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West Bank

Coordinates: 32°00′N 35°23′E / 32.000°N 35.383°E / 32.000; 35.383

The West Bank (Arabic: الضفة الغربية, aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; Hebrew: הַגָּדָה הַמַּעֲרָבִית, HaGadáh HaMaʽarávit) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediterranean in Western Asia that forms the main bulk of the Palestinian territories.[1] It is bordered by Jordan and the Dead Sea to the east and by Israel (see Green Line) to the south, west, and north.[2] Under an Israeli military occupation since 1967, its area is split into 165 Palestinian "islands" that are under total or partial civil administration by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), and 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 (אֵזוֹר יְהוּדָה וְשׁוֹמְרוֹן, Ezor Yehūda VeŠōmrōn) district, through the Israeli Civil Administration.

West Bank
الضفة الغربية
הגדה המערבית
Location of the West Bank within the claimed territory of the State of Palestine
Area
 • Total5,655 km2 (2,183 sq mi)
Population
 • Total2,949,246 (est., July 2021)
Note: over 670,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank (2022); approximately 227,100 Israeli settlers live in East Jerusalem (2019) [2]
Time zoneEET (UTC+02:00)
EEST (UTC+03:00)
ISO 3166 codePS
LanguagesArabic, Hebrew
ReligionIslam, Judaism, Christianity, Samaritanism
CurrencyIsraeli shekel (ILS)
Jordanian dinar (JOD)

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.[3]

The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has a land area of 5,640 km2 plus a water area of 220 km2, 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.[4][5] The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem to be illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.[6][7][8][9] 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.[10] 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.

Etymology

West Bank

 
City of Bethlehem, West Bank

The name West Bank is a translation of the Arabic term aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah, which designates the territory situated on the western side of the Jordan River that was occupied in 1948 and subsequently annexed in 1950 by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. This annexation was widely considered to be illegal, and was recognized only by Iraq, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom.[11]

Cisjordan

The neo-Latin name Cisjordan or Cis-Jordan (lit.'on this side of the River Jordan') is the usual name for the territory in the Romance languages and in 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 inception following the 1948 Jordanian capture.

The analogous Transjordan (lit.'on the other side of the River Jordan') has historically been used to designate the region now roughly comprising the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which lies to the east of the Jordan River.

History

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

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

At the 1920 San Remo conference, the victorious Allies of World War I allocated the area to the British Mandate of Palestine (1920–1948). 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 of Palestine was constructed. The United Kingdom proclaimed Abdullah I as emir of the Emirate of Transjordan on 11 April 1921; he declared it an independent Hashemite kingdom on 25 May 1946.

Under the United Nations in 1947, it was subsequently designated as part of a proposed Arab state by the Partition Plan for Palestine. Resolution 181 recommended the splitting of the British Mandate into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an internationally administered enclave of Jerusalem;[12] 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"[13] (the area now 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.[14]

Jordanian West Bank

 
King Hussein flying over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem when it was under Jordanian control, 1965

The 1949 Armistice Agreements defined the interim boundary between Israel and Jordan (essentially reflecting the battlefield after the war).[15] Following the December 1948 Jericho Conference, Transjordan annexed the area west of the Jordan River in 1950, naming it "West Bank" or "Cisjordan", and designated the area east of the river as "East Bank" or "Transjordan". Jordan (as it was now known) 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 and Iraq.[16][17][18] A two-state option, dividing Palestine, as opposed to a binary solution arose during the period of the British mandate in the area. The United Nations Partition Plan had envisaged two states, one Jewish and the other Arab/Palestinian, but in the wake of the war only one emerged at the time.[19] During the 1948 war, Israel occupied parts of what was designated in the UN partition plan as “Palestine”. King Abdullah of Jordan had been crowned King of Jerusalem by the Coptic Bishop on 15 November 1948.[20] Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank and East Jerusalem were granted Jordanian citizenship and half of the Jordanian Parliament seats.[21][22]

Many refugees continued to live in camps and relied on UNRWA assistance for sustenance. Palestinian refugees constituted more than a third of the kingdom's population of 1.5 million. The last Jordanian elections in which West Bank residents would vote were those of April 1967, but their parliamentary representatives would continue in office until 1988, when West Bank seats were finally abolished. Palestinians enjoyed equal opportunities in all sectors of the state without discrimination.[22] Agriculture remained the primary activity of the territory. The West Bank, despite its smaller area, contained half of Jordan's agricultural land. In 1966, 43% of the labor force of 55,000 worked in agriculture, and 2,300 km2 were under cultivation. In 1965, 15,000 workers were employed in industry, producing 7% of the GNP. This number fell after the 1967 war, and would not be surpassed until 1983.[23] The tourism industry also played an important role. 26 branches of 8 Arab banks were present. The Jordanian dinar became legal tender, and remains so there today.[citation needed] 80% of Jordan's fruit-growing land and 40% of its vegetables lay in the West Bank, and, with the onset of the occupation, the area could no longer produce export earnings.[24]

On the eve of occupation the West Bank accounted for 40% of Jordanian GNP, between 34% and 40% of its agricultural output and almost half of its manpower, though only a third of Jordanian investment was allocated to it and mainly to the private housing construction sector.[25] Though its per-capita product was 10 times greater than that of the West Bank, the Israeli economy on the eve of occupation had experienced two years (1966-1967) of a sharp recession. Immediately after the occupation, from 1967 to 1974, the economy boomed. In 1967 the Palestinian economy had a gross domestic product of $1,349 per capita for a million people,[26] with the West Bank population at 585,500,[a] of whom 18% were refugees, and was growing annually by 2%. West Bank growth, compared to Gaza (3%), had lagged, due to the effect of mass emigration of West Bankers seeking employment in Jordan.[28] As agriculture gave way to industrial development in Israel, in the West Bank the former still generated 37% of domestic product, and industry a mere 13%.[29]

The growth rate of the West Bank economy in the period of the Jordanian rule of the West Bank (before Israeli occupation), had ticked along at an annual rate of 6-8%. This rate of growth was indispensable if the post-war West Bank were to achieve economic self-reliance. 80% of Jordan's fruit-growing land and 40% of its vegetables lay in the West Bank, and, with the onset of the occupation, the area could no longer produce export earnings.[24]

Israeli Military Governorate and Civil Administration

In June 1967, the West Bank and East Jerusalem were captured by Israel as a result of the Six-Day War. With the exception of East Jerusalem and the former Israeli-Jordanian no man's land, the West Bank was not annexed by Israel; it remained under Israeli military control until 1982.

Although the 1974 Arab League summit resolution at Rabat designated the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people", Jordan did not officially relinquish its claim to the area until 1988,[30] when it severed all administrative and legal ties with the West Bank and eventually stripped West Bank Palestinians of Jordanian citizenship.[31]

In 1982, as a result of the Israeli–Egyptian peace treaty, the direct military rule was transformed into a semi-civil authority, operating directly under the Israeli Ministry of Defense, thus taking control of civil matters of Palestinians from the IDF to civil servants in the Ministry of Defense. The Israeli settlements were, on the other hand, administered subsequently as Judea and Samaria Area directly by Israel.

Since the 1993 Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority officially controls a geographically non-contiguous territory comprising approximately 11% of the West Bank (known as Area A) which remains subject to Israeli incursions. Area B (approximately 28%) is subject to joint Israeli-Palestinian military and Palestinian civil control. Area C (approximately 61%) is under full Israeli control. Though 164 nations refer to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as "Occupied Palestinian Territory",[32][33] the state of Israel quotes the UN that only territories captured in war from "an established and recognized sovereign" are considered occupied territories.[34]

After the 2007 split between Fatah and Hamas, the West Bank areas under Palestinian control are an exclusive part of the Palestinian Authority, while the Gaza Strip is ruled by Hamas.

Early economic impact

The Jordanians neglected to invest much in the area during their time governing the area, although there was some investment in the immediate vicinity of Jerusalem.

Soon after the 1967 war, Yigal Allon produced the Allon Plan, which would have annexed a strip along the Jordan River valley and excluded areas closer to the pre-1967 border, which had a high density of Palestinians. Moshe Dayan proposed a plan which Gershom Gorenberg likens to a "photo negative of Allon's."[b] The Allon plan evolved over a period of time to include more territory. The final draft dating from 1970 would have annexed about half of the West Bank.[36] Israel had no overall approach for integrating the West Bank:[c]

The early occupation set severe limits on public investment and comprehensive development programmes in the territories. British and Arab commercial banks operating in the West Bank were closed down soon after Israel assumed power there. Bank Leumi then opened nine branches, without successfully replacing the earlier system. Farmers could get loans, but Palestinian businessmen avoided taking out loans from them since they charged 9% compared to 5% interest in Jordan.[38][39] By June 1967, only a third of West Bank land had been registered under Jordan's Settlement of Disputes over Land and Water Law and in 1968 Israel moved to cancel the possibility of registering one's title with the Jordanian Land Register.[40] Ian Lustick states that Israel "virtually prevented" Palestinian investment in local industry and agriculture.[41] At the same time, Israel encouraged Arab labour to enter into Israel's economy, and regarded them as a new, expanded and protected market for Israeli exports. Limited export of Palestinian goods to Israel was allowed.[42] Expropriation of prime agricultural land in an economy where two thirds of the workforce had farmed is believed to account for the flight of labourers to work in Israel.[43] As much as 40% of the workforce commuted to Israel on a daily basis finding only poorly paid menial employment.[44] Remittances from labourers earning a wage in Israel were the major factor in Palestinian economic growth during the 1969–73 boom years,[45] but the migration of workers from the territories had a negative impact on local industry by creating an internal labour scarcity in the West Bank and consequent pressure for higher wages there;[46] the contrast between the quality of their lives and Israelis' growing prosperity stoked resentment.[44]

Attempting to impose governmental authority, Israel established a licensing system according to which no industrial plant could be built without obtaining a prior Israeli permit. With Military Order No. 393 (14 June 1970), the local commander was given the power and authority to block any construction if, in his evaluation, the building might pose a danger to Israel's security. The overall effect was to obstruct manufacturing development and subordinate any local industrial activity to the exigencies of Israel's economy, or to block the creation of industries that might compete with Israel's. For example, entrepreneurs were denied a permit for a cement factory in Hebron. In order to protect Israeli farmers, melon production was forbidden, imports of grapes and dates were banned, and limits were set to how many cucumbers and tomatoes could be produced.[47] Israeli milk producers exerted pressure on the Ministry for Industry and Trade to stop the establishment of a competitive dairy in Ramallah.[48]

The sum effect after two decades was that 15% of all Palestinian firms in the West Bank (and Gaza) employing over eight people, and 32% with seven or less, were prohibited from selling their products in Israel.[49] Israeli protectionist policies thus distorted wider trade relations to the point that, by 1996, 90% of all West Bank imports came from Israel, with consumers paying more than they would for comparable products had they been able to exercise commercial autonomy.[50]

Legal status

 

Boundaries defined in the 1947 UN Partition Plan for Palestine:

  Area assigned for a Jewish state
    Area assigned for an Arab state
    Planned Corpus separatum with the intention that Jerusalem would be neither Jewish nor Arab

Armistice Demarcation Lines of 1949 (Green Line):

      Israeli controlled territory from 1949
    Egyptian and Jordanian controlled territory from 1948 until 1967

From 1517 to 1917 the West Bank was part of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey, successor state to the Ottoman Empire, renounced its territorial claims in 1923, signing the Treaty of Lausanne, and the area now called the West Bank became an integral part of the British Mandate for Palestine. During the Mandate period Britain had no right of sovereignty, which was held by the people under the mandate.[51] Nevertheless, Britain, as custodians of the land, implemented the land tenure laws in Palestine, which it had inherited from the Ottoman Turks (as defined in the Ottoman Land Code of 1858), applying these laws to both Arab and Jewish legal tenants or otherwise.[52] In 1947 the UN General Assembly recommended that the area that became the West Bank become part of a future Arab state, but this proposal was opposed by the Arab states at the time. In 1948, Jordan occupied the West Bank and annexed it in 1950.[16]

In 1967, Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan in the Six-Day War. UN Security Council Resolution 242 followed, calling for withdrawal (return to the 1949 armistice lines) from territories occupied in the conflict in exchange for peace and mutual recognition. Since 1979, the United Nations Security Council,[53] the United Nations General Assembly,[32] the United States,[54] the EU,[55] the International Court of Justice,[56] and the International Committee of the Red Cross[33] refer to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as occupied Palestinian territory or the occupied territories. General Assembly resolution 58/292 (17 May 2004) affirmed that the Palestinian people have the right to sovereignty over the area.[57]

The International Court of Justice and the Supreme Court of Israel have ruled that the status of the West Bank is that of military occupation.[58] In its 2004 advisory opinion the International Court of Justice concluded that:

The territories situated between the Green Line and the former eastern boundary of Palestine under the Mandate were occupied by Israel in 1967 during the armed conflict between Israel and Jordan. Under customary international law, the Court observes, these were therefore occupied territories in which Israel had the status of occupying Power. Subsequent events in these territories have done nothing to alter this situation. The Court concludes that all these territories (including East Jerusalem) remain occupied territories and that Israel has continued to have the status of occupying Power.[58][59]

In the same vein the Israeli Supreme Court stated in the 2004 Beit Sourik case that:

The general point of departure of all parties – which is also our point of departure – is that Israel holds the area in belligerent occupation (occupatio bellica)......The authority of the military commander flows from the provisions of public international law regarding belligerent occupation. These rules are established principally in the Regulations Concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land, The Hague, 18 October 1907 [hereinafter – the Hague Regulations]. These regulations reflect customary international law. The military commander’s authority is also anchored in IV Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War 1949.[58][60]

The executive branch of the Israeli government, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has defined the West Bank as “disputed” instead of “occupied” territory, whose status can only be determined through negotiations. The Ministry says that occupied territories are territories captured in war from an established and recognized sovereign, and that since the West Bank wasn't under the legitimate and recognized sovereignty of any state prior to the Six-Day War, it shouldn't be considered an occupied territory.[34]

The International Court of Justice ruling of 9 July 2004, however, found that the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is territory held by Israel under military occupation, regardless of its status prior to it coming under Israeli occupation, and that the Fourth Geneva convention applies de jure.[61] The international community regards the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) as territories occupied by Israel.[62]

International law (Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention) prohibits "transfers of the population of an occupying power to occupied territories", incurring a responsibility on the part of Israel's government to not settle Israeli citizens in the West Bank.[63]

As of February 2020, 134 (69.4%) of the 193 member states of the United Nations have recognised the State of Palestine[64] within the Palestinian territories, which are recognized by Israel to constitute a single territorial unit,[65][66] and of which the West Bank is the core of the would-be state.[67]

 
City of Jericho, West Bank

Political status

 
U.S. President George Bush and Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, 2008

The future status of the West Bank, together with the Gaza Strip on the Mediterranean shore, has been the subject of negotiation between the Palestinians and Israelis, although the 2002 Road Map for Peace, proposed by the "Quartet" comprising the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations, envisions an independent Palestinian state in these territories living side by side with Israel (see also proposals for a Palestinian state). However, the "Road Map" states that in the first phase, Palestinians must end all attacks on Israel, whereas Israel must dismantle all outposts.

The Palestinian Authority believes that the West Bank ought to be a part of their sovereign nation, and that the presence of Israeli military control is a violation of their right to Palestinian Authority rule. The United Nations calls the West Bank and Gaza Strip Israeli-occupied territories. The United States State Department also refers to the territories as occupied.[68][69][70]

In 2005 the United States ambassador to Israel, Daniel C. Kurtzer, expressed U.S. support "for the retention by Israel of major Israeli population centres [in the West Bank] as an outcome of negotiations",[71] reflecting President Bush's statement a year earlier that a permanent peace treaty would have to reflect "demographic realities" on the West Bank.[72] In May 2011 US President Barack Obama officially stated US support for a future Palestinian state based on borders prior to the 1967 War, allowing for land swaps where they are mutually agreeable between the two sides. Obama was the first US president to formally support the policy, but he stated that it had been one long held by the US in its Middle East negotiations.[73][74]

In December 2016, a resolution was adopted by United Nations Security Council that condemned Israel's settlement activity as a "flagrant violation" of international law with "no legal validity". It demands that Israel stop such activity and fulfill its obligations as an occupying power under the Fourth Geneva Convention.[75][76] The United States abstained from the vote.[77][76]

In 2020, President Donald Trump unveiled a peace plan, radically different from previous peace plans. The plan failed to gain support.[78][79]

Public opinion

Palestinian public opinion opposes Israeli military and settler presence on the West Bank as a violation of their right to statehood and sovereignty.[80] Israeli opinion is split into a number of views :

  • Complete or partial withdrawal from the West Bank in hopes of peaceful coexistence in separate states (sometimes called the "land for peace" position); (In a 2003 poll, 76% of Israelis supported a peace agreement based on that principle).[81]
  • Maintenance of a military presence in the West Bank to reduce Palestinian terrorism by deterrence or by armed intervention, while relinquishing some degree of political control;
  • Annexation of the West Bank while considering the Palestinian population with Palestinian Authority citizenship with Israeli residence permit as per the Elon Peace Plan;
  • Annexation of the West Bank and assimilation of the Palestinian population to fully fledged Israeli citizens;
  • Transfer of the East Jerusalem Palestinian population (a 2002 poll at the height of the Al-Aqsa intifada found 46% of Israelis favoring Palestinian transfer of Jerusalem residents).[82]

Geography

 
View of the Judaean Mountains from Ramallah

The West Bank has an area of 5,628 square kilometres (2,173 sq mi), which comprises 21.2% of former Mandatory Palestine (excluding Jordan)[83] and has generally rugged mountainous terrain. The total length of the land boundaries of the region are 404 kilometres (251 miles).[2] The terrain is mostly rugged dissected upland, some vegetation in the west, but somewhat barren in the east. The elevation span between the shoreline of the Dead Sea at −408 m to the highest point at Mount Nabi Yunis, at 1,030 m (3,379 ft) above sea level.[84] The area of West Bank is landlocked; highlands are main recharge area for Israel's coastal aquifers.[2]

There are few natural resources in the area except the highly arable land, which comprises 27% of the land area of the region. It is mostly used as permanent pastures (32% of arable land) and seasonal agricultural uses (40%).[2] Forests and woodland comprise just 1%, with no permanent crops.[2]

Climate

The climate in the West Bank is mostly Mediterranean, slightly cooler at elevated areas compared with the shoreline, west to the area. In the east, the West Bank includes the Judean Desert and the shoreline of the Dead Sea – both with dry and hot climate.

