View source for West Bank

{{Short description|Palestinian territory occupied by Israel}}
{{About|the geographic region|other uses|}}
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<!--Basic overview-->
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=March 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox country
| conventional_long_name = West Bank
| image_map              = West_Bank_in_Palestine_(%2Bclaimed).svg
| map_caption            = Location of the West Bank within the claimed territory of [[Palestine]]
| coordinates            = {{Coord|32|00|N|35|21|E|region:PS|display=inline,title}}
| religion               = [[Islam]], [[Judaism]], [[Christianity]], [[Samaritanism]]
| demonym                = 
| population_estimate    = 2,949,246{{efn|Over 670,000 [[Israeli settlement|Israeli settlers]] live in the West Bank as of 2022; approximately 227,100 Israeli settlers live in [[East Jerusalem]] as of 2019.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/west-bank/#people-and-society|title=West Bank|date=17 October 2023|publisher=[[Central Intelligence Agency]]|access-date=25 December 2021|archive-date=22 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210722231029/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/west-bank/#people-and-society|url-status=live}}</ref>}}
| population_estimate_year = 2021
| area_km2               = 5655
| population_density_km2 = 522
| currency               = [[Israeli new shekel|Israeli shekel]] (ILS)<br />[[Jordanian dinar]] (JOD)
| time_zone              = [[Palestine Standard Time]]
| utc_offset             = +2
| time_zone_DST          = [[Palestine Summer Time]]
| utc_offset_DST         = +3
| calling_code           = [[+970]], [[+972]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=About |url=https://www.972mag.com/about/ |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=+972 Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref>
| iso3166code            = PS
| status                 = * Claimed by [[Palestine]]{{efn|[[Palestine]] is [[International recognition of Palestine#Diplomatic recognitions|recognized by 157 members of the United Nations as well as the Holy See]].}}<ref>{{cite web|date=23 September 2011|title=Ban sends Palestinian application for UN membership to Security Council|url=https://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39722#.VfMZaZeM-ao|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151010151934/http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39722#.VfMZaZeM-ao|archive-date=10 October 2015|access-date=11 September 2015|publisher=United Nations News Centre}}</ref>
* Partially [[Palestinian government|administered]] by the [[Palestinian National Authority]] in [[Palestinian enclaves|Areas A and B]]<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/05/world/mideast-accord-overview-rabin-arafat-sign-accord-ending-israel-s-27-year-hold.html?pagewanted=all "Mideast accord: the overview; Rabin and Arafat sign accord ending Israel's 27-year hold on Jericho and the Gaza Strip"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201209052541/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/05/world/mideast-accord-overview-rabin-arafat-sign-accord-ending-israel-s-27-year-hold.html?pagewanted=all |date=9 December 2020 }}. Chris Hedges, ''[[The New York Times]]'', 5 May 1994.</ref>
* Under [[Israeli occupation of the West Bank|Israeli occupation]], which is illegal under [[international law]]<ref name="bbc.com">{{Cite web |date=2024-07-19 |title=ICJ says Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjerjzxlpvdo |access-date=2024-07-19 |website=[[BBC News Online|BBC News]] |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Roberts |first1=Adam |author-link=Adam Roberts (scholar) |year=1990 |title=Prolonged Military Occupation: The Israeli-Occupied Territories Since 1967 |url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8aaa/455b51d4c49285089a97a08496071e322877.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=[[American Journal of International Law|The American Journal of International Law]] |volume=84 |issue=1 |pages=85–86 |doi=10.2307/2203016 |jstor=2203016 |s2cid=145514740 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215100933/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8aaa/455b51d4c49285089a97a08496071e322877.pdf |archive-date=2020-02-15 |quote=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.|issn = 0002-9300}}</ref>
| common_languages       = [[Arabic]], [[Modern Hebrew|Hebrew]]
}}
The '''West Bank''' is on the western bank of the [[Jordan River]] and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the [[Gaza Strip]]) that make up the [[State of Palestine]]. A landlocked territory near the coast of the [[Mediterranean Sea]] in [[West Asia]]'s [[Levant]] region,<ref>{{Citation |title=West Bank |date=2022-09-27 |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/west-bank/ |work=The World Factbook |publisher=[[Central Intelligence Agency]]|access-date=2022-09-30 |archive-date=22 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210722231029/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/west-bank/ |url-status=live}}</ref> it is bordered by [[Jordan]] and the [[Dead Sea]] to the east and by [[Israel]] (via the [[Green Line (Israel)|Green Line]]) to the south, west, and north.<ref name=CIA /> Since 1967, the territory has been under [[Israeli occupation of the West Bank|Israeli occupation]], which has been [[Legality of the Israeli occupation of Palestine|regarded as illegal under the law of the international community]].<ref name="bbc.com">{{Cite web |date=2024-07-19 |title=ICJ says Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjerjzxlpvdo |access-date=2024-07-19 |website=[[BBC News Online|BBC News]] |language=en-GB}}</ref>

