West Bank

This article is about the geographic region. For administrative area of Jordan from 1948 to 1967,
see Jordanian annexation of the West Bank.

For other uses, see West Bank (disambiguation).

The West Bank (Arabic: ‫ الضفة الغربية‬aḍ-Ḍiffah l-Ġarbiyyah; Hebrew: ‫הגדה‬

‫המערבית‬, HaGadah HaMa'aravit) is a landlocked territory near the Mediterranean coast
of Western Asia, the bulk of it now under Israeli control,[3] or else under joint Israeli-
Palestinian Authority control. The final status of the entire area is yet to be determined
by the parties concerned.[4] The West Bank shares boundaries (demarcated by
the Jordanian-Israeli armistice of 1949) to the west, north, and south with Israel, and
to the east, across the Jordan River, with Jordan. The West Bank also contains a
significant section of the western Dead Sea shore.[5]
West Bank
‫الغربية الضفة‬
aḍ-Ḍiffah l-Ġarbiyyah
Hebrew: ‫הַ גָדָ ה הַ מַ ע ֲָר ִבית‬
HaGadah HaMa'aravit[1]
Countries and  Palestine (Area A and B)
territories  Israel (unilaterally
annexed East Jerusalem)
 Area C (controlled by Israel)

Capital Jerusalem / Ramallah / Ariel

 Population 3,284,787[2]

Area 5,655 km2 (2,183 sq mi)

Languages  Palestinian Arabic

 Modern Hebrew

Religion Sunni Islam

Judaism
Christianity
Samaritanism

Time Zones UTC+2

Currency Shekel (ILS)

ISO 3166 code PS

IL

The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has a land area of 5,640 km2 plus a water
area of 220 km2, consisting of the northwest quarter of the Dead Sea.[5] As of July
2015 it has an estimated population of 2,785,366 Palestinians,[5] and approximately
371,000 Israeli settlers,[5] and approximately another 212,000 Jewish Israelis in East
Jerusalem.[5]The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West
Bank, including East Jerusalem, illegal under international law, though Israel disputes
this.[6][7][8][9] 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.[10][11]
Etymology

City of Salfit, West Bank

West Bank

City of Bethlehem, West Bank

The name West Bank is a translation of the Arabic term ad-Diffah I-Garbiyyah, given to
the territory west of the Jordan River that fell, in 1948, under occupation and
administration by Jordan, which claimed subsequently to have annexed it in 1950.
This annexation was recognized only by Britain, Iraq and Pakistan.[12] The term was
chosen to differentiate the west bank of the River Jordan from the "east bank" of this
river.
Cisjordan
The neo-Latin name Cisjordan or Cis-Jordan(literally "on this side of the River Jordan")
is the usual name for the territory in the Romance languages and Hungarian. The
name West Bank, however, has become the standard usage for this geopolitical entity
in English and some of the other Germanic languages since its creation following
the Jordanian army's conquest.
In English, the name Cisjordan is occasionally used to designate the entire region
between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, particularly in the historical context
of the British Mandate and earlier times.[citation needed]The
analogous Transjordan (literally "on the other side of the River Jordan") has
historically been used to designate the region now roughly comprising the state of
Jordan, which lies to the east of the Jordan River.
History
See also: History of the Levant, History of Palestine, History of the Northern West Bank, and History of the
Southern West Bank

From 1517 through 1917, the area now known as the West Bank was
under Ottoman rule as part of the provinces of Syria.
20th century

The Cave of the Patriarchs is one of the most famous holy sites in the region.

At the 1920 San Remo conference, the victorious Allied powers (France, UK, USA, etc.)
allocated the area to the British Mandate of Palestine (1920–47). The San Remo
Resolution adopted on 25 April 1920 incorporated the Balfour Declaration of 1917. It
and Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations were the basic documents
upon which the British Mandate for Palestinewas constructed. Faced with the
determination of Emir Abdullah to unify Arab lands under the Hashemite banner, the
British proclaimed Abdullah ruler of the three districts, known collectively as
Transjordan. Confident that his plans for the unity of the Arab nation would eventually
come to fruition, the emir established the first centralized governmental system in
what is now modern Jordan on 11 April 1921. The West Bank area, was conquered by
Jordan during the 1948 war with the new state of Israel.[13]
In 1947, it was subsequently designated as part of a proposed Arab state by the United
Nations (UN) partition plan for Palestine. The resolution recommended partition of
the British Mandate into a Jewish State, an Arab State, and an internationally
administered enclave of Jerusalem;[14] a broader region of the modern-day West Bank
was assigned to the Arab State. The resolution designated the territory described as
"the hill country of Samaria and Judea" (including what is now also known as the
"West Bank") as part of the proposed Arab state, but following the 1948 Arab-Israeli
War this area was captured by Transjordan (renamed Jordan two years after
independence in 1946).
1949 Armistice Agreements defined the interim boundary between Israel and
Jordan.[15] In 1950, Transjordan annexed the area west of the Jordan River,
naming it "West Bank" or "Cisjordan", as "East Bank" or "Transjordan" designated
the area east of the river. Jordan ruled over the West Bank from 1948 until 1967.
Jordan's annexation was never formally recognized by the international
community, with the exception of the United Kingdom.[16][17]