West Bank

The West Bank ( , aḍ-Ḍiffä l-Ġarbīyä , , HaGadah HaMa'aravit ) is a landlocked territory and is the eastern part of the Palestinian territories ; on the west bank of the Jordan River in the Middle East . To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel . To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the country of Jordan. The West Bank also contains a significant coastline along the western bank of the Dead Sea . Since 1967, most of the West Bank has been under Israeli military occupation as what it calls the Judea and Samaria Area . A smaller part of the West Bank is administered by the Israeli civilian authorities as part of Jerusalem District . Prior to the First World War , the area now known as the West Bank was under Ottoman rule as part of the province of Syria. At the 1920 San Remo conference , the victorious Allied powers allocated the area to the British Mandate of Palestine . The 1948 Palestine War saw the establishment of Israel in parts of the former Mandate, while the territory known as the "West Bank" area was captured by Trans-Jordan . Since it then controlled the territory on both sides of the Jordan River, Trans-Jordan renamed itself Jordan in 1949. The 1949 Armistice Agreements defined its interim boundary. From 1948 until 1967, the area was under Jordanian rule , and Jordan did not officially relinquish its claim to the area until 1988. Jordan's claim was never formally recognized by the international community, with the exception of the United Kingdom . The West Bank was taken control of by Israel, during the Six-Day War in June, 1967. With the exception of East Jerusalem and the former Israeli - Jordanian no man's land, the West Bank was not annexed by Israel. Most of the residents are Arabs , although a large number of Israeli settlements have been built in the region since 1967. Close to 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank settlements. Although international law (Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention ) prohibits transfers of the population of an “occupying power” to occupied territories, media outlets often interpret the law to incur a responsibility on the part of Israel’s government to prevent Jews or non-Arab Israeli citizens from voluntarily residing in the West Bank, including cases where Israelis seek to restore Jewish communities destroyed by Arabs prior to Israel’s statehood, such as in Hebron and Gush Etzion . The West Bank has a land area of 5,640 km (including East Jerusalem), and 220 km water (the northwest quarter of the Dead Sea). Its population is 2,514,845 (June 2010).

Place The West Bank ( aḍ-Ḍaffah l-Ġarbiyyah ; , HaGadah HaMa'aravit or Cisjordan is a landlocked territory near the Mediterranean coast of Western Asia , forming the bulk of the Palestinian territories . The West Bank shares boundaries ( demarcated by the Jordanian - Israeli armistice of 1949 ) to the west, north, and south with the state of Israel , and to the east, across the Jordan River , with Jordan . The West Bank also contains a significant coastline along the western bank of the Dead Sea . The West Bank, including East Jerusalem , has a land area of 5,640 km and 220 km water, the northwest quarter of the Dead Sea. It has an estimated population of 2,676,740 (July 2013). More than 80%, about 2,100,000, are Palestinian Arabs, and approximately 500,000 are Jewish Israelis living in the West Bank, including about 192,000 in East Jerusalem, in Israeli settlements . The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, illegal under international law , though Israel disputes this. The International Court of Justice advisory ruling (2004) concluded that events that came after the 1967 occupation of the West Bank by Israel, including the Jerusalem Law , Israel's peace treaty with Jordan and the Oslo Accords , did not change the status of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) as occupied territory with Israel as the occupying power. Conflicts in a Conflict . p. xi. Israel Defense Forces, Ordinance No. 187, "Ordinance about Interpretation", "The term Region of Yehuda ve-HaŠomron will be identical in meaning, for all purposes, including any legal issue or security legislation, to the term Region of HaGada HaMa'aravit", 17 December 1967, Major General Uzi Narkis, Commander of Central District and IDF Forces in the Region of HaGada HaMa'aravit . The American Journal of International Law . 84 (1). The international community has taken a critical view of both deportations and settlements as being contrary to international law. General Assembly resolutions have condemned the deportations since 1969, and have done so by overwhelming majorities in recent years. Likewise, they have consistently deplored the establishment of settlements, and have done so by overwhelming majorities throughout the period (since the end of 1976) of the rapid expansion in their numbers. The Security Council has also been critical of deportations and settlements; and other bodies have viewed them as an obstacle to peace, and illegal under international law.. " 'Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory': A Missed Opportunity for International Humanitarian Law?". In Conforti, Benedetto; Bravo, Luigi (eds.). The Italian Yearbook of International Law . "Israel: The security barrier—between international law, constitutional law, and domestic judicial review". International Journal of Constitutional Law . 4 (3). The real controversy hovering over all the litigation on the security barrier concerns the fate of the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. Since 1967, Israel has allowed and even encouraged its citizens to live in the new settlements established in the territories, motivated by religious and national sentiments attached to the history of the Jewish nation in the land of Israel. This policy has also been justified in terms of security interests, taking into consideration the dangerous geographic circumstances of Israel before 1967 (where Israeli areas on the Mediterranean coast were potentially threatened by Jordanian control of the West Bank ridge). The international community, for its part, has viewed this policy as patently illegal, based on the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention that prohibit moving populations to or from territories under occupation. In Bowen, Stephen (ed.). Human rights, self-determination and political change in the occupied Palestinian territories . International studies in human rights. It can thus clearly be concluded that the transfer of Israeli settlers into the occupied territories violates not only the laws of belligerent occupation but the Palestinian right of self-determination under international law. The question remains, however, whether this is of any practical value. In other words, given the view of the international community that the Israeli settlements are illegal under the law if belligerent occupation, what purpose does it serve to establish that an additional breach of international law has occurred?

