Why in news?

• France urged Israel to drop the West Bank annexation plan.

Key highlights:

• Israel had previously set July 1 as the starting date for his plan to annex the Jordan Valley and some other settlements in the West Bank.

• The French President reiterated France’s commitment to peace in the Middle East and asked Israel to refrain from taking any measure to annex Palestinian territories.

• The French President mentioned that such a move by Israel would be against international law and would jeopardize the possibility of a two-state solution and the establishment of a fair and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

What is the Israel-Palestine Conflict?

• The conflict traces its root to 1917 but the major conflict was after the Mideast War, 1967.It is also known as the six-day war or Third Arab-Israeli war.

• Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip in the war. The Palestinians seek these territories for a future independent state.

• In the decades since, Israel has built settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem that now house nearly 700,000 Israelis.
Most of the international communities consider these settlements a violation of international law and obstacles to peace.

Where is West Bank Located?

• It is located to the west of the Jordan River. It is a landlocked territory, bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel to the south, west, and north.

• It is a patch of land about one and a half times the size of Goa, was captured by Jordan after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Israel captured it during the Six-Day War of 1967 and has occupied it ever since.

• According to the Oslo Accords between the Israeli government and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) during the 1990s, part of the West Bank came under the control of the Palestinian Authority.

Gaza Strip:

• The Gaza Strip is a small territory along the Mediterranean coast between Egypt and Israel.

• Palestine has staked claim to both the territories i.e. West Bank and Gaza Strip. But Israel’s objective has been to keep expanding Jewish settlements in these regions.