Why should Israel remove or keep its settlements from the west bank?

Answer 1

Israel should not remove anything. West bank is the name Jordans used for the part of the territory of israel called Judea and Samaria that were occupied by Jordan. Following the Second World War, The UN passed the United N general Assembly Resolution 181, which aimed to establish two states within Mandate Palestine: one Jewish and another Arab8 there was not any mention about any "palestinian "State, as there was not any "palestinians" at that time. The Resolution did not contain any reference to any West bank but clearly pointed to hte territory described as "the hill country of Samaria and Judea". This territory is the heartland of the Jews and include the capital of the Jewish State: Jerusalem.

following the 1948 Arab-israeli war in which five Arab states, Jordan among them, attacked the recently created Israel, this area was captured by Transjordan (renamed Jordan in 1949). "West Bank" or "Cisjordan" became the name for the area west of the Jordan River, as "East Bank" or "Transjordan" designated the area east of the river. The interim boundary between Israel and Jordan's West Bank was defined in the 1949 Armistice Agreements, and Jordan ruled over this territory from 1948 until 1967, annexing it in 1950. In 20 years, Jordan did not move a finger to create there any "Palestinian State", and Arabs who lived there did not show any sign of discontent about this.

In June 1967, Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem were liberated by Israel from the Jordanian occupation after the Arab- Israel Six-Day War. With the exception of East Jerusalem and the former Israeli-Jordanian no man's land, the West Bank was not annexed by Israel but has remained under Israeli military control and got back its historical name: Judea and Samaria.

Since the 1993 Oslo Accords , parts of Judea and Samaria passed under full or partial control of the Palestinian Authority. Though 164 nations refer to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as " Occupied Palestinian territory" the State of Israel logically insists that only territories captured in war from "an established and recognized sovereign" should be considered occupied territories, and as Jordan renounced of any claim on Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem after signing the Peace treaty with Israel in 1991, this territory is legally the territory of Israel, and only Israel has the right to decide, what to do with it.

Besides, in 2006 Israel in a unilateral move withdrew from Gaza, which makes any talks about "occupation" absolutely senseless; there is not a single Israeli, military or civilian, in Gaza where the power was seized by the terrorist group called Hamas.