Territory claimed by the State of Palestine The West Bank ( aḍ-Ḍiffah l-Ġarbiyyah ; HaGadah HaMa'aravit or Yehuda VeShomron ) is a landlocked territory near the Mediterranean coast of Western Asia , bordered by Jordan to the east and by the Green Line separating it and Israel on the south, west and north. The West Bank also contains a significant section of the western Dead Sea shore. The "West Bank" was the name given to the territory that was captured by Jordan in the aftermath of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War , and subsequently annexed in 1950, until 1967 when it was occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War . The Oslo Accords , signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel, created administrative districts with varying levels of Palestinian autonomy within each area. Area C , in which Israel maintained complete civil and security control, accounts for over 60% of the territory of the West Bank. The West Bank, including East Jerusalem , has a land area of 5,640 km plus a water area of 220 km , consisting of the northwest quarter of the Dead Sea. As of July 2017 it has an estimated population of 2,747,943 Palestinians , and approximately 391,000 Israeli settlers , and approximately another 201,200 Israeli settlers in East Jerusalem. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, illegal under international law , though Israel disputes this. The International Court of Justice advisory ruling (2004) concluded that events that came after the 1967 occupation of the West Bank by Israel, including the Jerusalem Law , Israel's peace treaty with Jordan and the Oslo Accords , did not change the status of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) as occupied territory with Israel as the occupying power. Conflicts in a Conflict . p. xi. "המהפך של נתניהו" . ynet. ההיסטוריים והאידיאולוגיים שנכרכו עם השנים במונחים גדה מערבית ויהודה ושומרון Ginges, Jeremy, and Scott Atran. "Sacred values and cultural conflict." Advances in culture and psychology 4 (2013): 278–279. quote: Notwithstanding its abstractness, to religious settlers many of the more significant places that they lay claim to—from the old city of Jerusalem to the “Cave of the Patriarchs” (Me’arat ha-Machpela)—are in what the rest of the world calls the West Bank but what they refer to as Yehuda VeShomron. The international community has taken a critical view of both deportations and settlements as being contrary to international law. General Assembly resolutions have condemned the deportations since 1969, and have done so by overwhelming majorities in recent years. Likewise, they have consistently deplored the establishment of settlements, and have done so by overwhelming majorities throughout the period (since the end of 1976) of the rapid expansion in their numbers. The Security Council has also been critical of deportations and settlements; and other bodies have viewed them as an obstacle to peace, and illegal under international law... Although East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights have been brought directly under Israeli law, by acts that amount to annexation, both of these areas continue to be viewed by the international community as occupied, and their status as regards the applicability of international rules is in most respects identical to that of the West Bank and Gaza. " 'Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory': A Missed Opportunity for International Humanitarian Law?". In Conforti, Benedetto; Bravo, Luigi (eds.). The Italian Yearbook of International Law . "Israel: The security barrier—between international law, constitutional law, and domestic judicial review" . The real controversy hovering over all the litigation on the security barrier concerns the fate of the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. Since 1967, Israel has allowed and even encouraged its citizens to live in the new settlements established in the territories, motivated by religious and national sentiments attached to the history of the Jewish nation in the land of Israel. This policy has also been justified in terms of security interests, taking into consideration the dangerous geographic circumstances of Israel before 1967 (where Israeli areas on the Mediterranean coast were potentially threatened by Jordanian control of the West Bank ridge). The international community, for its part, has viewed this policy as patently illegal, based on the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention that prohibit moving populations to or from territories under occupation. In Bowen, Stephen (ed.). Human rights, self-determination and political change in the occupied Palestinian territories . International studies in human rights. It can thus clearly be concluded that the transfer of Israeli settlers into the occupied territories violates not only the laws of belligerent occupation but the Palestinian right of self-determination under international law. The question remains, however, whether this is of any practical value. In other words, given the view of the international community that the Israeli settlements are illegal under the law if belligerent occupation, what purpose does it serve to establish that an additional breach of international law has occurred?

