The 50-Years War for The Washington Post
103 images Created 27 Oct 2019
June 5th, 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of the Six-Day War. Half a century has passed since Israel gained control of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Over the past five decades, successive Israeli governments have allowed more than half a million Jewish citizens to move to settlements in the West Bank. Those settlements were built predominantly on occupied lands within areas of what the international community calls 'The Palestinian Territories'.
Under the Oslo Accords, the interim peace deals reached in the 1990s between Israel and The Palestinian Authority, these areas are part of the larger 'Area C', which is under Israel's direct control. Area C consists of over 60% of the West Bank and is largely off-limits to Palestinian development. About 400,000 Jewish citizens are currently living in settlements in the West Bank, and an additional 200,000 in East Jerusalem. Approximately 80 percent of the settlers live in the West Bank’s major settlement blocs; a cluster of settlements in close proximity to one another. Some settlements are self-contained cities with a stable population in the tens of thousands. Uprooting them would probably be exponentially more difficult than the evacuation of the 8,000 Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005. These settlement blocs are therefore seen as candidates for Israeli annexation.
The settlements are considered illegitimate by the international community. The United Nations has repeatedly upheld the view that Israel's construction of settlements constitutes a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The presence and ongoing expansion of existing settlements by Israel and the construction of settlement outposts are frequently criticized as an obstacle to the peace process by the Palestinians and by the majority of the international community. However, Israel repeatedly disputes these arguments.
The images in this gallery are available only for Editorial licesing online.
Some of the images are not available for licensing via this website. For images that are unavailable online or for other licensing options such as advertising or corporate, please contact mail@dvphotonet.com with your licensing inquiries.
Under the Oslo Accords, the interim peace deals reached in the 1990s between Israel and The Palestinian Authority, these areas are part of the larger 'Area C', which is under Israel's direct control. Area C consists of over 60% of the West Bank and is largely off-limits to Palestinian development. About 400,000 Jewish citizens are currently living in settlements in the West Bank, and an additional 200,000 in East Jerusalem. Approximately 80 percent of the settlers live in the West Bank’s major settlement blocs; a cluster of settlements in close proximity to one another. Some settlements are self-contained cities with a stable population in the tens of thousands. Uprooting them would probably be exponentially more difficult than the evacuation of the 8,000 Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005. These settlement blocs are therefore seen as candidates for Israeli annexation.
The settlements are considered illegitimate by the international community. The United Nations has repeatedly upheld the view that Israel's construction of settlements constitutes a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The presence and ongoing expansion of existing settlements by Israel and the construction of settlement outposts are frequently criticized as an obstacle to the peace process by the Palestinians and by the majority of the international community. However, Israel repeatedly disputes these arguments.
The images in this gallery are available only for Editorial licesing online.
Some of the images are not available for licensing via this website. For images that are unavailable online or for other licensing options such as advertising or corporate, please contact mail@dvphotonet.com with your licensing inquiries.