Political geography

Overview of administration and sovereignty in Israel and the Palestinian territories
Area Administered by Recognition of governing authority Sovereignty claimed by Recognition of claim
Gaza Strip Palestinian National Authority (de jure) Controlled by Hamas (de facto) Witnesses to the Oslo II Accord State of Palestine 137 UN member states
West Bank Palestinian enclaves (Areas A+B) Palestinian National Authority and Israeli military
Area C Israeli enclave law (Israeli settlements) and Israeli military (Palestinians under Israeli occupation)
East Jerusalem Israeli administration Honduras, Guatemala, Nauru, and the United States China, Russia
West Jerusalem Russia, Czech Republic, Honduras, Guatemala, Nauru, and the United States United Nations as an international city along with East Jerusalem Various UN member states and the European Union; joint sovereignty also widely supported
Golan Heights United States Syria All UN member states except the United States
Israel (proper) 163 UN member states Israel 163 UN member states


Palestinian enclaves

 
Map of West Bank settlements and closures in January 2006: Yellow = Palestinian urban centers. Light pink = closed military areas or settlement boundary areas or areas isolated by the Israeli West Bank barrier; dark pink = settlements, outposts or military bases. The black line = route of the Barrier

The 1993 Oslo Accords declared the final status of the West Bank to be subject to a forthcoming settlement between Israel and the Palestinian leadership. Following these interim accords, Israel withdrew its military rule from some parts of the West Bank, which was divided into three administrative divisions of the Oslo Accords:

Area Security Civil Admin % of WB
land
% of WB
Palestinians
A Palestinian Palestinian 18% 55%
B Israeli Palestinian 21% 41%
C Israeli Israeli 61% 4%[85]

Area A, 2.7%,[of what?] full civil control of the Palestinian Authority, comprises Palestinian towns, and some rural areas away from Israeli settlements in the north (between Jenin, Nablus, Tubas, and Tulkarm), the south (around Hebron), and one in the center south of Salfit.[86] Area B, 25.2%,[of what?] adds other populated rural areas, many closer to the center of the West Bank. Area C contains all the Israeli settlements (excluding settlements in East Jerusalem), roads used to access the settlements, buffer zones (near settlements, roads, strategic areas, and Israel), and almost all of the Jordan Valley and the Judean Desert.

Areas A and B are themselves divided among 227 separate areas (199 of which are smaller than 2 square kilometers (1 sq mi)) that are separated from one another by Israeli-controlled Area C. [87] Areas A, B, and C cross the 11 governorates used as administrative divisions by the Palestinian National Authority, Israel, and the IDF and named after major cities. The mainly open areas of Area C, which contains all of the basic resources of arable and building land, water springs, quarries and sites of touristic value needed to develop a viable Palestinian state,[88] were to be handed over to the Palestinians by 1999 under the Oslo Accords as part of a final status agreement. This agreement was never achieved.[89]

According to B'tselem, while the vast majority of the Palestinian population lives in areas A and B, the vacant land available for construction in dozens of villages and towns across the West Bank is situated on the margins of the communities and defined as area C.[90] Less than 1% of area C is designated for use by Palestinians, who are also unable to legally build in their own existing villages in area C due to Israeli authorities' restrictions,[91][92]

An assessment by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in 2007 found that approximately 40% of the West Bank was taken up by Israeli infrastructure. The infrastructure, consisting of settlements, the barrier, military bases and closed military areas, Israeli declared nature reserves and the roads that accompany them is off-limits or tightly controlled to Palestinians.[93]

In June 2011, the Independent Commission for Human Rights published a report that found that Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip were subjected in 2010 to an "almost systematic campaign" of human rights abuse by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, as well as by Israeli authorities, with the security forces of the PA and Hamas being responsible for torture, arrests and arbitrary detentions.[94]

Areas annexed by Israel

 
Greater Jerusalem, May 2006. CIA remote sensing map showing areas considered settlements, plus refugee camps, fences, walls, etc.

Through the Jerusalem Law, Israel extended its administrative control over East Jerusalem. This has often been interpreted as tantamount to an official annexation, though Ian Lustick, in reviewing the legal status of Israeli measures, has argued that no such annexation ever took place. The Palestinian residents have legal permanent residency status.[95][96] Rejecting the Jerusalem Law, the UN Security Council passed UN Security Council Resolution 478, declaring that the law was "null and void". Although permanent residents are permitted, if they wish, to receive Israeli citizenship if they meet certain conditions including swearing allegiance to the State and renouncing any other citizenship, most Palestinians did not apply for Israeli citizenship for political reasons.[97] There are various possible reasons as to why the West Bank had not been annexed to Israel after its capture in 1967.[98] The government of Israel has not formally confirmed an official reason; however, historians and analysts have established a variety of such, most of them demographic. Among those most commonly cited have been:

  • Reluctance to award its citizenship to an overwhelming number of a potentially hostile population whose allies were sworn to the destruction of Israel.[99][100]
  • To ultimately exchange land for peace with neighbouring states[99][100]
  • Fear that the population of ethnic Arabs, including Israeli citizens of Palestinian ethnicity, would outnumber the Jewish Israelis west of the Jordan River.[98][99]
  • The disputed legality of annexation under the Fourth Geneva Convention[101]

The importance of demographic concerns to some significant figures in Israel's leadership was illustrated when Avraham Burg, a former Knesset Speaker and former chair of the Jewish Agency for Israel, wrote in The Guardian in September 2003,

"Between the Jordan and the Mediterranean there is no longer a clear Jewish majority. And so, fellow citizens, it is not possible to keep the whole thing without paying a price. We cannot keep a Palestinian majority under an Israeli boot and at the same time think ourselves the only democracy in the Middle East. There cannot be democracy without equal rights for all who live here, Arab as well as Jew. We cannot keep the territories and preserve a Jewish majority in the world's only Jewish state – not by means that are humane and moral and Jewish."[102]

Israeli settlements

 
Map of Israeli settlements and Area C (magenta and blue), 2020

As of 2022, there are over 450,000 Israeli settlers living in 132 Israeli settlements in the West Bank excluding East Jerusalem, with an additional 220,000 Jewish settlers residing in 12 settlements in East Jerusalem.[4][5] In addition, there are over 140 Israeli outposts in the West Bank that are not recognized and are therefore illegal even under Israeli law, but which have nevertheless been provided with infrastructure, water, sewage, and other services by the authorities. They are colloquially known as "illegal outposts."[103]

As a result of the application of Israeli law in the settlements ("Enclave law"), large portions of Israeli civil law are applied to Israeli settlements and to Israelis living in the Israeli-occupied territories.[104]

The international consensus is that all Israeli settlements on the West Bank are illegal under international law.[105][106][107][108] In particular, the European Union as a whole[109] considers all settlements to be illegal. Significant portions of the Israeli public similarly oppose the continuing presence of Jewish Israelis in the West Bank and have supported the 2005 settlement relocation.[110] The majority of legal scholars also hold the settlements to violate international law,[7] however individuals including Julius Stone,[111][112] and Eugene Rostow[113] have argued that they are legal under international law.[114] Immediately after the 1967 war, Theodor Meron, legal counselor of Israel's Foreign Ministry, advised Israeli ministers in a "top secret" memo that any policy of building settlements across occupied territories violated international law and would "contravene the explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention".[115][116][117] Fifty years later, citing decades of legal scholarship on the subject, Meron reiterated his legal opinion regarding the illegality of Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories.[118]

The UN Security Council has issued several non-binding resolutions addressing the issue of the settlements. Typical of these is UN Security Council resolution 446 which states that the "practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity", and it calls on Israel "as the occupying Power, to abide scrupulously by the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention".[119]

The Conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention held in Geneva on 5 December 2001 called upon "the Occupying Power to fully and effectively respect the Fourth Geneva Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and to refrain from perpetrating any violation of the Convention." The High Contracting Parties reaffirmed "the illegality of the settlements in the said territories and of the extension thereof."[120]

On 30 December 2007, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert issued an order requiring approval by both the Israeli Prime Minister and Israeli Defense Minister of all settlement activities (including planning) in the West Bank.[121] The change had little effect with settlements continuing to expand, and new ones being established. On 31 August 2014, Israel announced it was appropriating 400 hectares of land in the West Bank to eventually house 1,000 Israel families. The appropriation was described as the largest in more than 30 years.[122] According to reports on Israel Radio, the development is a response to the 2014 kidnapping and murder of Israeli teenagers.[122]

Palestinian outposts

 
A Palestinian demonstration against the demolition of the village Susya

The Haaretz newspaper published an article in December 2005 about demolition of "Palestinian outposts" in Bil'in.[123] The demolitions sparked a political debate as according to PeaceNow it was a double standard ("After what happened today in Bil'in, there is no reason that the state should defend its decision to continue the construction" credited to Michael Sfard).

In January 2012, the European Union approved the "Area C and Palestinian state building" report. The report said Palestinian presence in Area C has been continuously undermined by Israel and that state building efforts in Area C of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the EU were of "utmost importance in order to support the creation of a contiguous and viable Palestinian state". The EU will support various projects to "support the Palestinian people and help maintain their presence".[124][125]

In May 2012, a petition[126] was filed to the Israeli Supreme Court about the legality of more 15[126] Palestinian outposts and Palestinian building in "Area C". The cases were filed by Regavim.[127][128]

The petition was one of 30 different petitions with the common ground of illegal land takeover and illegal construction and use of natural resources. Some of the petitions (27) had been set for trials[129] and the majority received a verdict.

Ynet News stated on 11 January 2013 that a group of 200 Palestinians with unknown number of foreign activists created an outpost named Bab al-Shams ("Gate of the Sun"), contains 50 tents[130]

Ynet News stated on 18 January 2013 that Palestinian activists built an outpost on a disputed area in Beit Iksa, where Israel plans to construct part of the separation fence in the Jerusalem vicinity while the Palestinians claim that the area belongs to the residents of Beit Iksa. named Bab al-Krama[131]

West Bank barrier

 
West Bank barrier ("Separation Wall")
 
Qalandiya Checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem

The Israeli West Bank barrier is a physical barrier ordered for construction by the Israeli Government, consisting of a network of fences with vehicle-barrier trenches surrounded by an on average 60 meters (197 ft) wide exclusion area (90%) and up to 8 meters (26 ft) high concrete walls (10%) (although in most areas the wall is not nearly that high).[132] It is located mainly within the West Bank, partly along the 1949 Armistice line, or "Green Line" between the West Bank and Israel. The length of the barrier as approved by the Israeli government is 708 kilometers (440 mi) long.[133] As of 2020, approximately 454 kilometers (282 mi) have been constructed (64%).[133][134] The space between the barrier and the green line is a closed military zone known as the Seam Zone, cutting off 9% of the West Bank and encompassing dozens of villages and tens of thousands of Palestinians.[135][136][137]

The barrier generally runs along or near the 1949 Jordanian-Israeli armistice/Green Line, but diverges in many places to include on the Israeli side several of the highly populated areas of Jewish settlements in the West Bank such as East Jerusalem, Ariel, Gush Etzion, Immanuel, Karnei Shomron, Givat Ze'ev, Oranit, and Maale Adumim.

Supporters of the barrier claim it is necessary for protecting Israeli civilians from Palestinian attacks, which increased significantly during the Al-Aqsa Intifada;[138][139] it has helped reduce incidents of terrorism by 90% from 2002 to 2005; over a 96% reduction in terror attacks in the six years ending in 2007,[140] though Israel's State Comptroller has acknowledged that most of the suicide bombers crossed into Israel through existing checkpoints.[141] Its supporters claim that the onus is now on the Palestinian Authority to fight terrorism.[142]

Opponents claim the barrier is an illegal attempt to annex Palestinian land under the guise of security,[143] violates international law,[144] has the intent or effect to pre-empt final status negotiations,[145] and severely restricts Palestinian livelihoods, particularly limiting their freedom of movement within and from the West Bank thereby undermining their economy.[146]

Administrative divisions

Palestinian governorates

After the signing of the Oslo Accords, the West Bank was divided into 11 governorates under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian National Authority. Since 2007 there are two governments claiming to be the legitimate government of the Palestinian National Authority, one based in the West Bank and one based in the Gaza Strip.

Governorate Population[147] Area (km2)[147]
Jenin Governorate 311,231 583
Tubas Governorate 64,719 372
Tulkarm Governorate 182,053 239
Nablus Governorate 380,961 592
Qalqilya Governorate 110,800 164
Salfit Governorate 70,727 191
Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate 348,110 844
Jericho Governorate 52,154 608
Jerusalem Governorate
(including Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem with Israeli citizenship)
419,108 344
Bethlehem Governorate 216,114 644
Hebron Governorate 706,508 1,060
Total 2,862,485 5,671
Israeli administrative districts

The West Bank is further divided into 8 administrative regions: Menashe (Jenin area), HaBik'a (Jordan Valley), Shomron (Shechem area, known in Arabic as Nablus), Efrayim (Tulkarm area), Binyamin (Ramallah/al-Bireh area), Maccabim (Maccabim area), Etzion (Bethlehem area) and Yehuda (Hebron area).

Crossing points

Allenby Bridge, or ‘King Hussein Bridge’, is the main port for the Palestinian in the West Bank to the Jordanian borders. This crossing point is controlled by Israel since 1967. It was inaugurated on 11 December 2011 under the military order "175" entitled ‘An order concerning transition station’. Later, Order ‘446’ was issued which annexed the Damia Bridge crossing point to the Allenby Bridge as a commercial crossing point only. Goods were exported to Jordan, while the import was banned for security purposes.[148]

In 1993, the Palestinian National Authority, according to Oslo Accord assigned by PLO and the Israeli government, became a partial supervisor over the Rafah Border Crossing to Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Authority was responsible for issuing passports to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. However, Israel remained the major responsible party for this crossing point. According to the agreement, Israel has the right to independently inspect luggage and to maintain security. In addition, it can prevent anyone from using the crossing.[148][149]

Economy

As of the early-21st century, the economy of the Palestinian territories is chronically depressed, with unemployment rates constantly over 20% since 2000 (19% in the West Bank in first half of 2013).[150]

Consequences of occupation

Economic consequences

According to a 2013 World Bank report, Israeli restrictions hinder Palestinian economic development in Area C of the West Bank.[151] A 2013 World Bank report calculates that, if the Interim Agreement was respected and restrictions lifted, a few key industries alone would produce US$2.2 billion per annum more (or 23% of 2011 Palestinian GDP) and reduce by some US$800 million (50%) the Palestinian Authority's deficit; the employment would increase by 35%.[152]

Water supply

Amnesty International has criticized the way that the Israeli state is dealing with the regional water resources:

Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) do not have access to adequate, safe water supplies ... Discriminatory Israeli policies in the OPT are the root cause of the striking disparity in access to water between Palestinians and Israelis ... The inequality is even more pronounced between Palestinian communities and unlawful Israeli settlements, established in the OPT in violation of international law. Swimming pools, well-watered lawns and large irrigated farms in Israeli settlements in the OPT stand in stark contrast next to Palestinian villages whose inhabitants struggle even to meet their essential domestic water needs. In parts of the West Bank, Israeli settlers use up to 20 times more water per capita than neighbouring Palestinian communities, who survive on barely 20 litres of water per capita a day—the minimum amount recommended by the WHO for emergency situations response.[153]

Israeli settlers in the West Bank have seized dozens of wells from Palestinians. The wells are privately owned by Palestinians and the settlers forcibly took them, gave them Hebrew names and, with the assistance of the Israeli military, prevent Arab people, including the wells' owners, from using the wells and the pools the wells feed.[154]

Israeli garbage disposal

Israel ratified the international Basel Convention treaty on Israel on 14 December 1994, according to which, any transfer of waste must be performed with an awareness of the dangers posed to the disempowered occupied people. It forbids the creation among them of "environmental sacrifice zones."[155] Israel, it is argued, uses the West Bank as a "sacrifice" zone for placing 15 waste treatment plants, which are there under less stringent rules that those required in Israel because a different legal system has been organized regarding hazardous materials that can be noxious to local people and the environment. The military authorities do not render public the details of these operations. These materials consist of such things as sewage sludge, infectious medical waste, used oils, solvents, metals, electronic waste and batteries.[156]

In 2007 it was estimated that 38% (35 mcm a year) of all wastewater flowing into the West Bank derived from settlements and Jerusalem.[157] Of the 121 settlements surveyed, 81 had wastewater treatment plant, much of it inadequate or subject to breakdown, with much sewage flowing into lowland streams and terrain where Palestinian villages are located. Only 4 of 53 indictments for waste pollution were made over the years from 2000 to 2008, whereas in Israel the laws are strictly applied and, in 2006 alone, 230 enforcements for the same abuse were enforced.[158] At the same time 90–95% of Palestinian wastewater was not treated, with only 1 of 4 Israeli plants built in the 1970s to that purpose functioning, and the neglect to improve the infrastructure is attributed to Israeli budgetary problems.[159] After the Oslo Accords, the global community earmarked $250,000,000 for West Bank wastewater infrastructure. Israel at times insisted its approval was conditional on linking the grid to Israeli settlements, which neither the donors nor Palestinians accepted. Most of the infrastructure was subsequently destroyed by IDF military operations.[160] The PA did raise funds from Germany for 15 plants, but only managed to build one, at al-Bireh, within Area B, though even there Israel insisted the plant process waste from the settlement of Psagot, though refusing to pay fees for the treatment.[159] Palestinian towns like Salfit have been deeply affected by sewage overflow channeled past the town from the settlement of Ariel.[161][162]