Territory in West Asia This article is about the geographic region. Place The West Bank ( , aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah ; , HaGadáh HaMaʽarávit ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the Levant region of Western Asia that forms the main bulk of the Palestinian territories . It is bordered by Jordan and the Dead Sea to the east and by Israel (see Green Line ) to the south, west, and north. It has been under an Israeli military occupation since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War . Since the Oslo II Accord was signed in 1995, its area has been split into 165 Palestinian enclaves , that are under total or partial civil administration by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), and a contiguous area containing 230 Israeli settlements into which Israeli law is "pipelined" . The West Bank includes East Jerusalem . Israel administers the West Bank excluding East Jerusalem as the Judea and Samaria Area ( , Ezor Yehūda VeŠōmrōn ) district , through the Israeli Civil Administration . It initially emerged as a Jordanian-occupied territory after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War , before being annexed outright by Jordan in 1950 , and was given its name during this time based on its location on the western bank of the Jordan River . The territory remained under Jordanian rule until 1967, when it was captured and occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War . The Oslo Accords , signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel, created administrative districts with varying levels of Palestinian autonomy in specific areas: Area A , which is administered exclusively by the PNA; Area B , which is administered by both the PNA and Israel; and Area C , which is administered exclusively by Israel. Area C accounts for over 60% of the West Bank's territory. The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has a land area of 5,640 km plus a water area of 220 km , consisting of the northwestern quarter of the Dead Sea. It has an estimated population of 2,747,943 Palestinians , and over 670,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, of which approximately 220,000 live in East Jerusalem . The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem to be illegal under international law , though Israel disputes this. A 2004 advisory ruling by the International Court of Justice concluded that events that came after the 1967 capture of the West Bank by Israel – including the Jerusalem Law , the Israel–Jordan peace treaty , and the Oslo Accords – did not change the status of the West Bank and East Jerusalem as Israeli-occupied territory . Alongside the self-governing Gaza Strip , the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem are claimed by the State of Palestine as its sovereign territory, and thus remain a flashpoint of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict . The international community has taken a critical view of both deportations and settlements as being contrary to international law. General Assembly resolutions have condemned the deportations since 1969, and have done so by overwhelming majorities in recent years. Likewise, they have consistently deplored the establishment of settlements, and have done so by overwhelming majorities throughout the period (since the end of 1976) of the rapid expansion in their numbers. The Security Council has also been critical of deportations and settlements; and other bodies have viewed them as an obstacle to peace, and illegal under international law... Although East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights have been brought directly under Israeli law, by acts that amount to annexation, both of these areas continue to be viewed by the international community as occupied, and their status as regards the applicability of international rules is in most respects identical to that of the West Bank and Gaza. " 'Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory': A Missed Opportunity for International Humanitarian Law?". In Conforti, Benedetto; Bravo, Luigi (eds.). The Italian Yearbook of International Law . "Israel: The security barrier—between international law, constitutional law, and domestic judicial review" . The real controversy hovering over all the litigation on the security barrier concerns the fate of the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. Since 1967, Israel has allowed and even encouraged its citizens to live in the new settlements established in the territories, motivated by religious and national sentiments attached to the history of the Jewish nation in the land of Israel. This policy has also been justified in terms of security interests, taking into consideration the dangerous geographic circumstances of Israel before 1967 (where Israeli areas on the Mediterranean coast were potentially threatened by Jordanian control of the West Bank ridge). The international community, for its part, has viewed this policy as patently illegal, based on the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention that prohibit moving populations to or from territories under occupation. In Bowen, Stephen (ed.). Human rights, self-determination and political change in the occupied Palestinian territories . International studies in human rights. It can thus clearly be concluded that the transfer of Israeli settlers into the occupied territories violates not only the laws of belligerent occupation but the Palestinian right of self-determination under international law. The question remains, however, whether this is of any practical value. In other words, given the view of the international community that the Israeli settlements are illegal under the law if belligerent occupation, what purpose does it serve to establish that an additional breach of international law has occurred?