<!--History-->The territory first emerged in the wake of the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]] as a region occupied and subsequently [[Jordanian annexation of the West Bank|annexed]] by Jordan. Jordan ruled the territory until the 1967 [[Six-Day War]], when it was occupied by Israel. Since then, [[Israeli Civil Administration|Israel has administered]] the West Bank (except for [[East Jerusalem]], which was effectively annexed in 1980) as the [[Judea and Samaria Area]]. Jordan continued to claim the territory as its own until 1988. The mid-1990s [[Oslo Accords]] split the West Bank into [[West Bank Areas in the Oslo II Accord|three regional levels]] of Palestinian sovereignty, via the [[Palestinian National Authority]] (PNA): Area A (PNA), Area B (PNA and Israel), and [[Area C]] (Israel, comprising 60% of the West Bank). The PNA exercises total or partial civil administration over 165 [[Palestinian enclaves]] across the three areas. <!--In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict-->

The West Bank remains central to the [[Israeli–Palestinian conflict]]. The [[Palestinians]] consider it the heart of their envisioned state, along with the Gaza Strip. Right-wing and ideological<ref>{{Cite web |title=Palestine {{!}} History, People, Conflict, & Religion {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Palestine |access-date=2025-04-18 |website=[[Britannica.com|www.britannica.com]] |language=en}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=May 2025}} Israelis see it as their [[History of ancient Israel and Judah|ancestral homeland]], with numerous biblical sites. There is a push among some Israelis for [[Proposed Israeli annexation of the West Bank|partial or complete annexation]] of this land. Additionally, it is home to a rising number of Israeli settlers.<ref>{{Cite news |title=The A to Z of the Arab-Israeli conflict |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |url=https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2023/11/20/the-a-to-z-of-the-arab-israeli-conflict |access-date=2023-11-21 |issn=0013-0613 |archive-date=21 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231121124410/https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2023/11/20/the-a-to-z-of-the-arab-israeli-conflict |url-status=live }}</ref> Area C contains 230 [[Israeli settlement]]s where [[Israeli law in the West Bank settlements|Israeli law is applied]]. Under the Oslo Accords this area was to be mostly transferred to the PNA by 1997, but that did not occur.{{sfn|World Bank|2013|p=vii}} The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be illegal under [[international law]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Roberts |first1=Adam |author-link=Adam Roberts (scholar) |year=1990 |title=Prolonged Military Occupation: The Israeli-Occupied Territories Since 1967 |url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8aaa/455b51d4c49285089a97a08496071e322877.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=[[American Journal of International Law|The American Journal of International Law]] |volume=84 |issue=1 |pages=85–86 |doi=10.2307/2203016 |jstor=2203016 |s2cid=145514740 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215100933/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8aaa/455b51d4c49285089a97a08496071e322877.pdf |archive-date=2020-02-15 |quote=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.