More and more people decided to leave the crowded East for a new life in the West.

VOA: special.2010.03.18

U.S.officials have put pressure on the Israeli government to halt construction of settlements in east Jerusalem and the West Bank.

VOA: standard.2009.11.17

Mr.Obama has lost popularity in Israel because of American pressure to halt Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

VOA: standard.2009.08.29

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat says that will not happen until Israel stops all settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

VOA: standard.2009.09.19

Mitchell will press Israel to halt Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank and disputed East Jerusalem.

VOA: standard.2009.07.26

Palestinians want east Jerusalem to be the capital of a future state they hope to establish in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

VOA: standard.2009.11.17

The Palestinians say they will not return to the negotiating table until all settlement activity stops, both in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

VOA: standard.2009.09.11

The United States is pushing Israel to freeze settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, an issue that has soured relations between the two countries.

VOA: standard.2009.09.12

The delegation of 25 congressmen from the Republican Party blasted the Obama administration for pressuring Israel to halt settlement expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

VOA: standard.2009.08.06

The United States has demanded a complete freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank and disputed East Jerusalem, and Israel's refusal has strained ties between the two countries.

VOA: standard.2009.09.16

The freeze allows for buildings already under construction in West Bank settlements to be completed and does not apply to East Jerusalem, which Palestinians want as their future capital.

VOA: standard.2009.11.25

The Palestinians say direct talks will not happen until Israel stops building in the occupied West Bank and in East Jerusalem, a precondition they had not placed in prior rounds of negotiations.

VOA: standard.2010.05.03

The freeze does not include 3,000 Jewish homes already under construction in the West Bank and does not apply to disputed East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians seek as the capital of their future state.

VOA: standard.2010.01.03

But the Palestinians say the freeze is not enough to revive U.S.-sponsored peace talks because it does not include disputed East Jerusalem and some 3,000 Jewish homes already under construction in the West Bank.

VOA: standard.2009.12.10

Just over two weeks after the start of the German invasion in the west, Soviet troops entered Poland in the east and later occupied the Baltic states as well as parts of Finland and Romania.

VOA: standard.2009.09.01

The head of the Beirut-based Carnegie Center for Peace in the Middle East,Paul Salem, says Arab states like Libya and Egypt are trying to demonstrate they are independent of the West by striking a middle-ground with respect to President Bashir.

VOA: standard.2009.03.26

Despite U.S.demands for Israel to stop or restrain construction of Jewish housing in disputed East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, during the Biden visit Israeli officials announced their approval of construction of 1,600 new Jewish housing units in East Jerusalem.

VOA: standard.2010.03.11

A senior Middle East analyst with the International Crisis Group in Jerusalem,Rob Blecher, says frustration over continued expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the general lack of progress toward achieving a Palestinian state,has prompted the Palestinian leadership to look for new strategies.

VOA: standard.2010.05.03

Smith says American academicians and journalists often cite a list of root causes for Middle East turmoil, in which the U.S., the West and Israel usually play a big part: a history of colonialism and economic exploitation, the creation of Israel and American support for the Jewish state, the politics of oil, Western backing of repressive Arab regimes and the U.S.military presence in the region.

VOA: standard.2010.03.18