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| - Israel's settlement of the occupied West Bank and annexed East Jerusalem has been pursued by every government since 1967. It has picked up speed under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with the backing of his ally in the United States, President Donald Trump. More than 600,000 Jewish settlers live in these areas among three million Palestinians, with tensions often high. The Arab-Israeli war of June 1967 marks the beginning of the occupation and the settlement of the Palestinian territories by the Jewish state. From September that year the Labour government gives the green light for the reconstruction of Kfar Etzion, to the south of Jerusalem, which became the first Jewish settlement in the West Bank. Kfar Etzion kibbutz had been destroyed by the Jordanian army during the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948. In 1974 the Gush Emunim (bloc of the faithful) movement is created and spearheads Jewish settlement in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In May 1977 the rightist government of Prime Minister Menahem Begin encourages settlement by Jews. In July 1980 the Knesset, or parliament, declares Jerusalem Israel's "eternal and indivisible capital". After months of secret talks in Oslo, Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation sign in September 1993 accords aimed at leading to Palestinian autonomy. Israel agrees to restrict settlement building. In November 1998 then foreign minister Ariel Sharon tells settlers "to move, run and grab as many (Palestinian) hilltops as possible" in the West Bank. In 1999 the territorial limits of one of the West Bank's biggest settlements, Maale Adumim, are extended to East Jerusalem. In March 2001 Sharon becomes prime minister and Israelis increasingly set up wildcat outposts in the West Bank. The following year Israel starts building a separation barrier which cuts off the West Bank. In September 2005 Israel unilaterally withdraws from the Gaza Strip, evacuating 21 settlements. In January 2008 Jerusalem city hall announces the construction of nearly 2,500 lodgings in settled parts of East Jerusalem. In March 2010 Israel gives the green light to the construction of 1,600 houses at Ramat Shlomo, a settled neighbourhood in East Jerusalem. In December 2016 the UN Security Council adopts a resolution condemning Israeli settlement building. It passes thanks to the abstention of the US, which declined to veto such a resolution for the first time since 1979. In January 2017 Israel backs the construction of more than 2,500 settler homes in the West Bank, having also approved permits for more than 500 homes in East Jerusalem. Five months later Israel starts building the Amichai settlement in the West Bank. It is the first announcement of a new settlement since 1991. In November 2019, the US says it no longer believes that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories are illegal. On January 28 this year, Trump unveils a peace plan under which Israel gets the green light to annex Jewish settlements and other key territory in the West Bank. Jerusalem would become Israel's capital. On February 20, Netanyahu, less than two weeks before a general election, announces plans to build thousands of new homes in east Jerusalem, a move denounced by the Palestinians. acm-jmy/eab/cm
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