|issn = 0002-9300}}</ref><ref name="maj2">{{Cite book |last1=Pertile |first1=Marco |title=The Italian Yearbook of International Law |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Martinus Nijhoff Publishers]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-90-04-15027-0 |editor1-last=Conforti |editor1-first=Benedetto |volume=14 |page=141 |chapter='Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory': A Missed Opportunity for International Humanitarian Law? |quote=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. |editor2-last=Bravo |editor2-first=Luigi}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Barak-Erez |first1=Daphne |author-link=Daphne Barak Erez |year=2006 |title=Israel: The security barrier—between international law, constitutional law, and domestic judicial review |journal=[[International Journal of Constitutional Law]] |volume=4 |issue=3 |page=548 |doi=10.1093/icon/mol021 |quote=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. |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Drew |first1=Catriona |title=Human rights, self-determination and political change in the occupied Palestinian territories |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Martinus Nijhoff Publishers]] |year=1997 |isbn=978-90-411-0502-8 |editor-last=Bowen |editor-first=Stephen |series=International studies in human rights |volume=52 |pages=151–152 |chapter=Self-determination and population transfer |quote=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?}}</ref> Citing the 1980 law in which Israel claimed Jerusalem as its capital, the 1994 [[Israel–Jordan peace treaty]], and the Oslo Accords, a 2004 advisory ruling by the [[International Court of Justice]] (ICJ) concluded that the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, remains [[Israeli-occupied territory]].<ref name="FD2">{{cite book |last1=Domb |first1=Fania |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B1ZIIDeEc5AC&pg=PA511 |title=International Law and Armed Conflict: Exploring the Faultlines |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Martinus Nijhoff Publishers]] |year=2007 |isbn=978-90-04-15428-5 |page=511 |access-date=29 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230303182236/https://books.google.com/books?id=B1ZIIDeEc5AC&pg=PA511 |archive-date=3 March 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 2024 the ICJ again ruled that Israel's occupation of the West Bank is unlawful, adding that its conduct also violates the international prohibition on [[racial segregation]] and [[Israeli apartheid|apartheid]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Experts hail ICJ declaration on illegality of Israel's presence in the occupied Palestinian territory as "historic" for Palestinians and international law |url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/07/experts-hail-icj-declaration-illegality-israels-presence-occupied |access-date=2025-01-04 |website=[[Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights|OHCHR]] |language=en}}</ref>

<!--Statistics-->The West Bank has a land area of about {{Convert|5640|km2|abbr=off}}. It has an estimated population of 2,747,943 Palestinians and over 670,000 Israeli settlers, of which approximately 220,000 live in East Jerusalem.

==Names==

===West Bank===
The name ''West Bank'' is a translation of the [[Arabic]] term {{Transliteration|ar|aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah}} ({{langx|ar|الضفة الغربية}}), which designates the territory situated on the western side of the [[Jordan River]] that was [[1948 Arab–Israeli War|occupied in 1948]] and [[Jordanian annexation of the West Bank|annexed in 1950]] by the [[Jordan|Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan]]. This annexation was widely considered to be illegal, and was recognized only by [[Kingdom of Iraq|Iraq]], [[Dominion of Pakistan|Pakistan]], and the [[United Kingdom]].<ref>[[Eyal Benvenisti]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=JKgeX_sdQG0C&pg=PA204 ''The International Law of Occupation''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230303182236/https://books.google.com/books?id=JKgeX_sdQG0C&pg=PA204 |date=3 March 2023 }}, 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."</ref> In Hebrew this term is also used ({{langx|he|הַגָּדָה הַמַּעֲרָבִית|Hagada HaMa'aravit}}), although the territory is more often called [[Judea and Samaria]] ({{langx|he|יְהוּדָה וְשׁוֹמְרוֹן|translit=Yehuda VeShomron}}).