Territory in West Asia This article is about the geographic region. The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip ) that make up the State of Palestine . A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the Levant region of West Asia , it is bordered by Jordan and the Dead Sea to the east and by Israel (via the Green Line ) to the south, west, and north. Since 1967, the territory has been under Israeli occupation , which has been regarded illegal under the law of the international community . The territory first emerged in the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War as a region occupied and subsequently annexed by Jordan. Jordan ruled the territory until the 1967 Six-Day War , when it was occupied by Israel. Since then, Israel has administered the West Bank (except for East Jerusalem , which was effectively annexed in 1980) as the Judea and Samaria Area . Jordan continued to claim the territory as its own until 1988. The mid-1990s Oslo Accords split the West Bank into three regional levels of Palestinian sovereignty, via the Palestinian National Authority (PNA): Area A (PNA), Area B (PNA and Israel), and Area C (Israel, comprising 60% of the West Bank). The PNA exercises total or partial civil administration over 165 Palestinian enclaves across the three areas. The West Bank remains central to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict . The Palestinians consider it the heart of their envisioned state, along with the Gaza Strip. Right-wing and ideological Israelis see it as their ancestral homeland , with numerous biblical sites. There is a push among some Israelis for partial or complete annexation of this land. Additionally, it is home to a rising number of Israeli settlers. Area C contains 230 Israeli settlements into which Israeli law is applied and under the Oslo Accords was supposed to be mostly transferred to the PNA by 1997, but this did not occur. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be illegal under international law . Citing the 1980 law in which Israel claimed Jerusalem as its capital, the 1994 Israel–Jordan peace treaty , and the Oslo Accords, a 2004 advisory ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concluded that the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, remain Israeli-occupied territory . In 2024 the ICJ again ruled that Israel's occupation of the West Bank is unlawful, adding that their conduct also violates the international prohibition on racial segregation and apartheid . The West Bank has a land area of about 5,640 square kilometres (2,180 square miles). It has an estimated population of 2,747,943 Palestinians and over 670,000 Israeli settlers, of which approximately 220,000 live in East Jerusalem. There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ). The international community has taken a critical view of both deportations and settlements as being contrary to international law. General Assembly resolutions have condemned the deportations since 1969, and have done so by overwhelming majorities in recent years. Likewise, they have consistently deplored the establishment of settlements, and have done so by overwhelming majorities throughout the period (since the end of 1976) of the rapid expansion in their numbers. The Security Council has also been critical of deportations and settlements; and other bodies have viewed them as an obstacle to peace, and illegal under international law... Although East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights have been brought directly under Israeli law, by acts that amount to annexation, both of these areas continue to be viewed by the international community as occupied, and their status as regards the applicability of international rules is in most respects identical to that of the West Bank and Gaza. The international community has taken a critical view of both deportations and settlements as being contrary to international law. General Assembly resolutions have condemned the deportations since 1969, and have done so by overwhelming majorities in recent years. Likewise, they have consistently deplored the establishment of settlements, and have done so by overwhelming majorities throughout the period (since the end of 1976) of the rapid expansion in their numbers. The Security Council has also been critical of deportations and settlements; and other bodies have viewed them as an obstacle to peace, and illegal under international law... Although East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights have been brought directly under Israeli law, by acts that amount to annexation, both of these areas continue to be viewed by the international community as occupied, and their status as regards the applicability of international rules is in most respects identical to that of the West Bank and Gaza. " 'Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory': A Missed Opportunity for International Humanitarian Law?". In Conforti, Benedetto; Bravo, Luigi (eds.). The Italian Yearbook of International Law . "Israel: The security barrier—between international law, constitutional law, and domestic judicial review" . The real controversy hovering over all the litigation on the security barrier concerns the fate of the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. Since 1967, Israel has allowed and even encouraged its citizens to live in the new settlements established in the territories, motivated by religious and national sentiments attached to the history of the Jewish nation in the land of Israel. This policy has also been justified in terms of security interests, taking into consideration the dangerous geographic circumstances of Israel before 1967 (where Israeli areas on the Mediterranean coast were potentially threatened by Jordanian control of the West Bank ridge). The international community, for its part, has viewed this policy as patently illegal, based on the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention that prohibit moving populations to or from territories under occupation. In Bowen, Stephen (ed.). Human rights, self-determination and political change in the occupied Palestinian territories . International studies in human rights. It can thus clearly be concluded that the transfer of Israeli settlers into the occupied territories violates not only the laws of belligerent occupation but the Palestinian right of self-determination under international law. The question remains, however, whether this is of any practical value. In other words, given the view of the international community that the Israeli settlements are illegal under the law if belligerent occupation, what purpose does it serve to establish that an additional breach of international law has occurred? "Experts hail ICJ declaration on illegality of Israel's presence in the occupied Palestinian territory as "historic" for Palestinians and international law" .