¶ … Israeli "Settler" Housing in the West Bank of Israel/Palestine The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has often been a major problem in the Middle East. Particularly, at the heart of the conflict lies the controversial question regarding territories, as well as who owns them. In the aftermath of the holocaust, and the collision of Palestinian nationalism and Jewish nationalist colonization, the Israelis and the Palestinians started laying claim to the same territories, which marked the beginning of the long conflict that goes on to date (Global Policy Forum, 2013). In 1947, the United Nations (UN) attempted to resolve the conflict by partitioning land - although this failed to provide a lasting solution. By 1967, Israel had confiscated land in boundaries that had been set by the UN, and it was focused on occupying remaining territories namely the West bank, east Jerusalem, and Gaza strip. Since then, Israel went on with the policy of building settlements on stolen Palestinian land, another core issue in the conflict. For instance, according to the American Friends Service Committee, AFSC (2012), Israel established 120 official settlements in the West Bank with more than 350,000 residents. There are an additional 14 settlements in land occupied in East Jerusalem...

The Palestinians hold that their homeland was taken by force to pave way for the creation of Israel. Moreover, they feel disadvantaged because the presence of the Israeli settlers directly harms their livelihood (International Labour Office, 2009). They are barred from accessing their own land and water and from building economic infrastructures and housing. Although some live in the same geographical area, most live under unequal and separate legal systems. In fact, as of September 2012, AFSC (2012) states there were more than 500 obstacles to the movement of Palestinians in West Bank - and approximately 300,000 Palestinians were also not connected to any water network. To the Palestinians, therefore, it is an injustice for Israel to forcefully take their land, control all the resources and discriminate against them in their own backyard. For international bodies and developed countries to stand by and watch as Israel continues to go against the Geneva Convention is also an atrocity. Palestinians posit that the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem are their future state,…