===Cisjordan===
Variations on the neo-[[Latin]] name ''Cisiordania'' ({{Literal translation|on this side of the River Jordan}}) are the usual names for the territory in [[Romance languages]], e.g. {{langx|es|Cisjordania}}, {{langx|pt|Cisjordânia}}, {{langx|fr|Cisjordanie}}, {{langx|it|Cisgiordania}}, and {{langx|ro|Cisiordania}}, and in some others, e.g. {{langx|eu|Zisjordania}}, {{langx|br|Sisjordania}}, {{langx|hu|Ciszjordánia}}, {{langx|gn|Sihorytáña}}, and {{langx|eo|Cisjordanio}}.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} The name of ''Cisjordan'' is also used by researchers and sometimes refers to the historical region of [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Grillo |first=Andrea |date=2023-12-06 |title=Behind the Conflict: Shaping Modern Palestine |url=https://www.deepinsecurity.com/behind-the-conflict-shaping-modern-palestine/ |access-date=2025-12-28 |website=Deep InSecurity |page="The area situated to the West of the Jordan River, referred to as Cisjordan or West Bank (from Latin Cis-Jordan, meaning on this side of the Jordan River), was designated as Palestine, intended to be the birthplace of the new Jewish state." |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Waters |first=Timothy William |url=https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1020&context=facpub |title=The Blessing of Departure: Acceptable and Unacceptable State Support for Demographic Transformation: The Lieberman Plan to Exchange Populated Territories in Cisjordan |publisher=Indiana University School of Law |year=2008 |page=5 : “Eretz Yisrael” seems as problematic a term for the land west of the Jordan River as “Palestine.” For convenience, I refer to “Cisjordan”; no political program is preferred or assumed by this. Palestine refers to a Palestinian entity or state while “Israel” refers to the state of Israel, whether in their present borders or not; neither necessarily refers to all of Cisjordan.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Masalha |first=Nur |author-link=Nur Masalha |url=https://ia601600.us.archive.org/14/items/Eng-books/Palestine%2C%20A%20Four%20Thousand%20Year%20History%20-%20-%20Nur%20Masalha.pdf |title=Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History |publisher=Z Books |year=2018 |page=64 : "Historically the name Cana’an was indeed used in the Late Bronze Age. But the name did not always refer to the Cisjordan area from Gaza to the Litani River. Nor was it the only term used in connection with this area (between the Wadi Gaza and the Litani). Other names such as Palestine, as well as earlier names, such as Retenu and Djahi, were also used for this area (including, at times, the inland regions of western Palestine and the Transjordan) at some point in the course of the Late Bronze Age. Cana’an referred to a geographical region of varying size, along the Mediterranean coast of Lebanon, Palestine and Syria (and not just Palestine). At times this included regions inland." |language=en}}</ref>

The name ''West Bank'', however, has become the standard usage for this geopolitical entity in [[English language|English]] and some of the other [[Germanic languages]] since its inception following the 1948 Jordanian capture.

The analogous ''[[Transjordan (region)|Transjordan]]'' ({{Literal translation|over the River Jordan}}) was historically used to designate the region now roughly comprising the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which lies to the east of the Jordan River.

==History==
{{See also|History of the ancient Levant|History of Palestine|Samaria#History|Judea#History}}
{{History of Palestine}}
From 1517 to 1917, the area now known as the West Bank was under [[Ottoman Empire|Turkish rule]], as part of [[Ottoman Syria]]. In the early Ottoman period, much of the northern West Bank, including the area of Jenin, and the hill country north of Nablus, formed part of the [[Turabay dynasty|Turabay Emirate]], a semi-autonomous Bedouin polity centered at [[Lajjun]]. The Turabay clan administered wide territories on behalf of the Ottoman sultans from the sixteenth to the seventeenth century, collecting taxes and overseeing security along key trade routes. Their authority reflected the empire’s reliance on local Arab elites to govern frontier districts, and the town of Lajjun became a regional administrative hub before its decline in the late seventeenth century.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Marom |first1=Roy |author-link1=Roy Marom |last2=Tepper |first2=Yotam |author-link2=Yotam Tepper |last3=Adams |first3=Matthew J. |author-link3=Matthew J. Adams |year=2025 |title=Al-Lajjun: A Social and Geographic Account of a Palestinian Village During the British Mandate Period |journal=British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies |volume=52 |issue=2 |pages=374–400 |doi=10.1080/13530194.2025.XXXXX |doi-broken-date=23 October 2025 }}</ref>

