By Tala Ramadan and Ali Sawafta

(Reuters) -Israeli settlement building, a point of contention at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has come back into focus after Israel’s far-right finance minister revived a plan that would divide the West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem.

WHAT IS A SETTLEMENT?

An Israeli settlement is made up of housing units built for Jewish Israelis on land captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war, primarily in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The land is home to Palestinians who seek a future independent state.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nationalist government has backed settlers, and building and settler incursions have ramped up since the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023 triggered the Gaza war.

Palestinians

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