Likud MK Boaz Bismuth said Tuesday that applying Israeli “sovereignty” in the West Bank was at least as important, and more urgent, than reaching normalization deals with neighboring countries.Bismuth,

From January to June this year, the UN found that 149 Palestinians were killed by Israeli settlers or soldiers in the occupied West Bank. Nine Israelis were killed by Palestinians. Hours after the clashes that erupted around Brahim's farm on Saturday, another Palestinian casualty was added to that grim tally.

Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, said on Monday it had decided to exclude six companies with connections to the West Bank and Gaza from its portfolio, following an ethics review of its Israeli investments.

Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip 20 years ago, dismantling 21 Jewish settlements and pulling out its forces.

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.

Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Thursday said his country would annex the occupied West Bank if the international community officially recognizes the state of Palestine next month.