UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, speaks of war crimes in relation to the Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank. He calls for an end to the occupation.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and has been building more and more settlements ever since. Settlement policy is one of the biggest points of contention between Israelis and Palestinians - and complicates the prospects for a two-state solution. Israel's allies, including Germany, see the Palestinian Authority as having an important role in the postwar order.