Unlike the data available for sewage treatment within Israel, the Israeli Water Commission refuses to provide public reports on 15 million cubic metres of sewage flowing from Israeli settlements in the West Bank. It claims 75% is treated adequately but independent Israeli studies (2000) suggest that only 6% met Israeli treatment standards, while 48% was either not treated adequastely or discharged raw. Since then some improvements have been implemented.[163]

The landfill near Al-Jiftlik in the Jericho Governorate, built on absentee Palestinian property without planning or an environment impact analysis, is for the exclusive use of waste, 1,000 tons per day, produced by Israeli settlements and cities within Israel.[164] Palestinians are restricted to 3 landfills, and permits for more have been denied unless the sites can be used to dump settlement garbage. Even if a permit is given without this agreement, settler waste under military escort is still dumped there.[164]

Israel has been accused of engaging in ‘warfare ecology’ in the West Bank.[165] In response to local opposition in Israel to waste treatment plants and the high cost of meeting stringent environment laws in that country. It has been argued that Israel had used the area of the West Bank as a ‘sacrifice zone’ where its waste can be dumped." [d]

Many waste treatment facilities in the West Bank were built for processing waste generated inside Israeli sovereign territory, according to B'Tselem, Israel's leading human rights organization for monitoring the West Bank.[167][168][169] At least 15 waste treatment plants operate in the West Bank and most of the waste they process is brought over from within the Green line inside Israel proper.[citation needed] Of these 15 facilities, six process hazardous waste, including infectious medical waste, used oils and solvents, metals, batteries and electronic industry byproducts, and one facility that processes sewage sludge.[citation needed] The Israel government requires no reporting by these West Bank facilities of the amount of waste they process or the risks they pose to the local population, and applies less rigorous regulatory standards to these facilities than it does to solid waste treatment facilities in Israel.[citation needed] B'Tselem, Israel's leading independent human rights organization for monitoring human rights in the West Bank, has observed that "any transfer of waste to the West Bank is a breach of international law which Israel is dutybound to uphold" because according to international law "an occupied territory or its resources may not be used for the benefit of the occupying power’s own needs."[167][168][169][170][171] Experts have also warned that some of these facilities are garbage dumps that endanger the purity of the mountain aquifer, which is one of the largest sources of water in the region.[170]

Palestinian garbage and sewage

In 1995, the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) was established by a presidential decree. One year later, its functions, objectives and responsibilities were defined through a by-law, giving the PWA the mandate to manage water resources and execute the water policy.[172]

About 90% of the Palestinians in the Territories had access to improved sanitation in 2008.[173] Cesspits were used by 39% of households, while access to the sewer network increased to 55% in 2011, up from 39% in 1999.[174] In the West Bank, only 13,000 out of 85,000 m³ of wastewater were treated in five municipal wastewater treatment plants in Hebron, Jenin, Ramallah, Tulkarem and Al-Bireh.[175] The Al Bireh plant was constructed in 2000 with funding by the German aid agency KfW.[176] According to the World Bank report, the other four plants perform poorly concerning efficiency and quality.[177]

Resource extraction

Based on the number of quarries per km2 in Areas A and B, it is calculated that, were Israel to lift restrictions, a further 275 quarries could be opened in Area C. The World Bank estimates that Israel's virtual ban on issuing Palestinians permits for quarries there costs the Palestinian economy at least US$241 million per year.[178] In International law drawing on the Hague Conventions (Article 55), it is established that an occupying power may reap some value from the resources of the country occupied but not deplete its assets, and that the usufruct must benefit the people under occupation. The Oslo Accords agreed to hand over mining rights to the Palestinian Authority. Israel licenses eleven settlement quarries in the West Bank and they sell 94% of their material to Israel, which arguably constitutes "depletion" and pays royalties to its West Bank military government and settlement municipalities.[164] Thus the German cement firm quarrying at Nahal Raba paid out €430,000 ($479,000) in taxes to the Samaria Regional Council in 2014 alone.[164] The Israeli High Court rejected a petition that such quarrying was a violation by stating that after 4 decades Israeli law must adapt to "the realities on the ground". The state did undertake not to open more quarries.[179] As an illustrative example, a Human Rights Watch report contrasts the difference between a Palestinian-owned quarry company in Beit Fajar and that of a European one working on what Israeli considers its state land. The European company obtained a concession and license to harvest stone, whereas Israel refuses permits for most of the roughly 40 Beit Fajar quarries, or nearly any other Palestinian-owned quarry in the West Bank under Israeli administration.[164]

Israel had denied Palestinians permits to process minerals in that area of the West Bank.[178] The products of the Israeli cosmetics firm Ahava, established in 1988, were developed in laboratories at the West Bank Dead Sea settlements of Mitzpe Shalem and Kalya. 60% of their production is sold in the EU market.[180] In 2018 The UN, stating that the violations were both "pervasive and devastating" to the local Palestinian population, identified some 206 companies which do business with Israeli settlements in the West Bank.[181] Roughly 73 percent of global bromine production comes from Israeli and Jordanian exploitation of the Dead Sea. The potential incremental value that could accrue to the Palestinian economy from the production and sales of potash, bromine and magnesium has been conservatively estimated at US$918 million per annum, or 9 percent of GDP.[182][183] The lost earnings from not being allowed to process Dead Sea minerals such as potash, and for making bromide-based flame retardants, based on calculations of comparable use by Israel and Jordan, suggest a figure of $642 million.[184]

Loss of cultural property

Albert Glock argued that Israel is responsible for the disappearance of significant parts of the Palestinian cultural patrimony, by confiscating Arab cultural resources. In 1967 it appropriated the Palestine Archaeological Museum[e] and its library in East Jerusalem.[f] Often these losses are personal, as when homes are ransacked and looted of their valuables. The journalist Hamdi Faraj, jailed for endangering public order, had his 500-volume library confiscated, including copies of the Bible and Qur'an and, when he applied for their restitution, was told all the books had been accidentally burnt.[187] The Israeli occupation has wrought a profound change in Palestinian identity, which clings to a sense of a "paradise lost" before the changes brought out by the 1967 conquest.[188][g]

Tourism

The Palestinian territories contain several of the most significant sites for Muslims, Christians and Jews, and are endowed with a world-class heritage highly attractive to tourists and pilgrims.[190] The West Bank Palestinians themselves have difficulties in accessing the territory for recreation.

Based on 1967 figures, the Palestinian Dead Sea Coastline is roughly 40 km in length, of which 15% (6 kilometres) could lend itself to the same tourist infrastructure developed by Jordan and Israel in their respective areas. Were Israel to permit a parallel development of this Palestinian sector, the World Bank estimates that 2,900 jobs would be added, allowing the Palestinian economy a potential value-added input of something like $126 million annually.[191] It is also the only maritime recreational outlet for West Bankers, but according to an Acri complaint to the Israeli Supreme Court in 2008 Palestinians are often barred or turned away from the beaches at their only access point, the Beit Ha'arava checkpoint on Route 90. Acri claimed the ban responds to fears by settlers who operate tourist concessions in this West Bank area that they will lose Jewish customers if there are too many West Bank Palestinians on the beaches.[h] The key Palestinian towns in the West Bank for tourism are East Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Jericho. All access points are controlled by Israel and the road system, checkpoints and obstacles in place for visitors desiring to visit Palestinian towns leaves their hotels half-empty.[193] From 92 to 94 cents in every dollar of the tourist trade goes to Israel.[194] The general itineraries under Israeli management focus predominantly on Jewish history. Obstacles placed in the way of Palestinian-managed tourism down to 1995 included withholding licenses from tour guides, and hotels, for construction or renovation, and control of airports and highways, enabling Israel to develop a virtual monopoly on tourism.[194]

Demographics

 
Palestinian girl in Nablus

In December 2007, an official census conducted by the Palestinian Authority found that the Palestinian Arab population of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) was 2,345,000.[2][195] However, the World Bank and American-Israeli Demographic Research Group identified a 32% discrepancy between first-grade enrollment statistics documented by the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS)’ 2007 projections,[196] with questions also raised about the PCBS’ growth assumptions for the period 1997–2003.[197] The Israeli Civil Administration put the number of Palestinians in the West Bank at 2,657,029 as of May 2012.[198][199]

 
Jewish children in Tal Menashe.

In 2014 there were 389,250 Israeli settlers living in the West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem,[200] as well as around 375,000 living in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem. There are also small ethnic groups, such as the Samaritans living in and around Nablus, numbering in the hundreds.[201]

As of October 2007, around 23,000 Palestinians in the West Bank worked in Israel every day, while another 9,200 worked in Israeli settlements. In addition, around 10,000 Palestinian traders from the West Bank were allowed to travel every day into Israel.[202] By 2014, 92,000 Palestinians worked in Israel legally or illegally, twice as many as in 2010.[203]

In 2008, approximately 30% of Palestinians or 754,263 persons living in the West Bank were refugees or descendants of refugees from villages and towns located in what became Israel during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, according to UNRWA statistics.[204][205][206] A 2011 EU report titled "Area C and Palestinian State Building" reported that before the Israeli occupation in 1967, between 200,000 and 320,000 Palestinians used to live in the Jordan Valley, 90% which is in Area C, but demolition of Palestinian homes and prevention of new buildings has seen the number drop to 56,000, 70% of which live in Area A, in Jericho.[207][208][209] In a similar period, the Jewish population in Area C has grown from 1,200 to 310,000.[207]

Major population centers

 
Settlement of Ariel
 
Residential neighborhood of Ramallah
Significant population centers
Center Population
East Jerusalem 542,400[210]
Hebron (al-Khalil) 163,146[211]
Nablus 136,132[211]
Jenin 90,004[211]
Tulkarm 51,300[211]
Yattah 48,672[211]
Modi'in Illit 48,600[212]
Qalqilyah 41,739[211]
Al-Bireh 38,202[211]
Beitar Illit 37,600[212]
Ma'ale Adummim 33,259[212]
Ramallah 27,460[211]
Bethlehem 25,266[211]
Jericho 18,346[211]
Ariel 17,700[212]

The most densely populated part of the region is a mountainous spine, running north–south, where the cities of Jerusalem, Nablus, Ramallah, al-Bireh, Jenin, Bethlehem, Hebron and Yattah are located as well as the Israeli settlements of Ariel, Ma'ale Adumim and Beitar Illit. Ramallah, although relatively mid in population compared to other major cities as Hebron, Nablus and Jenin, serves as an economic and political center for the Palestinians. Near Ramallah the new city of Rawabi is under construction.[213][214] Jenin in the extreme north and is the capital of north of the West Bank and is on the southern edge of the Jezreel Valley. Modi'in Illit, Qalqilyah and Tulkarm are in the low foothills adjacent to the Israeli Coastal Plain, and Jericho and Tubas are situated in the Jordan Valley, north of the Dead Sea.

Religion

The population of the West Bank is 80–85% Muslim (mostly Sunni) and 12–14% Jewish. The remainder are Christian (mostly Greek Orthodox) and others.[2]

Transportation and communications

Road system

 
Road in the West Bank

In 2010, the West Bank and Gaza Strip together had 4,686 km (2,912 mi) of roadways.[2]

It has been said that for "Jewish settlers, roads connect; for Palestinians, they separate."[215] Between 1994 and 1997, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) built 180 miles of bypass roads in the territories, on appropriated land because they ran close to Palestinian villages.[216] The given aim was said to be to afford protection to settlers from Palestinian sniping, bombing, and drive-by shootings.[217] For TAU emeritus professor of geography Elisha Efrat, they ignored the historical topography, road systems and environmental characteristics of the West Bank, and simply formed an apartheid network of "octopus arms which hold a grip on Palestinian population centres".[i]

A large number of embankments, concrete slabs and barriers impeded movement on primary and secondary roads. The result was to cantonize and fragment Palestinian townships, and cause endless obstacles to Palestinians going to work, schools, markets and relatives.[j] Ramallah was cut off from all of its feeder villages in 2000.[218]

Though prohibited by law, confiscation of Palestinian identity cards at checkpoints is a daily occurrence. At best drivers must wait for several hours for them to be returned, when, as can happen, the IDs themselves are lost as soldiers change shifts, in which case Palestinians are directed to some regional office the next day, and more checkpoints to get there.[216] Even before the Al Aqsa Intifada, UNFPA estimated that 20% of pregnant West Bank women were unable to access prenatal care because of the difficulties and delays caused by crossing checkpoints, and dozens were forced to deliver their children on the roadside.[219] Constant uncertainty and the inability to plan are the results for Palestinians of the Israeli military rules governing their movements. The World Bank noted that additional costs arising from longer travelling caused by restrictions on movement through three major routes in the West Bank alone ran to (2013) USD 185 million a year, adding that other, earlier calculations (2007) suggest restrictions on the Palestinian labour market cost the West Bank approximately US$229 million per annum. It concluded that such imposed restrictions had a major negative impact on the local economy, hindering stability and growth.[220] In 2007, official Israeli statistics indicated that there were 180,000 Palestinians on Israel's secret travel ban list. 561 roadblocks and checkpoints were in place (October), the number of Palestinians licensed to drive private cars was 46,166 and the annual cost of permits was $454.[221] These checkpoints, together with the separation wall and the restricted networks restructure the West Bank into "land cells", freezing the flow of normal everyday Palestinian lives.[222] Israel sets up flying checkpoints without notice. Some 2,941 flying checkpoints were rigged up along West Bank roads, averaging some 327 a month, in 2017. A further 476 unstaffed physical obstacles, such as dirt mounds, concrete blocks, gates and fenced sections had been placed on roads for Palestinian use. Of the gates erected at village entrances, 59 were always closed.[223] The checkpoint system did not ease up after the Oslo Accords, but was strengthened after them, which has been interpreted as suggesting their function is to assert control over Palestinians, and as a sign of an unwillingness to yield ground in the West Bank.[224] According to PA Health Ministry statistics relating to the period from 2000 to 2006, of 68 Palestinian women who gave birth to their children while held up at checkpoints, 35 miscarried and 5 died while delivering their child there.[225] Machsom Watch accumulated over a mere five years (2001–2006) some 10,000 eyewitness reports and testimonies regarding the innumerable difficulties faced by Palestinians trying to negotiate West Bank checkpoints.[226]

Transportation infrastructure is particularly problematic as Palestinian use of roads in Area C is highly restricted, and travel times can be inordinate; the Palestinian Authority has also been unable to develop roads, airports or railways in or through Area C,[227] while many other roads were restricted only to public transportation and to Palestinians who have special permits from Israeli authorities.[228][229][230]

At certain times, Israel maintained more than 600 checkpoints or roadblocks in the region.[231] As such, movement restrictions were also placed on main roads traditionally used by Palestinians to travel between cities, and such restrictions are still blamed for poverty and economic depression in the West Bank.[232] Underpasses and bridges (28 of which have been constructed and 16 of which are planned) link Palestinian areas separated from each other by Israeli settlements and bypass roads"[233]

 
Checkpoint before entering Jericho, 2005

Israeli restrictions were tightened in 2007.[234]

There is a road, Route 4370, which has a concrete wall dividing the two sides, one designated for Israeli vehicles, the other for Palestinian. The wall is designed to allow Palestinians to pass north–south through Israeli-held land and facilitate the building of additional Jewish settlements in the Jerusalem neighborhood.[235]

As of February 2012, a plan for 475-kilometer rail network, establishing 11 new rail lines in West Bank, was confirmed by Israeli Transportation Ministry. The West Bank network would include one line running through Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah, Jerusalem, Ma'aleh Adumim, Bethlehem and Hebron. Another would provide service along the Jordanian border from Eilat to the Dead Sea, Jericho and Beit She'an and from there toward Haifa in the west and in also in a northeasterly direction. The proposed scheme also calls for shorter routes, such as between Nablus and Tul Karm in the West Bank, and from Ramallah to the Allenby Bridge crossing into Jordan.[236]

Airports

The only airport in the West Bank is the Atarot Airport near Ramallah, but it has been closed since 2001.

Telecom

The Palestinian Paltel telecommunication companies provide communication services such as landline, cellular network and Internet in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Dialling code +970 is used in the West Bank and all over the Palestinian territories. Until 2007, the Palestinian mobile market was monopolized by Jawwal. A new mobile operator for the territories launched in 2009 under the name of Wataniya Telecom. The number of Internet users increased from 35,000 in 2000 to 356,000 in 2010.[237]

Radio and television

The Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation broadcasts from an AM station in Ramallah on 675 kHz; numerous local privately owned stations are also in operation. Most Palestinian households have a radio and TV, and satellite dishes for receiving international coverage are widespread. Recently, PalTel announced and has begun implementing an initiative to provide ADSL broadband internet service to all households and businesses. Israel's cable television company HOT, satellite television provider (DBS) Yes, AM and FM radio broadcast stations and public television broadcast stations all operate. Broadband internet service by Bezeq's ADSL and by the cable company is available as well. The Al-Aqsa Voice broadcasts from Dabas Mall in Tulkarem at 106.7 FM. The Al-Aqsa TV station shares these offices.

Higher education

Seven universities are operating in the West Bank:

Most universities in the West Bank have politically active student bodies, and elections of student council officers are normally along party affiliations. Although the establishment of the universities was initially allowed by the Israeli authorities, some were sporadically ordered closed by the Israeli Civil Administration during the 1970s and 1980s to prevent political activities and violence against the IDF. Some universities remained closed by military order for extended periods during years immediately preceding and following the first Palestinian Intifada, but have largely remained open since the signing of the Oslo Accords despite the advent of the Al-Aqsa Intifada (Second Intifada) in 2000.

