Giving Compass' Take:

• The Conversation goes over 4 questions about the Israeli government's recent push to increase its presence in the disputed territory of West Bank. 

• How can policymakers fight for peace between both countries? 

• Here's an article on Trump's place towards Israel and Palestine. 

1. Why is ownership of the West Bank so contested?
In May 1967, not a single Israeli lived in the West Bank, a hilly region about the size of Delaware. It was home to roughly a million Palestinians, who had been living under contested Jordanian control for two decades.

Israel conquered the West Bank during the Six-Day War in June 1967. Soon afterwards, Israeli civilians began moving to the region, initially to areas like Kfar Etzion that had been home to Jewish communities before Israel’s founding in 1948.

2. Why do Palestinians object to the Israeli settler movement?
Though they are neighbors and sometimes co-workers, relations between Jews and Palestinians on the West Bank are seldom friendly. West Bank Palestinians, who are majority Muslim, see themselves as the area’s indigenous inhabitants; many of their ancestors have lived and farmed in the West Bank for many centuries.

3) Why do Israelis want to live in the West Bank?
Israelis choose to live in the West Bank for many reasons.

The popular stereotype of Jewish settlers as religious fanatics determined to reclaim the entire ancient homeland they believe was given to Jews by God is not quite accurate. It’s estimated that only about a quarter of West Bank settlers live there out of ideological conviction.

4) Are Israel’s West Bank settlements legal or not?
Most legal experts and the United Nations agree that Israeli settlements in the West Bank violate international law.

Read the full article about Israel's West Bank settlements by Dov Waxman at The Conversation.