Israel first took control of the enclave back in 1967, but its troops withdrew in 2005. In the other half of the State of Palestine, however, they never left, in an occupation the UN considers unlawful.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are an estimated 470,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank, and a further 240,000 in East Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

They live in some 146 state-backed Jewish communities and 144 unrecognised outposts dispersed within the 86 percent Palestinian Muslim territory, according to two-state advocacy group Peace Now.<\/p>\n

Since Hamas’ surprise attack on October 7, which killed 1,400 Israeli civilians, clashes between the two groups have been increasingly bloody \u2013 with 91 Palestinians in the West Bank confirmed dead according to the Health Ministry.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong> Hamas placing rocket launchers near schools to use ‘kids as shields’, IDF claims<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The first West Bank settlement was Kfar Etzion, a Jewish community in the Judean Hills between Jerusalem and Hebron that existed prior to the 1948 UN partition.<\/p>\n

The Israeli cabinet decided to re-establish the settlement in 1967 after winning the Six Day War, despite reportedly receiving legal advice that doing so would be illegitimate.<\/p>\n

Many more followed, with satellite imagery showing how entire neighbourhoods sprung seemingly from nothing, and how they gradually expanded into towns and cities over the years.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But in many cases, new settlements encroach on Palestinian villages and farmland, destroying both their homes and livelihoods. A UN report in September claimed over 1,100 locals had been displaced in this way since 2022 alone.<\/p>\n

The Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip \u2013 signed in 1995 and more commonly known as Oslo II \u2013 was intended to prevent this, clearly demarcating three distinct areas of administrative control in the West Bank.<\/p>\n

In Area A \u2013 comprised mainly urban areas like Hebron, Ramallah and Tulkarem \u2013 Palestinian authorities would have full control.<\/p>\n

In Area B, mostly on the outskirts of cities, control would be shared between Palestinian civil and Israeli military authorities.<\/p>\n

Area C \u2013 everywhere else, or 60 percent of the territory \u2013 was to be under full Israeli military and civil control, although this zone was slated to be “gradually transferred to Palestinian jurisdiction” 30 years ago.<\/p>\n