Majdi Mohammed / AP

Surrounded by Israeli border police, Jewish settlers from the Esh Kodesh settlement outpost sit in a field in an attempt to prevent Palestinians from farming land in the northern West Bank, on Jan. 2. Both the settlers and Palestinians living in the area claim ownership of the disputed land.

Reports state that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas insists that talks cannot proceed without a construction freeze on Israeli West Bank settlements, a precondition that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects.

-- The Associated Press, European Pressphoto Agency

Alaa Badarneh / EPA An Israeli soldier runs to stop a Jewish settler as she tries to prevent a Palestinian farmer from ploughing his fields near the West Bank village of Jaloud on Jan. 2.

Alaa Badarneh / EPA Israeli soldiers prepare to remove a Jewish settler as she tries to stop a Palestinian farmer from ploughing his fields near the West Bank village of Jaloud near Nablus on Jan. 2.

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