The West Bank's English settler
Updated on 26 August 2009
As hope is rekindled in the Middle East peace process More4 News travels to the disputed areas of the West Bank to meet the only English settler.
Restarting the Middle East peace process looks like it might be a step closer after Israel said it was nearing agreement on settlement building in the West Bank.
Israeli leader Binyamin Netanyahu met the US envoy George Mitchell in London today and settlement-building was the key topic.
Palestinians have always seen the Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank as one of the key obstacles to a final peace agreement.
The settlements have grown steadily since Israel occupied the West Bank in 1969 - and now nearly half a million Israeli settlers live in the occupied territories.
The Israelis agreed to stop building new settlements in 2003 as part of what was called the roadmap to peace. But expansion of existing settlements has continued. The Palestinians have refused to enter new negotiations with Israel until all building stops.
The Jewish settlers in the occupied territories have come from all over the world - more recently from Russia and the former Soviet republics.
But others have come from closer to home.
Much of the world believes new settlers are one of the main reasons that conflict with the Palestinians persists, but they believe they are fulfilling their duty in occupying their own ancestral land.
Matthew Kalman has been visiting one of the smallest settlements in the West Bank to meet an English woman called Shira Gilad.