The founding of Palestinian universities has greatly increased education levels among the population in the West Bank. According to a Birzeit University study, the percentage of Palestinians choosing local universities as opposed to foreign institutions has been steadily increasing; as of 1997, 41% of Palestinians with bachelor's degrees had obtained them from Palestinian institutions.[246] According to UNESCO, Palestinians are one of the most highly educated groups in the Middle East "despite often difficult circumstances".[247] The literacy rate among Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) is 94.6% for 2009.[248]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ According to Mansour, the population stood at 803,600,[27]
  2. ^ "In fact, Dayan had submitted his own secret plan. Predictably, it was the photo negative of Allon's. The mountain ridge – not the lowlands along the Jordan – was the strategic land Israel needed, Dayan asserted."[35]
  3. ^ Ilan Pappe holds a dissenting view, claiming that a Shacham Plan existed for the occupation and administration of the West Bank before 1967.[37]
  4. ^ 'sacrifice zone is a geographic area that has become irrevocably impaired by environmental damage or economic neglect.'[166]
  5. ^ "The one center of archaeological activity that might have provided a base for Palestinian archaeologists was the Palestine Archaeological Museum in Jerusalem, which was under the control not of Jordan but of trustees made up of the directors of the several foreign schools of archaeology in the city. It is therefore not clear why persons like Dimitri Baramki did not continue their work as archaeologists employed by the Palestine Museum. In any event, Jordan nationalized the museum only months before the June 1967 war, enabling the Israelis to claim it as theirs by right of conquest,"[185]
  6. ^ "Fourth, the disappearance of the Palestinian patrimony (material evidence) through the deliberate confiscation of Arab cultural resources by Israelis (such as the large library of Dr. Tawfiq Canaan in 1948, the Palestine Archaeological Museum and its library in Jerusalem in 1967, and the library of the Palestine Research Center in Beirut in 1982), as well as the destruction of cultural property in the form of entire villages in 1948–49. This last is particularly crucial, since the Palestinians' link to their past is largely through the villages, few towns, and fewer cities that predominated in their land during the last thirteen centuries."[186]
  7. ^ Israeli settlers forced to evacuate their settlements have also called their prior state as one of a "lost paradise".[189]
  8. ^ 'The ban came to light after the testimony of two Israeli army reservists who said that at the beginning of their tour of duty in May they were told that the purpose of the checkpoint was to "prevent Palestinians coming from the Jordan Valley to the Dead Sea beaches". One of the reservists, Doron Karbel, testified that as a "side note", the Jordan Valley Brigade Commander, Colonel Yigal Slovik, had said the reason for the checkpoint was that "when Jews and Palestinian vacationers were sitting on the beaches side by side it hurt the business of the surrounding yishuvim (Jewish communities)." [192]
  9. ^ "This imposed network of roads could be characterized by lack of consideration for the existing historical road network in the region; by inappropriateness of topography; by construction in marginal areas for a small population; by land confiscation of Arab villages; by lack of a logical hierarchy of roads with defined traffic functions; and above all by the development of a new road system as a means of territorial dominance of the region."[216]
  10. ^ " With Palestinian traffic banned from all the main and secondary roads, clusters of yellow group taxis gather at each such barrier, and groups of people trying to get to work, school, clinics, universities, relatives houses, or markets clamber up and down sand embankments or across ditches to circumvent concrete slabs and soldiers, who sometimes shoot at them."[218]

Citations

  1. ^ "West Bank", The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 27 September 2022, retrieved 30 September 2022
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "Middle East: West Bank". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. 26 September 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  3. ^ World Bank 2013, p. [page needed].
  4. ^ a b "Population". Peace Now. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  5. ^ a b Role, Iran's Regional. "Israel's Rush to 'Apply Sovereignty' in the West Bank: Timing and Potential Consequences". The Washington Institute. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  6. ^ Roberts, Adam (1990). (PDF). The American Journal of International Law. 84 (1): 85–86. doi:10.2307/2203016. JSTOR 2203016. S2CID 145514740. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 February 2020. 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.
  7. ^ a b Pertile, Marco (2005). "'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. Vol. 14. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. p. 141. ISBN 978-90-04-15027-0. the establishment of the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory has been considered illegal by the international community and by the majority of legal scholars.
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Further reading

External links

  • Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
  • has governance and anti-corruption profile.
  • West Bank. The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency.
  • Palestinian Territories at the United States Department of State
  • from UCB Libraries GovPubs
  • from Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs
  • United Nations – Question of Palestine
  • – from Israeli government's Ministry of Foreign Affairs
  • West Bank at Curlie
  • Large map of West Bank (2008) – C.I.A./Univ. of Texas, Austin
  • Large map of West Bank (1992)
  • A series of geopolitical maps of the West Bank
  • 1988 "Address to the Nation" by King Hussein of Jordan Ceding Jordanian Claims to the West Bank to the PLO
  • Map of Palestinian Refugee Camps 1993 (UNRWA/C.I.A./Univ. of Texas, Austin)
  • Map of Israel 2008 (C.I.A./Univ. of Texas, Austin)
  • Map of Israeli Settlements in the West Bank Dec. 1993 (C.I.A./Univ. of Texas, Austin)
  • Map of Israeli Settlements in the Gaza Strip Dec. 1993 (C.I.A./Univ. of Texas, Austin)
  • Israeli Settlements interactive map and Israeli land use from The Guardian
  • West Bank access restrictions map (highly detailed), by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
  • Squeeze them out; As Jewish settlements expand, the Palestinians are being driven away 4 May 2013 The Economist

