Israel opens up bids for highly-sensitive West Bank settlement project
Israel's foreign minister responded harshly to Miliband's statement, which he said he "reject[ed] outright". Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem - land Palestinians want, along with Gaza, for a hoped-for future state - during the 1967 Middle East war.
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Key Facts
- Fact 1: Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem - land Palestinians want, along with Gaza, for a hoped-for future state - during the 1967 Middle East war.
- Fact 2: An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.
- Fact 3: However, expansion has risen sharply since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power in late 2022 at the head of a right-wing, pro-settler coalition, as well as the start of the Gaza war, triggered by Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.
- Fact 4: Under international pressure, Israel held off for decades on plans to build in E1.
Israel's foreign minister responded harshly to Miliband's statement, which he said he "reject[ed] outright". Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem - land Palestinians want, along with Gaza, for a hoped-for future state - during the 1967 Middle East war.
An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them. Despite the fierce international opposition, successive Israeli governments have allowed settlements to grow. However, expansion has risen sharply since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power in late 2022 at the head of a right-wing, pro-settler coalition, as well as the start of the Gaza war, triggered by Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.
(Original synthesis pending human/AI review — generated by the stub provider by selecting real sentences from the source material, not by writing new analysis or commentary.)
Original source: BBC News World
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