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Australian-Israeli Tommy Lamm has been living in the West Bank settlement of Efrat since the early 1980s, and says he cannot understand why the world is so concerned about what he calls home.
"They think settlements are an impediment to peace. I'm glad you've come here to have a look and see how we live," he says in his broad Aussie accent, showing the ABC around his community.
"The perception is of these crazies that put up tents and huts and challenge anybody and everybody that comes close to them."
Settlements are considered illegal under international law and the Geneva Convention, but over the last 10 years they have been steadily growing — on the land Palestinians want for their future state.
"I believe in the right of the Jews to re-establish, and I stress re-establish, our homes and villages in areas that for thousands of years were part of Jewish history," Mr Lamm says.
But in the Palestinian village of Kafr Qaddum, settlements are seen as the main impediment to peace.
"We say everything relates to settlements!" community leader Muard Shtaiwi yells over his megaphone as the people of his village gather for their weekly protest.
Every Friday, Mr Shtaiwi leads a demonstration against the presence of a nearby settlement, demanding the Israeli Army open the main road to their village.
It has been closed for the past 15 years due to "security reasons" — what used to be a 15-minute drive to the nearest city Nablus now takes 45 minutes.
"I want to use my road free. I want to reach my field free," he tells the ABC.
"We didn't have the permission to reach nearly 11,000 durhams without permission from the Israeli side."
While actual settlements only make up 2 per cent to 3 per cent of the West Bank, much of the land surrounding settlements is also blocked off to Palestinians for security reasons.
And to protect the approximately 400,000 Israeli settlers living in the middle of 2 million Palestinians who do not want them there — Israeli soldiers occupy more than 60 per cent of the West Bank territory.
There are checkpoints, patrols, military posts and no-go zones throughout the whole area.
"Everyday I have a story from the Israeli occupation army," Mr Shtaiwi says.
Each week as the Israeli soldiers advance towards the demonstration, the young men of Kafr Qaddum throw rocks at them.
In the past few years, thousands of Palestinian youths have been arrested and many even jailed for stone throwing.
Israeli Defence Force soldiers fire tear gas canisters, rubber bullets and live ammunition against the protesters.
Last April, Mr Shtaiwi's 11-year-old son Khaled was shot with a live bullet during the demonstration.
"He still suffers," Mr Shtaiwi says.
"Because the bullet damaged the bone in his right thigh. And now his right leg is shorter than his left leg by three centimetres."
In 2014, Mr Shtaiwi was jailed for nine-and-a-half months after pleading guilty to organising and participating in a demonstration the Israeli army calls "unlawful and unlicensed".
He still remembers the moment he was taken away in front of his children.
"I never forget the sentence [my daughter] Nour said to me when they came to arrest me," he says, crying.
"She said 'go, May God protect you'."
Israel lobby group says settlement legislation 'counter-productive'
In December, the UN passed a historic vote — urging an end to Israeli settlement expansion and labelling it a threat to the viability of the two-state solution.
At the time, Australia was the only Western government to publicly condemn the UN resolution, with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull calling it "one-sided and deeply unsettling".
"I think we can be proud as Australians that our Government absolutely understands the realities on the ground and their statement was a breath of fresh air," says Colin Rubenstein, director of Australia's peak pro Israel lobby group, the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC).
"They stand out like a beacon of moral clarity and the understanding of the realities of the Middle East above everybody else in the world."
Two weeks ago Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition passed a controversial bill legalising thousands of settler homes deep in the West Bank that were built without permission on private Palestinian land.
The United Nations and the UK and French governments slammed the bill, but Foreign Minister Julie Bishop declined to criticise it.
Even AJAIC labelled the legislation "counter-productive and unwise".
"It's an own goal from Israel's point of view in that sense," explains Mr Rubenstein.
"We believe that it's unhelpful in terms of maintaining and developing the atmosphere and resuming the negotiations going forward, and in that regard we think it tarnishes Israel's image internationally."
Former Labor foreign minister Bob Carr is critical of the Turnbull Government's position.
"I think it's remarkable when even the Israel Lobby has got to concede that the latest Israeli legislation seizing Palestinian land … can express a few muted reservations about that, but our own Government can't criticise it," says the former foreign minister.
"I think it's just a measure of how beholden it's become to one section of Australian opinion."
Australia's position 'extreme', 'one-sided': Palestinian officials
In the past week, ahead of Prime Minister Netanyahu's visit to Australia, former prime minsters Mr Rudd and Bob Hawke, along with former foreign ministers Gareth Evens and Bob Carr have called for the Palestinian state to be recognised.
"Bob Hawke's been a fierce supporter of Israel over the years, but he sees what's happening" Mr Carr tells the ABC.
"We've really been conned, there's no intention by the leaders of Israel to carve this out. They were looking at spreading settlements to change the facts on the ground and make the Palestine state impossible."
Palestinian officials have labelled Australia's position on the Middle East peace process as "extreme" and "one-sided". They say the Turnbull Government's actions in recent months means it cannot be an honest broker on the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
"This is certainly strange," says Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) executive member Hanan Ashrawi.
"They have become more Zionist than the more ardent Zionists. This kind of attitude would disqualify Australia in any kind of role in peacemaking."
Mr Rubinstein blames the Palestinians for the lack of progress in peace talks.
"The problem in moving forward is the history of Palestinian rejectionism, the fact that they've still been embroiled and encouraged into vilification and demonisation and delegitimisation of Israel," he tells the ABC.
"They haven't stopped the violence and terrorism."
Back in Kafr Qaddum, Mr Shtaiwi says he is willing to live in peace, side-by-side with Israel.
"We accept it, the international agreements. Two states, without settlements, without settlers, without any kind of occupation," he says firmly.
"I was born under occupation and grew up under occupation and it's my duty not to let my children, the Palestinian children, have the same bad experience."
Topics: world-politics, community-and-society, palestinian-territory-occupied, israel
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