west, bank, this, article, about, geographic, region, other, uses, disambiguation, coordinates, arabic, الضفة, الغربية, aḍ, Ḍiffah, Ġarbiyyah, hebrew, ית, hagadáh, hamaʽarávit, landlocked, territory, near, coast, mediterranean, western, asia, that, forms, main. This article is about the geographic region For other uses see West Bank disambiguation Coordinates 32 00 N 35 23 E 32 000 N 35 383 E 32 000 35 383 The West Bank Arabic الضفة الغربية aḍ Ḍiffah al Ġarbiyyah Hebrew ה ג ד ה ה מ ע ר ב ית HaGadah HaMaʽaravit is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediterranean in Western Asia that forms the main bulk of the Palestinian territories 1 It is bordered by Jordan and the Dead Sea to the east and by Israel see Green Line to the south west and north 2 Under an Israeli military occupation since 1967 its area is split into 165 Palestinian islands that are under total or partial civil administration by the Palestinian National Authority PNA and 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 א זו ר י הו ד ה ו ש ו מ רו ן Ezor Yehuda VeSōmrōn district through the Israeli Civil Administration West Bank الضفة الغربية הגדה המערביתLocation of the West Bank within the claimed territory of the State of PalestineArea Total5 655 km2 2 183 sq mi Population Total2 949 246 est July 2021 Note over 670 000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank 2022 approximately 227 100 Israeli settlers live in East Jerusalem 2019 2 Time zoneEET UTC 02 00 EEST UTC 03 00 ISO 3166 codePSLanguagesArabic HebrewReligionIslam Judaism Christianity SamaritanismCurrencyIsraeli shekel ILS Jordanian dinar JOD 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 3 The West Bank including East Jerusalem has a land area of 5 640 km2 plus a water area of 220 km2 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 4 5 The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem to be illegal under international law though Israel disputes this 6 7 8 9 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 10 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 Contents 1 Etymology 1 1 West Bank 1 2 Cisjordan 2 History 2 1 Jordanian West Bank 2 2 Israeli Military Governorate and Civil Administration 2 3 Early economic impact 2 4 Legal status 2 5 Political status 3 Public opinion 4 Geography 4 1 Climate 4 2 Political geography 4 2 1 Palestinian enclaves 4 2 2 Areas annexed by Israel 4 2 3 Israeli settlements 4 2 4 Palestinian outposts 4 2 5 West Bank barrier 4 2 6 Administrative divisions 4 2 6 1 Palestinian governorates 4 2 6 2 Israeli administrative districts 5 Crossing points 6 Economy 7 Consequences of occupation 7 1 Economic consequences 7 2 Water supply 7 3 Israeli garbage disposal 7 4 Palestinian garbage and sewage 7 5 Resource extraction 7 6 Loss of cultural property 7 7 Tourism 8 Demographics 8 1 Major population centers 8 2 Religion 9 Transportation and communications 9 1 Road system 9 2 Airports 9 3 Telecom 9 4 Radio and television 10 Higher education 11 See also 12 References 12 1 Notes 12 2 Citations 12 3 Sources 13 Further reading 14 External linksEtymologyWest Bank City of Bethlehem West Bank The name West Bank is a translation of the Arabic term aḍ Ḍiffah al Ġarbiyyah which designates the territory situated on the western side of the Jordan River that was occupied in 1948 and subsequently annexed in 1950 by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan This annexation was widely considered to be illegal and was recognized only by Iraq Pakistan and the United Kingdom 11 Cisjordan The neo Latin name Cisjordan or Cis Jordan lit on this side of the River Jordan is the usual name for the territory in the Romance languages and in 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 inception following the 1948 Jordanian capture The analogous Transjordan lit on the other side of the River Jordan has historically been used to designate the region now roughly comprising the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan which lies to the east of the Jordan River HistorySee also History of the ancient Levant History of Palestine Samaria History and Judea History From 1517 through 1917 the area now known as the West Bank was under Turkish rule as part of Ottoman Syria The Cave of the Patriarchs is one of the most famous holy sites in the region At the 1920 San Remo conference the victorious Allies of World War I allocated the area to the British Mandate of Palestine 1920 1948 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 of Palestine was constructed The United Kingdom proclaimed Abdullah I as emir of the Emirate of Transjordan on 11 April 1921 he declared it an independent Hashemite kingdom on 25 May 1946 Under the United Nations in 1947 it was subsequently designated as part of a proposed Arab state by the Partition Plan for Palestine Resolution 181 recommended the splitting of the British Mandate into a Jewish state an Arab state and an internationally administered enclave of Jerusalem 12 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 13 the area now 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 14 Jordanian West Bank Further information Jordanian annexation of the West Bank King Hussein s federation plan Islamization of Jerusalem and Palestinians in Jordan King Hussein flying over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem when it was under Jordanian control 1965 The 1949 Armistice Agreements defined the interim boundary between Israel and Jordan essentially reflecting the battlefield after the war 15 Following the December 1948 Jericho Conference Transjordan annexed the area west of the Jordan River in 1950 naming it West Bank or Cisjordan and designated the area east of the river as East Bank or Transjordan Jordan as it was now known 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 and Iraq 16 17 18 A two state option dividing Palestine as opposed to a binary solution arose during the period of the British mandate in the area The United Nations Partition Plan had envisaged two states one Jewish and the other Arab Palestinian but in the wake of the war only one emerged at the time 19 During the 1948 war Israel occupied parts of what was designated in the UN partition plan as Palestine King Abdullah of Jordan had been crowned King of Jerusalem by the Coptic Bishop on 15 November 1948 20 Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank and East Jerusalem were granted Jordanian citizenship and half of the Jordanian Parliament seats 21 22 Many refugees continued to live in camps and relied on UNRWA assistance for sustenance Palestinian refugees constituted more than a third of the kingdom s population of 1 5 million The last Jordanian elections in which West Bank residents would vote were those of April 1967 but their parliamentary representatives would continue in office until 1988 when West Bank seats were finally abolished Palestinians enjoyed equal opportunities in all sectors of the state without discrimination 22 Agriculture remained the primary activity of the territory The West Bank despite its smaller area contained half of Jordan s agricultural land In 1966 43 of the labor force of 55 000 worked in agriculture and 2 300 km2 were under cultivation In 1965 15 000 workers were employed in industry producing 7 of the GNP This number fell after the 1967 war and would not be surpassed until 1983 23 The tourism industry also played an important role 26 branches of 8 Arab banks were present The Jordanian dinar became legal tender and remains so there today citation needed 80 of Jordan s fruit growing land and 40 of its vegetables lay in the West Bank and with the onset of the occupation the area could no longer produce export earnings 24 On the eve of occupation the West Bank accounted for 40 of Jordanian GNP between 34 and 40 of its agricultural output and almost half of its manpower though only a third of Jordanian investment was allocated to it and mainly to the private housing construction sector 25 Though its per capita product was 10 times greater than that of the West Bank the Israeli economy on the eve of occupation had experienced two years 1966 1967 of a sharp recession Immediately after the occupation from 1967 to 1974 the economy boomed In 1967 the Palestinian economy had a gross domestic product of 1 349 per capita for a million people 26 with the West Bank population at 585 500 a of whom 18 were refugees and was growing annually by 2 West Bank growth compared to Gaza 3 had lagged due to the effect of mass emigration of West Bankers seeking employment in Jordan 28 As agriculture gave way to industrial development in Israel in the West Bank the former still generated 37 of domestic product and industry a mere 13 29 The growth rate of the West Bank economy in the period of the Jordanian rule of the West Bank before Israeli occupation had ticked along at an annual rate of 6 8 This rate of growth was indispensable if the post war West Bank were to achieve economic self reliance 80 of Jordan s fruit growing land and 40 of its vegetables lay in the West Bank and with the onset of the occupation the area could no longer produce export earnings 24 Israeli Military Governorate and Civil Administration Main articles Israeli Military Governorate and Israeli Civil Administration In June 1967 the West Bank and East Jerusalem were captured by Israel as a result of the Six Day War With the exception of East Jerusalem and the former Israeli Jordanian no man s land the West Bank was not annexed by Israel it remained under Israeli military control until 1982 Although the 1974 Arab League summit resolution at Rabat designated the Palestinian Liberation Organization PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people Jordan did not officially relinquish its claim to the area until 1988 30 when it severed all administrative and legal ties with the West Bank and eventually stripped West Bank Palestinians of Jordanian citizenship 31 In 1982 as a result of the Israeli Egyptian peace treaty the direct military rule was transformed into a semi civil authority operating directly under the Israeli Ministry of Defense thus taking control of civil matters of Palestinians from the IDF to civil servants in the Ministry of Defense The Israeli settlements were on the other hand administered subsequently as Judea and Samaria Area directly by Israel Since the 1993 Oslo Accords the Palestinian Authority officially controls a geographically non contiguous territory comprising approximately 11 of the West Bank known as Area A which remains subject to Israeli incursions Area B approximately 28 is subject to joint Israeli Palestinian military and Palestinian civil control Area C approximately 61 is under full Israeli control Though 164 nations refer to the West Bank including East Jerusalem as Occupied Palestinian Territory 32 33 the state of Israel quotes the UN that only territories captured in war from an established and recognized sovereign are considered occupied territories 34 After the 2007 split between Fatah and Hamas the West Bank areas under Palestinian control are an exclusive part of the Palestinian Authority while the Gaza Strip is ruled by Hamas Early economic impact The Jordanians neglected to invest much in the area during their time governing the area although there was some investment in the immediate vicinity of Jerusalem Soon after the 1967 war Yigal Allon produced the Allon Plan which would have annexed a strip along the Jordan River valley and excluded areas closer to the pre 1967 border which had a high density of Palestinians Moshe Dayan proposed a plan which Gershom Gorenberg likens to a photo negative of Allon s b The Allon plan evolved over a period of time to include more territory The final draft dating from 1970 would have annexed about half of the West Bank 36 Israel had no overall approach for integrating the West Bank c The early occupation set severe limits on public investment and comprehensive development programmes in the territories British and Arab commercial banks operating in the West Bank were closed down soon after Israel assumed power there Bank Leumi then opened nine branches without successfully replacing the earlier system Farmers could get loans but Palestinian businessmen avoided taking out loans from them since they charged 9 compared to 5 interest in Jordan 38 39 By June 1967 only a third of West Bank land had been registered under Jordan s Settlement of Disputes over Land and Water Law and in 1968 Israel moved to cancel the possibility of registering one s title with the Jordanian Land Register 40 Ian Lustick states that Israel virtually prevented Palestinian investment in local industry and agriculture 41 At the same time Israel encouraged Arab labour to enter into Israel s economy and regarded them as a new expanded and protected market for Israeli exports Limited export of Palestinian goods to Israel was allowed 42 Expropriation of prime agricultural land in an economy where two thirds of the workforce had farmed is believed to account for the flight of labourers to work in Israel 43 As much as 40 of the workforce commuted to Israel on a daily basis finding only poorly paid menial employment 44 Remittances from labourers earning a wage in Israel were the major factor in Palestinian economic growth during the 1969 73 boom years 45 but the migration of workers from the territories had a negative impact on local industry by creating an internal labour scarcity in the West Bank and consequent pressure for higher wages there 46 the contrast between the quality of their lives and Israelis growing prosperity stoked resentment 44 Attempting to impose governmental authority Israel established a licensing system according to which no industrial plant could be built without obtaining a prior Israeli permit With Military Order No 393 14 June 1970 the local commander was given the power and authority to block any construction if in his evaluation the building might pose a danger to Israel s security The overall effect was to obstruct manufacturing development and subordinate any local industrial activity to the exigencies of Israel s economy or to block the creation of industries that might compete with Israel s For example entrepreneurs were denied a permit for a cement factory in Hebron In order to protect Israeli farmers melon production was forbidden imports of grapes and dates were banned and limits were set to how many cucumbers and tomatoes could be produced 47 Israeli milk producers exerted pressure on the Ministry for Industry and Trade to stop the establishment of a competitive dairy in Ramallah 48 The sum effect after two decades was that 15 of all Palestinian firms in the West Bank and Gaza employing over eight people and 32 with seven or less were prohibited from selling their products in Israel 49 Israeli protectionist policies thus distorted wider trade relations to the point that by 1996 90 of all West Bank imports came from Israel with consumers paying more than they would for comparable products had they been able to exercise commercial autonomy 50 Legal status Main article Israeli occupation of the West Bank Boundaries defined in the 1947 UN Partition Plan for Palestine Area assigned for a Jewish state Area assigned for an Arab state Planned Corpus separatum with the intention that Jerusalem would be neither Jewish nor ArabArmistice Demarcation Lines of 1949 Green Line Israeli controlled territory from 1949 Egyptian and Jordanian controlled territory from 1948 until 1967 From 1517 to 1917 the West Bank was part of the Ottoman Empire Turkey successor state to the Ottoman Empire renounced its territorial claims in 1923 signing the Treaty of Lausanne and the area now called the West Bank became an integral part of the British Mandate for Palestine During the Mandate period Britain had no right of sovereignty which was held by the people under the mandate 51 Nevertheless Britain as custodians of the land implemented the land tenure laws in Palestine which it had inherited from the Ottoman Turks as defined in the Ottoman Land Code of 1858 applying these laws to both Arab and Jewish legal tenants or otherwise 52 In 1947 the UN General Assembly recommended that the area that became the West Bank become part of a future Arab state but this proposal was opposed by the Arab states at the time In 1948 Jordan occupied the West Bank and annexed it in 1950 16 In 1967 Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan in the Six Day War UN Security Council Resolution 242 followed calling for withdrawal return to the 1949 armistice lines from territories occupied in the conflict in exchange for peace and mutual recognition Since 1979 the United Nations Security Council 53 the United Nations General Assembly 32 the United States 54 the EU 55 the International Court of Justice 56 and the International Committee of the Red Cross 33 refer to the West Bank including East Jerusalem as occupied Palestinian territory or the occupied territories General Assembly resolution 58 292 17 May 2004 affirmed that the Palestinian people have the right to sovereignty over the area 57 The International Court of Justice and the Supreme Court of Israel have ruled that the status of the West Bank is that of military occupation 58 In its 2004 advisory opinion the International Court of Justice concluded that The territories situated between the Green Line and the former eastern boundary of Palestine under the Mandate were occupied by Israel in 1967 during the armed conflict between Israel and Jordan Under customary international law the Court observes these were therefore occupied territories in which Israel had the status of occupying Power Subsequent events in these territories have done nothing to alter this situation The Court concludes that all these territories including East Jerusalem remain occupied territories and that Israel has continued to have the status of occupying Power 58 59 In the same vein the Israeli Supreme Court stated in the 2004 Beit Sourik case that The general point of departure of all parties which is also our point of departure is that Israel holds the area in belligerent occupation occupatio bellica The authority of the military commander flows from the provisions of public international law regarding belligerent occupation These rules are established principally in the Regulations Concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land The Hague 18 October 1907 hereinafter the Hague Regulations These regulations reflect customary international law The military commander s authority is also anchored in IV Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War 1949 58 60 The executive branch of the Israeli government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has defined the West Bank as disputed instead of occupied territory whose status can only be determined through negotiations The Ministry says that occupied territories are territories captured in war from an established and recognized sovereign and that since the West Bank wasn t under the legitimate and recognized sovereignty of any state prior to the Six Day War it shouldn t be considered an occupied territory 34 The International Court of Justice ruling of 9 July 2004 however found that the West Bank including East Jerusalem is territory held by Israel under military occupation regardless of its status prior to it coming under Israeli occupation and that the Fourth Geneva convention applies de jure 61 The international community regards the West Bank including East Jerusalem as territories occupied by Israel 62 International law Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits transfers of the population of an occupying power to occupied territories incurring a responsibility on the part of Israel s government to not settle Israeli citizens in the West Bank 63 As of February 2020 134 69 4 of the 193 member states of the United Nations have recognised the State of Palestine 64 within the Palestinian territories which are recognized by Israel to constitute a single territorial unit 65 66 and of which the West Bank is the core of the would be state 67 City of Jericho West Bank Political status Main article Status of territories occupied by Israel in 1967 U S President George Bush and Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah 2008 The future status of the West Bank together with the Gaza Strip on the Mediterranean shore has been the subject of negotiation between the Palestinians and Israelis although the 2002 Road Map for Peace proposed by the Quartet comprising the United States Russia the European Union and the United Nations envisions an independent Palestinian state in these territories living side by side with Israel see also proposals for a Palestinian state However the Road Map states that in the first phase Palestinians must end all attacks on Israel whereas Israel must dismantle all outposts The Palestinian Authority believes that the West Bank ought to be a part of their sovereign nation and that the presence of Israeli military control is a violation of their right to Palestinian Authority rule The United Nations calls the West Bank and Gaza Strip Israeli occupied territories The United States State Department also refers to the territories as occupied 68 69 70 In 2005 the United States ambassador to Israel Daniel C Kurtzer expressed U S support for the retention by Israel of major Israeli population centres in the West Bank as an outcome of negotiations 71 reflecting President Bush s statement a year earlier that a permanent peace treaty would have to reflect demographic realities on the West Bank 72 In May 2011 US President Barack Obama officially stated US support for a future Palestinian state based on borders prior to the 1967 War allowing for land swaps where they are mutually agreeable between the two sides Obama was the first US president to formally support the policy but he stated that it had been one long held by the US in its Middle East negotiations 73 74 In December 2016 a resolution was adopted by United Nations Security Council that condemned Israel s settlement activity as a flagrant violation of international law with no legal validity It demands that Israel stop such activity and fulfill its obligations as an occupying power under the Fourth Geneva Convention 75 76 The United States abstained from the vote 77 76 In 2020 President Donald Trump unveiled a peace plan radically different from previous peace plans The plan failed to gain support 78 79 Public opinionPalestinian public opinion opposes Israeli military and settler presence on the West Bank as a violation of their right to statehood and sovereignty 80 Israeli opinion is split into a number of views Complete or partial withdrawal from the West Bank in hopes of peaceful coexistence in separate states sometimes called the land for peace position In a 2003 poll 76 of Israelis supported a peace agreement based on that principle 81 Maintenance of a military presence in the West Bank to reduce Palestinian terrorism by deterrence or by armed intervention while relinquishing some degree of political control Annexation of the West Bank while considering the Palestinian population with Palestinian Authority citizenship with Israeli residence permit as per the Elon Peace Plan Annexation of the West Bank and assimilation of the Palestinian population to fully fledged Israeli citizens Transfer of the East Jerusalem Palestinian population a 2002 poll at the height of the Al Aqsa intifada found 46 of Israelis favoring Palestinian transfer of Jerusalem residents 82 Geography View of the Judaean Mountains from Ramallah The West Bank has an area of 5 628 square kilometres 2 173 sq mi which comprises 21 2 of former Mandatory Palestine excluding Jordan 83 and has generally rugged mountainous terrain The total length of the land boundaries of the region are 404 kilometres 251 miles 2 The terrain is mostly rugged dissected upland some vegetation in the west but somewhat barren in the east The elevation span between the shoreline of the Dead Sea at 408 m to the highest point at Mount Nabi Yunis at 1 030 m 3 379 ft above sea level 84 The area of West Bank is landlocked highlands are main recharge area for Israel s coastal aquifers 2 There are few natural resources in the area except the highly arable land which comprises 27 of the land area of the region It is mostly used as permanent pastures 32 of arable land and seasonal agricultural uses 40 2 Forests and woodland comprise just 1 with no permanent crops 2 Climate The climate in the West Bank is mostly Mediterranean slightly cooler at elevated areas compared with the shoreline west to the area In the east the West Bank includes the Judean Desert and the shoreline of the Dead Sea both with dry and hot climate Political geography Main article West Bank Areas in the Oslo II Accord Overview of administration and sovereignty in Israel and the Palestinian territoriesThis box viewtalkedit Area Administered by Recognition of governing authority Sovereignty claimed by Recognition of claimGaza Strip Palestinian National Authority de jure Controlled by Hamas de facto Witnesses to the Oslo II Accord State