Middle East Crisis: Live Updates: Middle East on Edge as Hamas Leader is Mourned in Qatar

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Middle East Crisis: Live Updates: Middle East on Edge as ****** Leader is Mourned in Qatar

A new report from the ********* Union’s representative in the West Bank and Gaza on Friday found a sharp rise last year in ******** settlement and construction in the West Bank, even as ******* was waging a devastating war against ****** in Gaza.

The findings provided further evidence that the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of ******* and its far-right ministers have stepped up efforts to expand ******* settlements in territories widely considered to be illegally occupied by ******* under international law.

The pro-settler policies of the government have come under ***** from several countries and international organizations, including the Group of 7, since the conflict in Gaza started. The ********* Union and ******* States have in recent months sanctioned settlers, groups and other entities that they say are inciting ********* against Palestinians, blocking access to land or otherwise violating human rights.

Last month, the International Court of Justice, the ******* Nation’s highest court, issued an advisory opinion that concluded ******* was illegally occupying the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and through its settlement and construction was conducting a “de facto” annexation.

The new report found that plans and approvals by the ******** government to construct new housing units in the West Bank saw a particularly sharp yearly increase, rising to nearly 12,350 units in 2023 from 4,400 units in 2022.

“For the West Bank, it was the highest number advanced since the signing of the Oslo Accords,” it stated, referring to a 1993 declaration of principles for reaching a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians, which ultimately fell apart.

The advancements in 2023 represent a 180 percent increase over a ******* of five years, according to the report.

A ************ man overlooks a valley near the village of Battir in the ******** occupied West Bank, south of Jerusalem in June.Credit…Zain Jaafar/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

While the extent of ******** advancement in East Jerusalem was less dramatic than in the West Bank last year, ******* expansion there was particularly problematic geographically, the report said.

“From the perspective of safeguarding a two-state solution where Jerusalem could serve as a capital of both states, the ******** settlement developments on the southern periphery of Jerusalem is severing the chances for contiguity between East Jerusalem and the West Bank,” the report said.

The ********* Union’s report noted that for the first time in more than 20 years, construction began on a new ******* settlement in East Jerusalem in 2023. A second new settlement in the area was fully approved late last year, and plans were also advanced for construction in ************ neighborhoods there, “which has been known to cause friction,” the report said.

Mr. Netanyahu — and some of his far-right ministers, who are settlers themselves — have been vocal about their expansionist aims. In a speech to the U.S. Congress last month, Mr. Netanyahu referred to Jerusalem as “our eternal capital never to be divided again.”

Palestinians have long argued that the settlements are a creeping annexation, carving out territory that should become a ************ state into an unworkable patchwork while steadily pushing ****** out of their homes and farms.

The ******* Nations in 1947 approved a partition creating a ******* state and a ************ one that would include the West Bank; it put Jerusalem under international control. But after the first *****-******** war, Jordan took control of the West Bank and Jerusalem became divided between ******* and Jordan.

In a 1967 war, ******* annexed East Jerusalem and occupied the West Bank, which it says is disputed territory whose fate should be determined in negotiations. Soon after, it began to permit settlements there. Under ******** law, legal settlements must be built on land held by the state, must have government building permits and must be established by a government resolution.

Under the Oslo accords, signed by ******* and the Palestinians in the 1990s, both sides agreed that the status of ******** settlements would be resolved by negotiation, a prospect that grows dimmer with each new outpost, settlement and housing unit.

“The E.U. has repeatedly called on ******* not to proceed with plans under its settlement policy and to halt all settlement activities,” the report said. “It ******** the E.U.’s firm position that settlements are ******** under international law” and undermine “the prospects of a viable two state solution.”

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