France, Aug. 14 -- As Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu's new military plan for Gaza faces growing criticism abroad, opposition is also building in Israel, with hostage families calling for a nationwide shutdown on Sunday. But in the Israeli settlement of Itamar, in the occupied West Bank, support for the war remains firm.

From Jerusalem, Route 60 heads north through a landscape that tells the story of more than half a century of occupation of the West Bank - with itsIsraeli military presence and smooth roads for Israeli settlers, dotted with checkpoints on the roads serving Palestinian localities.

The hills are gradually being covered with "outposts" - prefabricated structures set up on the outskirts of Israeli settlements to gradua...