of Palestine 137 UN member statesWest Bank Palestinian enclaves Areas A B Palestinian National Authority and Israeli militaryArea C Israeli enclave law Israeli settlements and Israeli military Palestinians under Israeli occupation East Jerusalem Israeli administration Honduras Guatemala Nauru and the United States China RussiaWest Jerusalem Russia Czech Republic Honduras Guatemala Nauru and the United States United Nations as an international city along with East Jerusalem Various UN member states and the European Union joint sovereignty also widely supportedGolan Heights United States Syria All UN member states except the United StatesIsrael proper 163 UN member states Israel 163 UN member states Palestinian enclaves Main articles Palestinian enclaves and Palestinian National Authority Map of West Bank settlements and closures in January 2006 Yellow Palestinian urban centers Light pink closed military areas or settlement boundary areas or areas isolated by the Israeli West Bank barrier dark pink settlements outposts or military bases The black line route of the Barrier The 1993 Oslo Accords declared the final status of the West Bank to be subject to a forthcoming settlement between Israel and the Palestinian leadership Following these interim accords Israel withdrew its military rule from some parts of the West Bank which was divided into three administrative divisions of the Oslo Accords Area Security Civil Admin of WBland of WBPalestiniansA Palestinian Palestinian 18 55 B Israeli Palestinian 21 41 C Israeli Israeli 61 4 85 Area A 2 7 of what full civil control of the Palestinian Authority comprises Palestinian towns and some rural areas away from Israeli settlements in the north between Jenin Nablus Tubas and Tulkarm the south around Hebron and one in the center south of Salfit 86 Area B 25 2 of what adds other populated rural areas many closer to the center of the West Bank Area C contains all the Israeli settlements excluding settlements in East Jerusalem roads used to access the settlements buffer zones near settlements roads strategic areas and Israel and almost all of the Jordan Valley and the Judean Desert Areas A and B are themselves divided among 227 separate areas 199 of which are smaller than 2 square kilometers 1 sq mi that are separated from one another by Israeli controlled Area C 87 Areas A B and C cross the 11 governorates used as administrative divisions by the Palestinian National Authority Israel and the IDF and named after major cities The mainly open areas of Area C which contains all of the basic resources of arable and building land water springs quarries and sites of touristic value needed to develop a viable Palestinian state 88 were to be handed over to the Palestinians by 1999 under the Oslo Accords as part of a final status agreement This agreement was never achieved 89 According to B tselem while the vast majority of the Palestinian population lives in areas A and B the vacant land available for construction in dozens of villages and towns across the West Bank is situated on the margins of the communities and defined as area C 90 Less than 1 of area C is designated for use by Palestinians who are also unable to legally build in their own existing villages in area C due to Israeli authorities restrictions 91 92 An assessment by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in 2007 found that approximately 40 of the West Bank was taken up by Israeli infrastructure The infrastructure consisting of settlements the barrier military bases and closed military areas Israeli declared nature reserves and the roads that accompany them is off limits or tightly controlled to Palestinians 93 In June 2011 the Independent Commission for Human Rights published a report that found that Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip were subjected in 2010 to an almost systematic campaign of human rights abuse by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas as well as by Israeli authorities with the security forces of the PA and Hamas being responsible for torture arrests and arbitrary detentions 94 Areas annexed by Israel Greater Jerusalem May 2006 CIA remote sensing map showing areas considered settlements plus refugee camps fences walls etc Through the Jerusalem Law Israel extended its administrative control over East Jerusalem This has often been interpreted as tantamount to an official annexation though Ian Lustick in reviewing the legal status of Israeli measures has argued that no such annexation ever took place The Palestinian residents have legal permanent residency status 95 96 Rejecting the Jerusalem Law the UN Security Council passed UN Security Council Resolution 478 declaring that the law was null and void Although permanent residents are permitted if they wish to receive Israeli citizenship if they meet certain conditions including swearing allegiance to the State and renouncing any other citizenship most Palestinians did not apply for Israeli citizenship for political reasons 97 There are various possible reasons as to why the West Bank had not been annexed to Israel after its capture in 1967 98 The government of Israel has not formally confirmed an official reason however historians and analysts have established a variety of such most of them demographic Among those most commonly cited have been Reluctance to award its citizenship to an overwhelming number of a potentially hostile population whose allies were sworn to the destruction of Israel 99 100 To ultimately exchange land for peace with neighbouring states 99 100 Fear that the population of ethnic Arabs including Israeli citizens of Palestinian ethnicity would outnumber the Jewish Israelis west of the Jordan River 98 99 The disputed legality of annexation under the Fourth Geneva Convention 101 The importance of demographic concerns to some significant figures in Israel s leadership was illustrated when Avraham Burg a former Knesset Speaker and former chair of the Jewish Agency for Israel wrote in The Guardian in September 2003 Between the Jordan and the Mediterranean there is no longer a clear Jewish majority And so fellow citizens it is not possible to keep the whole thing without paying a price We cannot keep a Palestinian majority under an Israeli boot and at the same time think ourselves the only democracy in the Middle East There cannot be democracy without equal rights for all who live here Arab as well as Jew We cannot keep the territories and preserve a Jewish majority in the world s only Jewish state not by means that are humane and moral and Jewish 102 Israeli settlements Main article International law and Israeli settlements Map of Israeli settlements and Area C magenta and blue 2020 As of 2022 there are over 450 000 Israeli settlers living in 132 Israeli settlements in the West Bank excluding East Jerusalem with an additional 220 000 Jewish settlers residing in 12 settlements in East Jerusalem 4 5 In addition there are over 140 Israeli outposts in the West Bank that are not recognized and are therefore illegal even under Israeli law but which have nevertheless been provided with infrastructure water sewage and other services by the authorities They are colloquially known as illegal outposts 103 As a result of the application of Israeli law in the settlements Enclave law large portions of Israeli civil law are applied to Israeli settlements and to Israelis living in the Israeli occupied territories 104 The international consensus is that all Israeli settlements on the West Bank are illegal under international law 105 106 107 108 In particular the European Union as a whole 109 considers all settlements to be illegal Significant portions of the Israeli public similarly oppose the continuing presence of Jewish Israelis in the West Bank and have supported the 2005 settlement relocation 110 The majority of legal scholars also hold the settlements to violate international law 7 however individuals including Julius Stone 111 112 and Eugene Rostow 113 have argued that they are legal under international law 114 Immediately after the 1967 war Theodor Meron legal counselor of Israel s Foreign Ministry advised Israeli ministers in a top secret memo that any policy of building settlements across occupied territories violated international law and would contravene the explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention 115 116 117 Fifty years later citing decades of legal scholarship on the subject Meron reiterated his legal opinion regarding the illegality of Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories 118 The UN Security Council has issued several non binding resolutions addressing the issue of the settlements Typical of these is UN Security Council resolution 446 which states that the practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity and it calls on Israel as the occupying Power to abide scrupulously by the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention 119 The Conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention held in Geneva on 5 December 2001 called upon the Occupying Power to fully and effectively respect the Fourth Geneva Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territory including East Jerusalem and to refrain from perpetrating any violation of the Convention The High Contracting Parties reaffirmed the illegality of the settlements in the said territories and of the extension thereof 120 On 30 December 2007 Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert issued an order requiring approval by both the Israeli Prime Minister and Israeli Defense Minister of all settlement activities including planning in the West Bank 121 The change had little effect with settlements continuing to expand and new ones being established On 31 August 2014 Israel announced it was appropriating 400 hectares of land in the West Bank to eventually house 1 000 Israel families The appropriation was described as the largest in more than 30 years 122 According to reports on Israel Radio the development is a response to the 2014 kidnapping and murder of Israeli teenagers 122 Palestinian outposts A Palestinian demonstration against the demolition of the village Susya The Haaretz newspaper published an article in December 2005 about demolition of Palestinian outposts in Bil in 123 The demolitions sparked a political debate as according to PeaceNow it was a double standard After what happened today in Bil in there is no reason that the state should defend its decision to continue the construction credited to Michael Sfard In January 2012 the European Union approved the Area C and Palestinian state building report The report said Palestinian presence in Area C has been continuously undermined by Israel and that state building efforts in Area C of the Palestinian Authority PA and the EU were of utmost importance in order to support the creation of a contiguous and viable Palestinian state The EU will support various projects to support the Palestinian people and help maintain their presence 124 125 In May 2012 a petition 126 was filed to the Israeli Supreme Court about the legality of more 15 126 Palestinian outposts and Palestinian building in Area C The cases were filed by Regavim 127 128 The petition was one of 30 different petitions with the common ground of illegal land takeover and illegal construction and use of natural resources Some of the petitions 27 had been set for trials 129 and the majority received a verdict Ynet News stated on 11 January 2013 that a group of 200 Palestinians with unknown number of foreign activists created an outpost named Bab al Shams Gate of the Sun contains 50 tents 130 Ynet News stated on 18 January 2013 that Palestinian activists built an outpost on a disputed area in Beit Iksa where Israel plans to construct part of the separation fence in the Jerusalem vicinity while the Palestinians claim that the area belongs to the residents of Beit Iksa named Bab al Krama 131 West Bank barrier Main article Israeli West Bank barrier West Bank barrier Separation Wall Qalandiya Checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem The Israeli West Bank barrier is a physical barrier ordered for construction by the Israeli Government consisting of a network of fences with vehicle barrier trenches surrounded by an on average 60 meters 197 ft wide exclusion area 90 and up to 8 meters 26 ft high concrete walls 10 although in most areas the wall is not nearly that high 132 It is located mainly within the West Bank partly along the 1949 Armistice line or Green Line between the West Bank and Israel The length of the barrier as approved by the Israeli government is 708 kilometers 440 mi long 133 As of 2020 approximately 454 kilometers 282 mi have been constructed 64 133 134 The space between the barrier and the green line is a closed military zone known as the Seam Zone cutting off 9 of the West Bank and encompassing dozens of villages and tens of thousands of Palestinians 135 136 137 The barrier generally runs along or near the 1949 Jordanian Israeli armistice Green Line but diverges in many places to include on the Israeli side several of the highly populated areas of Jewish settlements in the West Bank such as East Jerusalem Ariel Gush Etzion Immanuel Karnei Shomron Givat Ze ev Oranit and Maale Adumim Supporters of the barrier claim it is necessary for protecting Israeli civilians from Palestinian attacks which increased significantly during the Al Aqsa Intifada 138 139 it has helped reduce incidents of terrorism by 90 from 2002 to 2005 over a 96 reduction in terror attacks in the six years ending in 2007 140 though Israel s State Comptroller has acknowledged that most of the suicide bombers crossed into Israel through existing checkpoints 141 Its supporters claim that the onus is now on the Palestinian Authority to fight terrorism 142 Opponents claim the barrier is an illegal attempt to annex Palestinian land under the guise of security 143 violates international law 144 has the intent or effect to pre empt final status negotiations 145 and severely restricts Palestinian livelihoods particularly limiting their freedom of movement within and from the West Bank thereby undermining their economy 146 Administrative divisions Main article West Bank Areas in the Oslo II Accord Palestinian governorates Main article Governorates of Palestine Northern Governorates After the signing of the Oslo Accords the West Bank was divided into 11 governorates under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian National Authority Since 2007 there are two governments claiming to be the legitimate government of the Palestinian National Authority one based in the West Bank and one based in the Gaza Strip Governorate Population 147 Area km2 147 Jenin Governorate 311 231 583Tubas Governorate 64 719 372Tulkarm Governorate 182 053 239Nablus Governorate 380 961 592Qalqilya Governorate 110 800 164Salfit Governorate 70 727 191Ramallah and Al Bireh Governorate 348 110 844Jericho Governorate 52 154 608Jerusalem Governorate including Israeli annexed East Jerusalem with Israeli citizenship 419 108 344Bethlehem Governorate 216 114 644Hebron Governorate 706 508 1 060Total 2 862 485 5 671Israeli administrative districts See also Judea and Samaria Area The West Bank is further divided into 8 administrative regions Menashe Jenin area HaBik a Jordan Valley Shomron Shechem area known in Arabic as Nablus Efrayim Tulkarm area Binyamin Ramallah al Bireh area Maccabim Maccabim area Etzion Bethlehem area and Yehuda Hebron area Crossing pointsAllenby Bridge or King Hussein Bridge is the main port for the Palestinian in the West Bank to the Jordanian borders This crossing point is controlled by Israel since 1967 It was inaugurated on 11 December 2011 under the military order 175 entitled An order concerning transition station Later Order 446 was issued which annexed the Damia Bridge crossing point to the Allenby Bridge as a commercial crossing point only Goods were exported to Jordan while the import was banned for security purposes 148 In 1993 the Palestinian National Authority according to Oslo Accord assigned by PLO and the Israeli government became a partial supervisor over the Rafah Border Crossing to Gaza Strip The Palestinian Authority was responsible for issuing passports to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip However Israel remained the major responsible party for this crossing point According to the agreement Israel has the right to independently inspect luggage and to maintain security In addition it can prevent anyone from using the crossing 148 149 EconomyMain article Economy of the Palestinian territories As of the early 21st century the economy of the Palestinian territories is chronically depressed with unemployment rates constantly over 20 since 2000 19 in the West Bank in first half of 2013 150 Consequences of occupationEconomic consequences According to a 2013 World Bank report Israeli restrictions hinder Palestinian economic development in Area C of the West Bank 151 A 2013 World Bank report calculates that if the Interim Agreement was respected and restrictions lifted a few key industries alone would produce US 2 2 billion per annum more or 23 of 2011 Palestinian GDP and reduce by some US 800 million 50 the Palestinian Authority s deficit the employment would increase by 35 152 Water supply Main article Water supply and sanitation in the State of Palestine Amnesty International has criticized the way that the Israeli state is dealing with the regional water resources Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories OPT do not have access to adequate safe water supplies Discriminatory Israeli policies in the OPT are the root cause of the striking disparity in access to water between Palestinians and Israelis The inequality is even more pronounced between Palestinian communities and unlawful Israeli settlements established in the OPT in violation of international law Swimming pools well watered lawns and large irrigated farms in Israeli settlements in the OPT stand in stark contrast next to Palestinian villages whose inhabitants struggle even to meet their essential domestic water needs In parts of the West Bank Israeli settlers use up to 20 times more water per capita than neighbouring Palestinian communities who survive on barely 20 litres of water per capita a day the minimum amount recommended by the WHO for emergency situations response 153 Israeli settlers in the West Bank have seized dozens of wells from Palestinians The wells are privately owned by Palestinians and the settlers forcibly took them gave them Hebrew names and with the assistance of the Israeli military prevent Arab people including the wells owners from using the wells and the pools the wells feed 154 Israeli garbage disposal Israel ratified the international Basel Convention treaty on Israel on 14 December 1994 according to which any transfer of waste must be performed with an awareness of the dangers posed to the disempowered occupied people It forbids the creation among them of environmental sacrifice zones 155 Israel it is argued uses the West Bank as a sacrifice zone for placing 15 waste treatment plants which are there under less stringent rules that those required in Israel because a different legal system has been organized regarding hazardous materials that can be noxious to local people and the environment The military authorities do not render public the details of these operations These materials consist of such things as sewage sludge infectious medical waste used oils solvents metals electronic waste and batteries 156 In 2007 it was estimated that 38 35 mcm a year of all wastewater flowing into the West Bank derived from settlements and Jerusalem 157 Of the 121 settlements surveyed 81 had wastewater treatment plant much of it inadequate or subject to breakdown with much sewage flowing into lowland streams and terrain where Palestinian villages are located Only 4 of 53 indictments for waste pollution were made over the years from 2000 to 2008 whereas in Israel the laws are strictly applied and in 2006 alone 230 enforcements for the same abuse were enforced 158 At the same time 90 95 of Palestinian wastewater was not treated with only 1 of 4 Israeli plants built in the 1970s to that purpose functioning and the neglect to improve the infrastructure is attributed to Israeli budgetary problems 159 After the Oslo Accords the global community earmarked 250 000 000 for West Bank wastewater infrastructure Israel at times insisted its approval was conditional on linking the grid to Israeli settlements which neither the donors nor Palestinians accepted Most of the infrastructure was subsequently destroyed by IDF military operations 160 The PA did raise funds from Germany for 15 plants but only managed to build one at al Bireh within Area B though even there Israel insisted the plant process waste from the settlement of Psagot though refusing to pay fees for the treatment 159 Palestinian towns like Salfit have been deeply affected by sewage overflow channeled past the town from the settlement of Ariel 161 162 Unlike the data available for sewage treatment within Israel the Israeli Water Commission refuses to provide public reports on 15 million cubic metres of sewage flowing from Israeli settlements in the West Bank It claims 75 is treated adequately but independent Israeli studies 2000 suggest that only 6 met Israeli treatment standards while 48 was either not treated adequastely or discharged raw Since then some improvements have been implemented 163 The landfill near Al Jiftlik in the Jericho Governorate built on absentee Palestinian property without planning or an environment impact analysis is for the exclusive use of waste 1 000 tons per day produced by Israeli settlements and cities within Israel 164 Palestinians are restricted to 3 landfills and permits for more have been denied unless the sites can be used to dump settlement garbage Even if a permit is given without this agreement settler waste under military escort is still dumped there 164 Israel has been accused of engaging in warfare ecology in the West Bank 165 In response to local opposition in Israel to waste treatment plants and the high cost of meeting stringent environment laws in that country It has been argued that Israel had used the area of the West Bank as a sacrifice zone where its waste can be dumped d Many waste treatment facilities in the West Bank were built for processing waste generated inside Israeli sovereign territory according to B Tselem Israel s leading human rights organization for monitoring the West Bank 167 168 169 At least 15 waste treatment plants operate in the West Bank and most of the waste they process is brought over from within the Green line inside Israel proper citation needed Of these 15 facilities six process hazardous waste including infectious medical waste used oils and solvents metals batteries and electronic industry byproducts and one facility that processes sewage sludge citation needed The Israel government requires no reporting by these West Bank facilities of the amount of waste they process or the risks they pose to the local population and applies less rigorous regulatory standards to these facilities than it does to solid waste treatment facilities in Israel citation needed B Tselem Israel s leading independent human rights organization for monitoring human rights in the West Bank has observed that any transfer of waste to the West Bank is a breach of international law which Israel is dutybound to uphold because according to international law an occupied territory or its resources may not be used for the benefit of the occupying power s own needs 167 168 169 170 171 Experts have also warned that some of these facilities are garbage dumps that endanger the purity of the mountain aquifer which is one of the largest sources of water in the region 170 Palestinian garbage and sewage Main article Water supply and sanitation in the State of Palestine In 1995 the Palestinian Water Authority PWA was established by a presidential decree One year later its functions objectives and responsibilities were defined through a by law giving the PWA the mandate to manage water resources and execute the water policy 172 About 90 of the Palestinians in the Territories had access to improved sanitation in 2008 173 Cesspits were used by 39 of households while access to the sewer network increased to 55 in 2011 up from 39 in 1999 174 In the West Bank only 13 000 out of 85 000 m of wastewater were treated in five municipal wastewater treatment plants in Hebron Jenin Ramallah Tulkarem and Al Bireh 175 The Al Bireh plant was constructed in 2000 with funding by the German aid agency KfW 176 According to the World Bank report the other four plants perform poorly concerning efficiency and quality 177 Resource extraction Based on the number of quarries per km2 in Areas A and B it is calculated that were Israel to lift restrictions a further 275 quarries could be opened in Area C The World Bank estimates that Israel s virtual ban on issuing Palestinians permits for quarries there costs the Palestinian economy at least US 241 million per year 178 In International law drawing on the Hague Conventions Article 55 it is established that an occupying power may reap some value from the resources of the country occupied but not deplete its assets and that the usufruct must benefit the people under occupation The Oslo Accords agreed to hand over mining rights to the Palestinian Authority Israel licenses eleven settlement quarries in the West Bank and they sell 94 of their material to Israel which arguably constitutes depletion and pays royalties to its West Bank military government and settlement municipalities 164 Thus the German cement firm quarrying at Nahal Raba paid out 430 000 479 000 in taxes to the Samaria Regional Council in 2014 alone 164 The Israeli High Court rejected a petition that such quarrying was a violation by stating that after 4 decades Israeli law must adapt to the realities on the ground The state did undertake not to open more quarries 179 As an illustrative example a Human Rights Watch report contrasts the difference between a Palestinian owned quarry company in Beit Fajar and that of a European one working on what Israeli considers its state land The European company obtained a concession and license to harvest stone whereas Israel refuses permits for most of the roughly 40 Beit Fajar quarries or nearly any other Palestinian owned quarry in the West Bank under Israeli administration 164 Israel had denied Palestinians permits to process minerals in that area of the West Bank 178 The products of the Israeli cosmetics firm Ahava established in 1988 were developed in laboratories at the West Bank Dead Sea settlements of Mitzpe Shalem and Kalya 60 of their production is sold in the EU market 180 In 2018 The UN stating that the violations were both pervasive and devastating to the local Palestinian population identified some 206 companies which do business with Israeli settlements in the West Bank 181 Roughly 73 percent of global bromine production comes from Israeli and Jordanian exploitation of the Dead Sea The potential incremental value that could accrue to the Palestinian economy from the production and sales of potash bromine and magnesium has been conservatively estimated at US 918 million per annum or 9 percent of GDP 182 183 The lost earnings from not being allowed to process Dead Sea minerals such as potash and for making bromide based flame retardants based on calculations of comparable use by Israel and Jordan suggest a figure of 642 million 184 Loss of cultural property Albert Glock argued that Israel is responsible for the disappearance of significant parts of the Palestinian cultural patrimony by confiscating Arab cultural resources In 1967 it appropriated the Palestine Archaeological Museum e and its library in East Jerusalem f Often these losses are personal as when homes are ransacked and looted of their valuables The journalist Hamdi Faraj jailed for endangering public order had his 500 volume library confiscated including copies of the Bible and Qur an and when he applied for their restitution was told all the books had been accidentally burnt 187 The Israeli occupation has wrought a profound change in Palestinian identity which clings to a sense of a paradise lost before the changes brought out by the 1967 conquest 188 g Tourism Main article Tourism in the State of Palestine The Palestinian territories contain several of the most significant sites for Muslims Christians and Jews and are endowed with a world class heritage highly attractive to tourists and pilgrims 190 The West Bank Palestinians themselves have difficulties in accessing the territory for recreation Based on 1967 figures the Palestinian Dead Sea Coastline is roughly 40 km in length of which 15 6 kilometres could lend itself to the same tourist infrastructure developed by Jordan and Israel in their respective areas Were Israel to permit a parallel development of this Palestinian sector the World Bank estimates that 2 900 jobs would be added allowing the Palestinian economy a potential value added input of something like 126 million annually 191 It is also the only maritime recreational outlet for West Bankers but according to an Acri complaint to the Israeli Supreme Court in 2008 Palestinians are often barred or turned away from the beaches at their only access point the Beit Ha arava checkpoint on Route 90 Acri claimed the ban responds to fears by settlers who operate tourist concessions in this West Bank area that they will lose Jewish customers if there are too many West Bank Palestinians on the beaches h The key Palestinian towns in the West Bank for tourism are East Jerusalem Bethlehem and Jericho All access points are controlled by Israel and the road system checkpoints and obstacles in place for visitors desiring to visit Palestinian towns leaves their hotels half empty 193 From 92 to 94 cents in every dollar of the tourist trade goes to Israel 194 The general itineraries under Israeli management focus predominantly on Jewish history Obstacles placed in the way of Palestinian managed tourism down to 1995 included withholding licenses from tour guides and hotels for construction or renovation and control of airports and highways enabling Israel to develop a virtual monopoly on tourism 194 DemographicsMain article Demographics of the State of Palestine Palestinian girl in Nablus In December 2007 an official census conducted by the Palestinian Authority found that the Palestinian Arab population of the West Bank including East Jerusalem was 2 345 000 2 195 However the World Bank and American Israeli Demographic Research Group identified a 32 discrepancy between first grade enrollment statistics documented by the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics PCBS 2007 projections 196 with questions also raised about the PCBS growth assumptions for the period 1997 2003 197 The Israeli Civil Administration put the number of Palestinians in the West Bank at 2 657 029 as of May 2012 198 199 Jewish children in Tal Menashe In 2014 there were 389 250 Israeli settlers living in the West Bank excluding East Jerusalem 200 as well as around 375 000 living in Israeli annexed East Jerusalem There are also small ethnic groups such as the Samaritans living in and around Nablus numbering in the hundreds 201 As of October 2007 around 23 000 Palestinians in the West Bank worked in Israel every day while another 9 200 worked in Israeli settlements In addition around 10 000 Palestinian traders from the West Bank were allowed to travel every day into Israel 202 By 2014 92 000 Palestinians worked in Israel legally or illegally twice as many as in 2010 203 In 2008 approximately 30 of Palestinians or 754 263 persons living in the West Bank were refugees or descendants of refugees from villages and towns located in what became Israel during the 1948 Arab Israeli War according to UNRWA statistics 204 205 206 A 2011 EU report titled Area C and Palestinian State Building reported that before the Israeli occupation in 1967 between 200 000 and 320 000 Palestinians used to live in the Jordan Valley 90 which is in Area C but demolition of Palestinian homes and prevention of new buildings has seen the number drop to 56 000 70 of which live in Area A in Jericho 207 208 209 In a similar period the Jewish population in Area C has grown from 1 200 to 310 000 207 Major population centers Settlement of Ariel Residential neighborhood of Ramallah Significant population centers Center PopulationEast Jerusalem 542 400 210 Hebron al Khalil 163 146 211 Nablus 136 132 211 Jenin 90 004 211 Tulkarm 51 300 211 Yattah 48 672 211 Modi in Illit 48 600 212 Qalqilyah 41 739 211 Al Bireh 38 202 211 Beitar Illit 37 600 212 Ma ale Adummim 33 259 212 Ramallah 27 460 211 Bethlehem 25 266 211 Jericho 18 346 211 Ariel 17 700 212 The most densely populated part of the region is a mountainous spine running north south where the cities of Jerusalem Nablus Ramallah al Bireh Jenin Bethlehem Hebron and Yattah are located as well as the Israeli settlements of Ariel Ma ale Adumim and Beitar Illit Ramallah although relatively mid in population compared to other major cities as Hebron Nablus and Jenin serves as an economic and political center for the Palestinians Near Ramallah the new city of Rawabi is under construction 213 214 Jenin in the extreme north and is the capital of north of the West Bank and is on the southern edge of the Jezreel Valley Modi in Illit Qalqilyah and Tulkarm are in the low foothills adjacent to the Israeli Coastal Plain and Jericho and Tubas are situated in the Jordan Valley north of the Dead Sea Religion Main article Palestinians Religion The population of the West Bank is 80 85 Muslim mostly Sunni and 12 14 Jewish The remainder are Christian mostly Greek Orthodox and others 2 Transportation and communicationsRoad system Road in the West Bank Main article Palestinian freedom of movement Restriction of movement in the West Bank In 2010 the West Bank and Gaza Strip together had 4 686 km 2 912 mi of roadways 2 It has been said that for Jewish settlers roads connect for Palestinians they separate 215 Between 1994 and 1997 the Israeli Defense Forces IDF built 180 miles of bypass roads in the territories on appropriated land because they ran close to Palestinian villages 216 The given aim was said to be to afford protection to settlers from Palestinian sniping bombing and drive by shootings 217 For TAU emeritus professor of geography Elisha Efrat they ignored the historical topography road systems and environmental characteristics of the West Bank and simply formed an apartheid network of octopus arms which hold a grip on Palestinian population centres i A large number of embankments concrete slabs and barriers impeded movement on primary and secondary roads The result was to cantonize and fragment Palestinian townships and cause endless obstacles to Palestinians going to work schools markets and relatives j Ramallah was cut off from all of its feeder villages in 2000 218 Though prohibited by law confiscation of Palestinian identity cards at checkpoints is a daily occurrence At best drivers must wait for several hours for them to be returned when as can happen the IDs themselves are lost as soldiers change shifts in which case Palestinians are directed to some regional office the next day and more checkpoints to get there 216 Even before the Al Aqsa Intifada UNFPA estimated that 20 of pregnant West Bank women were unable to access prenatal care because of the difficulties and delays caused by crossing checkpoints and dozens were forced to deliver their children on the roadside 219 Constant uncertainty and the inability to plan are the results for Palestinians of the Israeli military rules governing their movements The World Bank noted that additional costs arising from longer travelling caused by restrictions on movement through three major routes in the West Bank alone ran to 2013 USD 185 million a year adding that other earlier calculations 2007 suggest restrictions on the Palestinian labour market cost the West Bank approximately US 229 million per annum It concluded that such imposed restrictions had a major negative impact on the local economy hindering stability and growth 220 In 2007 official Israeli statistics indicated that there were 180 000 Palestinians on Israel s secret travel ban list 561 roadblocks and checkpoints were in place October the number of Palestinians licensed to drive private cars was 46 166 and the annual cost of permits was 454 221 These checkpoints together with the separation wall and the restricted networks restructure the West Bank into land cells freezing the flow of normal everyday Palestinian lives 222 Israel sets up flying checkpoints without notice Some 2 941 flying checkpoints were rigged up along West Bank roads averaging some 327 a month in 2017 A further 476 unstaffed physical obstacles such as dirt mounds concrete blocks gates and fenced sections had been placed on roads for Palestinian use Of the gates erected at village entrances 59 were always closed 223 The checkpoint system did not ease up after the Oslo Accords but was strengthened after them which has been interpreted as suggesting their function is to assert control over Palestinians and as a sign of an unwillingness to yield ground in the West Bank 224 According to PA Health Ministry statistics relating to the period from 2000 to 2006 of 68 Palestinian women who gave birth to their children while held up at checkpoints 35 miscarried and 5 died while delivering their child there 225 Machsom Watch accumulated over a mere five years 2001 2006 some 10 000 eyewitness reports and testimonies regarding the innumerable difficulties faced by Palestinians trying to negotiate West Bank checkpoints 226 Transportation infrastructure is particularly problematic as Palestinian use of roads in Area C is highly restricted and travel times can be inordinate the Palestinian Authority has also been unable to develop roads airports or railways in or through Area C 227 while many other roads were restricted only to public transportation and to Palestinians who have special permits from Israeli authorities 228 229 230 At certain times Israel maintained more than 600 checkpoints or roadblocks in the region 231 As such movement restrictions were also placed on main roads traditionally used by Palestinians to travel between cities and such restrictions are still blamed for poverty and economic depression in the West Bank 232 Underpasses and bridges 28 of which have been constructed and 16 of which are planned link Palestinian areas separated from each other by Israeli settlements and bypass roads 233 Checkpoint before entering Jericho 2005 Israeli restrictions were tightened in 2007 234 There is a road Route 4370 which has a concrete wall dividing the two sides one designated for Israeli vehicles the other for Palestinian The wall is designed to allow Palestinians to pass north south through Israeli held land and facilitate the building of additional Jewish settlements in the Jerusalem neighborhood 235 As of February 2012 update a plan for 475 kilometer rail network establishing 11 new rail lines in West Bank was confirmed by Israeli Transportation Ministry The West Bank network would include one line running through Jenin Nablus Ramallah Jerusalem Ma aleh Adumim Bethlehem and Hebron Another would provide service along the Jordanian border from Eilat to the Dead Sea Jericho and Beit She an and from there toward Haifa in the west and in also in a northeasterly direction The proposed scheme also calls for shorter routes such as between Nablus and Tul Karm in the West Bank and from Ramallah to the Allenby Bridge crossing into Jordan 236 Airports The only airport in the West Bank is the Atarot Airport near Ramallah but it has been closed since 2001 Telecom Main article Communications in the State of Palestine The Palestinian Paltel telecommunication companies provide communication services such as landline cellular network and Internet in the West Bank and Gaza Strip Dialling code 970 is used in the West Bank and all over the Palestinian territories Until 2007 the Palestinian mobile market was monopolized by Jawwal A new mobile operator for the territories launched in 2009 under the name of Wataniya Telecom The number of Internet users increased from 35 000 in 2000 to 356 000 in 2010 237 Radio and television The Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation broadcasts from an AM station in Ramallah on 675 kHz numerous local privately owned stations are also in operation Most Palestinian households have a radio and TV and satellite dishes for receiving international coverage are widespread Recently PalTel announced and has begun implementing an initiative to provide ADSL broadband internet service to all households and businesses Israel s cable television company HOT satellite television provider DBS Yes AM and FM radio broadcast stations and public television broadcast stations all operate Broadband internet service by Bezeq s ADSL and by the cable company is available as well The Al Aqsa Voice broadcasts from Dabas Mall in Tulkarem at 106 7 FM The Al Aqsa TV station shares these offices Higher educationSeven universities are operating in the West Bank Bethlehem University a Roman Catholic institution of the Lasallian tradition partially funded by the Vatican 238 opened its doors in 1973 239 In 1975 Birzeit College located in the town of Bir Zeit north of Ramallah became Birzeit University after adding third and fourth year college level programs 240 An Najah College in Nablus likewise became An Najah National University in 1977 241 Hebron University was established as College of Shari a in 1971 and became Hebron University in 1980 242 Al Quds University was founded in 1995 unifying several colleges and faculties in and around East Jerusalem 243 In 2000 the Arab American University the only private university in the West Bank was founded outside of Zababdeh with the purpose of providing courses according to the American system of education 244 Ariel University is located in the Israeli settlement of Ariel and was granted full university status on 17 July 2012 245 It was established in 1982 Most universities in the West Bank have politically active student bodies and elections of student council officers are normally along party affiliations Although the establishment of the universities was initially allowed by the Israeli authorities some were sporadically ordered closed by the Israeli Civil Administration during the 1970s and 1980s to prevent political activities and violence against the IDF Some universities remained closed by military order for extended periods during years immediately preceding and following the first Palestinian Intifada but have largely remained open since the signing of the Oslo Accords despite the advent of the Al Aqsa Intifada Second Intifada in 2000 The founding of Palestinian universities has greatly increased education levels among the population in the West Bank According to a Birzeit University study the percentage of Palestinians choosing local universities as opposed to foreign institutions has been steadily increasing as of 1997 41 of Palestinians with bachelor s degrees had obtained them from Palestinian institutions 246 According to UNESCO Palestinians are one of the most highly educated groups in the Middle East despite often difficult circumstances 247 The literacy rate among Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics PCBS is 94 6 for 2009 248 See alsoWest Bank closuresReferencesNotes According to Mansour the population stood at 803 600 27 In fact Dayan had submitted his own secret plan Predictably it was the photo negative of Allon s The mountain ridge not the lowlands along the Jordan was the strategic land Israel needed Dayan asserted 35 Ilan Pappe holds a dissenting view claiming that a Shacham Plan existed for the occupation and administration of the West Bank before 1967 37 sacrifice zone is a geographic area that has become irrevocably impaired by environmental damage or economic neglect 166 The one center of archaeological activity that might have provided a base for Palestinian archaeologists was the Palestine Archaeological Museum in Jerusalem which was under the control not of Jordan but of trustees made up of the directors of the several foreign schools of archaeology in the city It is therefore not clear why persons like Dimitri Baramki did not continue their work as archaeologists employed by the Palestine Museum In any event Jordan nationalized the museum only months before the June 1967 war enabling the Israelis to claim it as theirs by right of conquest 185 Fourth the disappearance of the Palestinian patrimony material evidence through the deliberate confiscation of Arab cultural resources by Israelis such as the large library of Dr Tawfiq Canaan in 1948 the Palestine Archaeological Museum and its library in Jerusalem in 1967 and the library of the Palestine Research Center in Beirut in 1982 as well as the destruction of cultural property in the form of entire villages in 1948 49 This last is particularly crucial since the Palestinians link to their past is largely through the villages few towns and fewer cities that predominated in their land during the last thirteen centuries 186 Israeli settlers forced to evacuate their settlements have also called their prior state as one of a lost paradise 189 The ban came to light after the testimony of two Israeli army reservists who said that at the beginning of their tour of duty in May they were told that the purpose of the checkpoint was to prevent Palestinians coming from the Jordan Valley to the Dead Sea beaches One of the reservists Doron Karbel testified that as a side note the Jordan Valley Brigade Commander Colonel Yigal Slovik had said the reason for the checkpoint was that when Jews and Palestinian vacationers were sitting on the beaches side by side it hurt the business of the surrounding yishuvim Jewish communities 192 This imposed network of roads could be characterized by lack of consideration for the existing historical road network in the region by inappropriateness of topography by construction in marginal areas for a small population by land confiscation of Arab villages by lack of a logical hierarchy of roads with defined traffic functions and above all by the development of a new road system as a means of territorial dominance of the region 216 With Palestinian traffic banned from all the main and secondary roads clusters of yellow group taxis gather at each such barrier and groups of people trying to get to work school clinics universities relatives houses or markets clamber up and down sand embankments or across ditches to circumvent concrete slabs and soldiers who sometimes shoot at them 218 Citations West Bank The World Factbook Central Intelligence Agency 27 September 2022 retrieved 30 September 2022 a b c d e f g h Middle East West Bank The World Factbook Central Intelligence Agency 26 September 2018 Retrieved 3 October 2018 World Bank 2013 p page needed a b Population Peace Now Retrieved 1 June 2022 a b Role Iran s Regional Israel s Rush to Apply Sovereignty in the West Bank Timing and Potential Consequences The Washington Institute Retrieved 1 June 2022 Roberts Adam 1990 Prolonged Military Occupation The Israeli Occupied Territories Since 1967 PDF The American Journal of International Law 84 1 85 86 doi 10 2307 2203016 JSTOR 2203016 S2CID 145514740 Archived from the original PDF on 15 February 2020 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 a b Pertile Marco 2005 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 Vol 14 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers p 141 ISBN 978 90 04 15027 0 the establishment of the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory has been considered illegal by the international community and by the majority of legal scholars Barak Erez Daphne 2006 Israel The security barrier between international law constitutional law and domestic judicial review International Journal of Constitutional Law 4 3 548 doi 10 1093 icon mol021 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 Drew Catriona 1997 Self determination and population transfer In Bowen Stephen ed Human rights self determination and political change in the occupied Palestinian territories International studies in human rights Vol 52 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers pp 151 152 ISBN 978 90 411 0502 8 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 Domb Fania 2007 International Law and Armed Conflict Exploring the Faultlines Martinus Nijhoff Publishers p 511 ISBN 978 9004154285 Eyal Benvenisti The International Law of Occupation Oxford University Press 2012 p 204 The so called West Bank of the Jordan river including the eastern part of Jerusalem has been since 1948 under Jordanian administration and Jordan claimed to have annexed it in 1950 This purported annexation of parts of the former Mandatory Palestine was however widely regarded including by the Arab League as illegal and void and was recognized only by Britain Iraq and Pakistan A RES 181 II of 29 November 1947 domino un org 1947 Archived from the original on 24 May 2012 Retrieved 9 April 2012 ODS HOME PAGE PDF documents dds ny un org Retrieved 16 February 2020 Jordan History The Making of Transjordan Archived from the original on 21 September 2011 General Armistice Agreement between the Hashemite Jordan Kingdom and Israel Archived 14 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine UN Doc S 1302 Rev 1 3 April 1949 a b Joseph Massad said that the members of the Arab League granted de facto recognition and that the United States had formally recognized the annexation except for Jerusalem See Joseph A Massad Colonial Effects The Making of National Identity in Jordan New York Columbia University Press 2001 ISBN 0 231 12323 X page 229 Records show that the United States de facto accepted the annexation without formally recognizing it United States Department of State Foreign relations of the United States 1950 The Near East South Asia and Africa Archived 14 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine pg 921 It is often stated that Pakistan recognized it as well but that seems to be incorrect see S R Silverburg 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the original on 8 December 2002 a b Cooley 1984 p 13 Mansour 2015 pp 73 74 Unctad 2016 p 5 Mansour 2015 p 71 Tuma amp Darin Drabkin 1978 pp 47 50 Van Arkadie 1977 p 104 Anis F Kassim ed 1988 The Palestine Yearbook of International Law 1987 1988 p 247 ISBN 978 9041103413 Karsh Efraim Kumaraswamy P R 2003 Efraim Karsh P R Kumaraswamy eds Israel the Hashemites and the Palestinians The fateful triangle p 196 ISBN 9780714654348 a b Applicability of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949 to the Occupied Palestinian Territory including Jerusalem and the other occupied Arab territories United Nations 17 December 2003 Archived from the original on 3 June 2007 Retrieved 27 September 2006 a b Conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention Statement by the International Committee of the Red Cross International Committee of the Red Cross 5 December 2001 Archived from the original on 7 February 2011 Retrieved 27 September 2006 a b Disputed Territories Forgotten Facts about the West Bank and Gaza Strip Israeli government s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Archived from the original on 21 August 2013 Retrieved 5 June 2012 Gorenberg 2007 pp 81 83 Lein amp Weizman 2002 pp 12 13 Pappe 2017 p page needed Cohen 1985 p 245 Van Arkadie 1977 pp 112 113 Nicoletti amp Hearne 2012 p 14 Lustick 2018 p 11 Van Arkadie 1977 pp 104 111 Kadri 1998 p 518 a b Bergman 2018 p 309 Van Arkadie 1977 p 110 Van Arkadie 1977 pp 110 111 Quigley 2005 p 186 El Farra amp MacMillen 2000 p 161 El Farra amp MacMillen 2000 p 164 Kadri 1998 pp 517 518 Quigley John 2005 The Case for Palestine An International Law Perspective Duke University Press p 15 The Survey of Palestine under the British Mandate 1920 1948 British Mandate government printing office Jerusalem 1946 vol 1 p 225 of chapter 8 section 1 paragraph 1 Reprinted in 1991 by the Institute for Palestine Studies which reads The land law in Palestine embraces the system of tenures inherited from the Ottoman regime enriched by some amendments mostly of a declaratory character enacted since the British Occupation on the authority of the Palestine Orders in Council Resolution 446 Resolution 465 Resolution 484 among others Israel and the occupied territories State gov 4 March 2002 Retrieved 3 October 2010 Palestine Trade European Commission Archived from the original on 15 July 2014 Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory International Court of Justice 9 July 2004 Archived from the original on 28 August 2007 Retrieved 27 September 2006 UN Resolution 58 292 17 May 2004 United Nations Archived from the original on 10 May 2011 Retrieved 22 May 2011 Affirms that the status of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 including East Jerusalem remains one of military occupation and affirms in accordance with the rules and principles of international law and relevant resolutions of the United Nations including Security Council resolutions that the Palestinian people have the right to self determination and to sovereignty over their territory and that Israel the occupying Power has only the duties and obligations of an occupying Power under the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949 1 and the Regulations annexed to the Hague Convention respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land of 1907 a b c Domb Fania 2007 International Law and Armed Conflict Exploring the Faultlines Martinus Nijhoff Publishers p 511 ISBN 978 9004154285 Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory Advisory Opinion I C J Reports International Court of Justice 2004 p 136 ISBN 978 92 1 070993 4 Beit Sourik Village Council v 1 The Government of Israel 2 Commander of the IDF Forces in the West Bank The Supreme Court Sitting as the High Court of Justice Archived from the original on 18 December 2012 Retrieved 8 May 2012 Legal 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Palestine Studies 41 3 220 223 Spring 2012 doi 10 1525 jps 2012 xli 3 220 JSTOR 10 1525 jps 2012 xli 3 220 a b 1 permanent dead link עשרות מאחזים פלסטיניים הוקמו ביוש בגץ יכריע NRG מעריב Archived from the original on 13 August 2013 Illegal Palestinian quarry near Beit Fajar to close Archived from the original on 25 February 2013 List of petitions by the Regavim NGO regavim org il Archived from the original on 23 February 2012 Levy Elior 11 January 2013 Palestinians erect outpost in E1 zone Ynetnews Archived from the original on 9 February 2013 Levy Elior 18 January 2013 Report IDF fire injures 2 Palestinians Ynetnews Archived from the original on 3 February 2013 HCJ 7957 04 Mara abe v The Prime Minister of Israel PDF Supreme Court of Israeli High Court of Justice Archived from the original PDF on 28 October 2005 Retrieved 17 December 2012 a b File West Bank Access Restrictions pdf Wikipedia PDF commons wikimedia org 7 September 2020 Retrieved 2 June 2022 B Tselem The Separation Barrier Statistics Btselem org Archived from the original on 20 November 2003 Retrieved 9 October 2008 Separation Barrier 9 July 2006 Two Years after the ICJ s Decision on the Separation Barrier B tselem 9 July 2006 Archived from the original on 27 September 2007 Retrieved 11 May 2007 Margarat Evans 6 January 2006 Indepth Middle East Israel s Barrier CBC Archived from the original on 18 May 2007 Retrieved 5 November 2007 Israel s Separation Barrier Challenges to the Rule of Law and Human Rights Executive Summary Part I and II International Commission of Jurists 6 July 2004 Archived from the original on 6 July 2007 Retrieved 11 May 2007 Israel Security Fence Ministry of Defense Securityfence mod gov il Archived from the original on 3 October 2013 Retrieved 9 October 2008 Map of Palestine Land of Israel 1845 Zionism israel com Archived from the original on 1 December 2010 Retrieved 3 October 2010 After Sharon The Wall Street Journal 6 January 2006 Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory PDF 30 January 2004 Archived from the original PDF on 10 May 2011 Sen Clinton I support W Bank fence PA must fight terrorism Archived 5 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine Haaretz 13 November 2005 Under the Guise of Security Btselem org Archived from the original on 5 April 2007 Retrieved 22 May 2011 U N court rules West Bank barrier illegal CNN 9 July 2004 Archived from the original on 8 November 2012 Retrieved 22 May 2011 Geraldine Bedell 15 June 2003 Set in stone The Guardian Bogue Patrick Sullivan Richard Anonymous Grandinetti Guglielmo Chelazzi February 2014 Settlements and separation in the West Bank future implications for health Medicine Conflict and Survival 30 1 4 10 doi 10 1080 13623699 2013 873643 PMID 24684018 S2CID 41065377 a b كتاب فلسطين الاحصائي السنوي Statistical Yearbook of Palestine PDF in Arabic Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics December 2015 Archived from the original PDF on 22 April 2016 Retrieved 31 January 2016 a b Restricted Hopes On The Breach Of West Bank Palestinians Right To Travel By Israeli Authorities PDF Euro Mediterranean Observer for Human Rights December 2011 Archived PDF from the original on 4 March 2016 Retrieved 16 December 2015 المرصد الأورومتوسطي لحقوق الإنسان 15 December 2015 معبر الكرامة نبذة تاريخية آمال مقيدة in Arabic Euro Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor 15 December 2015 Dignity Crossing A Brief History Tied Hopes in Arabic World Bank 2013 p 2 Consequently unemployment rates have remained very high in the Palestinian territories After initial post Oslo rates of about 9 percent in the mid 1990s unemployment rose to 28 percent of the labor force in 2000 with the onset of the second intifada and the imposition of severe movement and access restrictions it has remained high ever since and is currently about 22 percent What is more almost 24 percent of the workforce is employed by the PA an uncommonly high proportion that reflects the lack of dynamism in the private sector World Bank 2013 p 2 While internal Palestinian political divisions have contributed to investor aversion to the Palestinian territories Israeli restrictions on trade movement and access are clearly the binding constraint to investment these restrictions substantially increase the cost of trade and make it impossible to import many production inputs into the Palestinian territories as illustrated for instance on the example of the telecommunications sector For Gaza the restrictions on import and export are in particular severe In addition to the restrictions on labor movement between the Palestinian territories the restrictions on movement of labor within the West Bank have been shown to have a strong impact on employability wages and economic growth Israeli restrictions render much economic activity very difficult or impossible to conduct on about 61 percent of the West Bank territory called Area C Restrictions on movement and access and the stunted potential of Area C World Bank 2013 p viii assumed that the various physical legal regulatory and bureaucratic constraints that currently prevent investors from obtaining construction permits and accessing land and water resources are lifted as envisaged under the Interim Agreement It is understood that realizing the full potential of such investments requires other changes as well first the rolling back of the movement and access restrictions in force outside Area C which prevent the easy export of Palestinian products and inhibit tourists and investors from accessing Area C and second further reforms by the Palestinian Authority to better enable potential investors to register businesses enforce contracts and acquire finance Neglecting indirect positive effects we estimate that the potential additional output from the sectors evaluated in this report alone would amount to at least USD 2 2 billion per annum in valued added terms a sum equivalent to 23 percent of 2011 Palestinian GDP The bulk of this would come from agriculture and Dead Sea minerals exploitation x Tapping this potential output could dramatically improve the PA s fiscal position Even without any improvements in the efficiency of tax collection at the current rate of tax GDP of 20 percent the additional tax revenues associated with such an increase in GDP would amount to some USD 800 million Assuming that expenditures remain at the same level this extra resource would notionally cut the fiscal deficit by half significantly reducing the need for donor recurrent budget support This major improvement in fiscal sustainability would in turn generate significant positive reputational benefits for the PA and would considerably enhance investor confidence xi The impact on Palestinian livelihoods would be impressive An increase in GDP equivalent to 35 percent would be expected to create substantial employment sufficient to put a significant dent in the currently high rate of unemployment If an earlier estimated one to one relationship between growth and employment was to hold this increase in GDP would lead to a 35 percent increase in employment This level of growth in employment would also put a large dent in poverty as recent estimates show that unemployed Palestinians are twice as likely to be poor as their employed counterparts Thirsting for Justice Palestinian Access to Water Restricted PDF Report Amnesty International p 2 Archived from the original PDF on 6 July 2016 Retrieved 15 March 2017 Gideon Levy Alex Levac 30 August 2019 This Place Is Only for Jews The West Bank s Apartheid Springs Haaretz Archived from the original on 30 August 2019 Aloni 2017 p 16 Aloni 2017 pp 5 6 Hareuveni 2009 p 7 Hareuveni 2009 pp 8 12 a b Hareuveni 2009 pp 19 21 Weizman 2012 p 273 n 11 Ashly 2017 Weizman 2012 p 273 n 14 Tagar Keinen amp Bromberg 2007 pp 419 420 a b c d e Occupation Inc How Settlement Businesses Contribute to Israel s Violations of Palestinian Rights Human Rights Watch 19 January 2016 Archived from the original on 17 June 2016 M Mason 2011 The Application of Warfare Ecoloogy to Belligerent Occupations In Gary E Machlis Thor Hanson Zdravko Spiric Jean McKendry eds Warfare Ecology A New Synthesis for Peace and Security Springer p 164 ISBN 978 94 007 1214 0 Aloni 2017 p 17 a b Jaclynn Ashly 5 December 2017 Israel Turns West Bank into a Garbage Dump Al Jazeera Archived from the original on 15 February 2018 Retrieved 15 February 2018 a b Joshua Leifer 5 December 2017 How Israel turned the West Bank into its garbage dump 972 Magazine Archived from the original on 16 February 2018 Retrieved 15 February 2018 a b Aloni 2017 p page needed a b Efrat 2006 p 8 Weizman 2012 p 20 Husseini Hiba n d Palestinian Water Authority Developments and Challenges Legal Framework and Capacity The Palestinian Water Authority Developments and Challenges involving the Legal Framework and the Capacity of the PWA pp 301 308 doi 10 1007 978 3 540 69509 7 31 ISBN 978 3 540 69508 0 A Snapshot of Drinking water and Sanitation in the Arab States 2010 Update Archived 13 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine p 5 WHO UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation November 2011 On wssinfo org Joint Monitoring Programme see Regional snapshots Archived 25 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine Household Environmental Survey 2011 Main Findings p 13 English section Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics December 2011 Fatta D Salem Z Mountadar M Assobhei O Loizidou M December 2004 Urban Wastewater Treatment and Reclamation for Agricultural Irrigation The situation in Morocco and Palestine The Environmentalist 24 4 227 236 doi 10 1007 s10669 005 0998 x S2CID 85346288 Retrieved 15 February 2008 permanent dead link Assessment of Restrictions on Palestinian Water Sector Development p 113 World Bank April 2009 Assessment of Restrictions on Palestinian Water Sector Development p 20 World Bank April 2009 a b Niksic Eddin amp Cali 2014 p 58 Gross 2011 Nicoletti amp Hearne 2012 pp 21 22 Nebehay 2018 World Bank 2013 pp 12 13 Beckouche 2017 p 156 Niksic Eddin amp Cali 2014 pp 58 60 Glock 1994 p 77 Glock 1994 p 71 Friedman 1983 p 96 Kamrava 2016 p 116 Perugini 2014 p 55 World Bank 2013 p 20 Niksic Eddin amp Cali 2014 pp 65 66 Macintyre 2008 Isaac 2013 p 147 a b Isaac 2013 p 144 Palestinians grow by a million in decade The Jerusalem Post 9 February 2008 Archived from the original on 7 November 2012 Retrieved 11 October 2011 THE PALESTINIAN CENSUS SMOKE amp MIRRORS Archived 21 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine Independent Media Review Analysis 11 February 2008 The Million Person Gap The Arab Population in the West Bank and Gaza Archived 2 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine Mideast Security and Policy Studies No 65 February 2006 Molad Analysis Wrong Number Archived from the original on 24 September 2014 Hasson Nir 30 June 2013 Demographic Debate Continues How Many Palestinians Actually Live in the West Bank Haaretz Archived from the original on 1 November 2014 15 000 More Jews in Judea Samaria in 2014 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of Palestinian farmland EUobserver Archived from the original on 29 January 2012 Retrieved 29 January 2012 Amira Hass 12 January 2012 EU report Israel policy in West Bank endangers two state solution Haaretz Archived from the original on 14 August 2014 A2 European Union Internal Report on Area C and Palestinian State Building Brussels January 2012 excerpts Journal of Palestine Studies 41 3 220 223 2012 doi 10 1525 jps 2012 XLI 3 220 JIPR 2018 sfn error no target CITEREFJIPR2018 help a b c d e f g h i j 2007 Locality Population Statistics Archived 10 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics PCBS a b c d 2010 Locality Population Statistics Archived 5 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics PCBS Palestinian city of Rawabi to serve nation in the making Archived 10 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine Jerusalem Post 11 May 2011 UN chief says time running out for peace deal Atlanta Journal 2 February 2012 Kamrava 2016 p 86 a b c Efrat 2006 p 85 Galchinsky 2004 p 117 a b Hass 2002 p 6 Aswad 2007 World Bank 2013 p 30 Makdisi 2010 pp 63 64 Handel 2010 pp 259 261 Restrictions on Movement B Tselem 11 November 2017 Efrat 2006 p 86 Israeli jailed over baby tragedy BBC News 12 September 2008 Keshet 2013 p viii World Bank 2013 p page needed UNOCHA analysis suggests that less than one percent of the land in Area C is currently available to Palestinians for construction permit data also shows that it is almost impossible to obtain permission to build in Area C Less than 6 percent of all requests made between 2000 and 2007 secured approval This situation applies not only to housing but to public economic infrastructure roads water reservoirs waste treatment plants and industrial plant and to the access roads and utility lines needed to connect Areas A and B across Area C The outbreak of the second Intifada in 2000 interrupted this trend bringing increased violence and uncertainty and most significantly the intensification by Israel of a complex set of security related restrictions that impeded the movement of people and goods and fragmented the Palestinian territories into small enclaves lacking economic cohesion Transportation infrastructure is particularly problematic as Palestinian use of roads in Area C is highly restricted and travel times can be inordinate the Palestinian Authority has also been unable to develop roads airports or railways in or through Area C Westbank closure count and analysis January 2006 PDF Archived from the original PDF on 26 March 2009 Retrieved 22 May 2011 A 57 366 of 29 August 2002 United Nations Archived from the original on 13 October 2007 Retrieved 9 October 2008 A 57 366 Add 1 of 16 September 2002 United Nations Archived from the original on 13 October 2007 Retrieved 9 October 2008 60 Minutes Middle East Time Running Out For A Two State Solution cbsnews com 25 January 2009 Archived from the original on 29 January 2009 Retrieved 29 January 2009 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Palestine Zed Books ISBN 978 1 84813 625 0 Kletter Raz 2014 Just Past The Making of Israeli Archaeology Routledge ISBN 978 1 317 49136 1 Lein Yehezkel Weizman Eyal May 2002 Land Grab Israel s Settlement Policy in the West Bank PDF B tselem Report B Tselem ISSN 0793 520X Lustick Ian 2018 Unsettled States Disputed Lands Britain and Ireland France and Algeria Israel and the West Bank Gaza Cornell University Press ISBN 978 1 501 73194 5 Macintyre Donald 14 June 2008 Palestinians barred from Dead Sea beaches to appease Israeli settlers The Independent Archived from the original on 22 April 2019 Retrieved 29 January 2019 Makdisi Saree 2010 Palestine Inside Out An Everyday Occupation W W Norton amp Company ISBN 978 0 393 06996 9 Mansour Antoine 2015 The West Bank Economy 1948 1984 In Abed George T ed The Palestinian Economy Studies in Development under Prolonged Occupation Routledge pp 71 ISBN 978 1 317 59291 4 Nebehay Stephanie 1 February 2018 UN lists 206 companies with business ties to Israeli settlements in West Bank The Independent Nicoletti Claudia Hearne Anne Maria 2012 Pillage of the Dead Sea Israel s Unlawful Exploitation of Natural Resources in the Occupied Palestinian Territories Al Haq ISBN 978 9950 327 34 4 Niksic Orhan Eddin Nur Nasser Cali Massimiliano 2014 Area C and the Future of the Palestinian Economy World Bank Publications ISBN 978 1 4648 0196 9 Pappe Ilan 2017 The Biggest Prison on Earth A History of the Occupied Territories Oneworld Publications ISBN 978 1 780 74433 9 Perugini Nicola Spring 2014 The Moral Economy of Settler Colonialism Israel and the Evacuation Trauma PDF History of the Present 4 1 49 74 doi 10 5406 historypresent 4 1 0049 hdl 20 500 11820 f4047a5e f019 4992 ae9a 4619205d79b8 JSTOR 10 5406 historypresent 4 1 0049 Peteet Julie May 1996 The Writing on the Walls The Graffiti of the Intifada Cultural Anthropology 11 2 139 159 doi 10 1525 can 1996 11 2 02a00010 JSTOR 656446 S2CID 143605458 Schipper Friedrich T 2013 Holy Places Contested Heritrage Dealing with Cultural Heritage in the Region of Palestine from the Ottoman period until Today In Kila Joris D Zeidler James eds Cultural Heritage in the Crosshairs Brill pp 263 286 ISBN 978 90 04 25142 7 Slyomovics Susan Summer 1991 To Put One s Fingers in the Bleeding Wound Palestinian Theatre under Israeli Censorship The Drama Review 35 2 18 38 doi 10 2307 1146087 JSTOR 1146087 Tagar Zecharya Keinen Tamar Bromberg Gidon 2007 A Seeping Timebomb Pollution of the Mountain Aquifer by Sewage In Shuval Hillel Dweik Hassan eds Water Resources in the Middle East Israel Palestinian Water Issues From Conflict to Cooperation Springer Science amp Business Media pp 417 426 ISBN 978 3 540 69509 7 Tuma Elias H Darin Drabkin Haim 1978 The Economic Case for Palestine Croom Helm Unctad 21 July 2016 Economic Costs of the Israeli occupation for the Palestinian people PDF UNCTAD Van Arkadie Brian Winter 1977 The Impact of the Israeli Occupation on the Economies of the West Bank and Gaza Journal of Palestine Studies 6 2 103 129 doi 10 2307 2535505 JSTOR 2535505 Weizman Eyal 2012 Hollow Land Israel s Architecture of Occupation Verso Books ISBN 978 1 84467 915 7 World Bank 2 October 2013 West Bank and Gaza Area C and the Future of the Palestinian Economy PDF Report World Bank Archived PDF from the original on 1 August 2014 Summary West Bank and Gaza Area C and the future of the Palestinian economy English Yahya Adel H 2010 Heritage Appropriation in the Holy Land In Boytner Ran Dodd Lynn Swartz Parker Bradley J eds Controlling the Past Owning the Future The Political Uses of Archaeology in the Middle East University of Arizona Press pp 142 158 ISBN 978 0 8165 2795 3 Further readingAlbin Cecilia 2001 Justice and Fairness in International Negotiation Cambridge University Press ISBN 0 521 79725 X Bamberger David 1985 1994 A Young Person s History of Israel Behrman House ISBN 0 87441 393 1 Dowty Alan 2001 The Jewish State A Century Later University of California Press ISBN 0 520 22911 8 Eldar Akiva and Zertal Idith 2007 Lords of the land the war over Israel s settlements in the occupied territories 1967 2007 Nation Books ISBN 978 1 56858 414 0 Gibney Mark and Frankowski Stanislaw 1999 Judicial Protection of Human Rights Praeger Greenwood ISBN 0 275 96011 0 Gordon Neve 2008 Israel s Occupation University of California Press Berkeley CA ISBN 0 520 25531 3 Gorenberg Gershom The Accidental Empire Times Books Henry Holt and Company ISBN 0 8050 8241 7 2006 Howell Mark 2007 What Did We Do to Deserve This Palestinian Life under Occupation in the West Bank Garnet Publishing ISBN 1 85964 195 4 Oren Michael 2002 Six Days of War Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 515174 7 Playfair Emma Ed 1992 International Law and the Administration of Occupied Territories Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 825297 8 Shlaim Avi 2000 The Iron Wall Israel and the Arab World W W Norton amp Company ISBN 0 393 04816 0External linksWest Bank at Wikipedia s sister projects Definitions from Wiktionary Media from Commons News from Wikinews Quotations from Wikiquote Texts from Wikisource Textbooks from Wikibooks Resources from Wikiversity Travel information from Wikivoyage Statistical Atlas of Palestine Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics Global Integrity Report West Bank has governance and anti corruption profile West Bank The World Factbook Central Intelligence Agency Palestinian Territories at the United States Department of State Palestine from UCB Libraries GovPubs Palestine Facts amp Info from Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs United Nations Question of Palestine Disputed Territories Forgotten Facts about the West Bank and Gaza Strip from Israeli government s Ministry of Foreign Affairs West Bank at Curlie Large map of West Bank 2008 C I A Univ of Texas Austin Large map of West Bank 1992 A series of geopolitical maps of the West Bank 1988 Address to the Nation by King Hussein of Jordan Ceding Jordanian Claims to the West Bank to the PLO Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association establishing links between the North London Borough of Camden and the town of Abu Dis in the West Bank Map of Palestinian Refugee Camps 1993 UNRWA C I A Univ of Texas Austin Map of Israel 2008 C I A Univ of Texas Austin Map of Israeli Settlements in the West Bank Dec 1993 C I A Univ of Texas Austin Map of Israeli Settlements in the Gaza Strip Dec 1993 C I A Univ of Texas Austin Israeli Settlements interactive map and Israeli land use from The Guardian West Bank access restrictions map highly detailed by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Squeeze them out As Jewish settlements expand the Palestinians are being driven away 4 May 2013 The Economist Wikimedia Commons has media related to West Bank Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title West Bank amp oldid 1142066358, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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