In the [[late Ottoman period]], the rural population of Palestine, including the West Bank hill country, expanded significantly. Villages grew in size, new hamlets were established, and peasants extended cultivation into previously marginal lands such as forests, marshes, and stony slopes. This process was part of a wider demographic recovery and agrarian commercialization in the region, which saw Palestinian peasants increasing grain production and integrating more fully into regional and international markets.<ref>{{cite book |last=Al-Salim |first=Farid |title=Palestine and the Decline of the Ottoman Empire: Modernization and the Path to Palestinian Statehood |publisher=I.B. Tauris / Bloomsbury |year=2015 |isbn=9781780764566}}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis |last=Marom |first=Roy |title=Dispelling Desolation: The Expansion of Arab Settlement in the Sharon Plain and the Western Part of Jabal Nablus, 1700–1948 |type=PhD dissertation |publisher=University of Haifa |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2vp7w3xr |author-link=Roy Marom |year=2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Doumani |first=Beshara |title=Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700–1900 |publisher=University of California Press |year=1995}}</ref>

[[File:Cave of the Patriarchs8.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|right|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&nbsp;I]] allocated the area to the [[Mandatory Palestine|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 of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]] proclaimed [[Abdullah I of Jordan|Abdullah&nbsp;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 designated as part of a proposed [[Arab state]] by the [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine|Partition Plan for Palestine]]. UN Resolution 181 recommended the splitting of the British Mandate into a [[Jewish state]], an Arab state, and an [[corpus separatum (Jerusalem)|internationally administered enclave of Jerusalem]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/0/7f0af2bd897689b785256c330061d253 |title=A/RES/181(II) of 29 November 1947 |publisher=United Nations |year=1947 |access-date=9 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120524094913/http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/0/7f0af2bd897689b785256c330061d253 |archive-date=24 May 2012}}</ref> 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]]",<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/GEN/NR0/038/88/IMG/NR003888.pdf?OpenElement |title=ODS HOME PAGE |website=documents-dds-ny.un.org |access-date=2020-02-16 |archive-date=16 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200216043837/https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/GEN/NR0/038/88/IMG/NR003888.pdf%3FOpenElement |url-status=live }}</ref> the area now known as the "West Bank", as part of the proposed Arab state. Following the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]], this area was captured by [[Jordan|Transjordan]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/his_transjordan.html |title=Jordan – History – The Making of Transjordan |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110921111449/http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/his_transjordan.html |archive-date=21 September 2011}}</ref>

===Jordanian West Bank===
{{further|Jordanian annexation of the West Bank|King Hussein's federation plan|Islamization of Jerusalem|Palestinians in Jordan}}
[[File:King Hussein flying over Temple Mount when it was under Jordanian control.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Hussein of Jordan|King Hussein]] flying over the [[Temple Mount]] in Jerusalem when it was under Jordanian control, 1965]]

During the 1948 war, Israel occupied parts of what was designated in the UN partition plan as "Palestine". The [[1949 Armistice Agreements]] defined the [[Green Line (Israel)|interim boundary]] between Israel and Jordan, essentially reflecting the battlefield after the war.<ref name="JordanIsraelArmistice1949">[https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/F03D55E48F77AB698525643B00608D34 General Armistice Agreement between the Hashemite Jordan Kingdom and Israel] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514030830/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/F03D55E48F77AB698525643B00608D34 |date=14 May 2011 }} UN Doc S/1302/Rev.1 3 April 1949</ref> 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.<ref name="digicoll.library.wisc.edu">[[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|978-0-231-12323-5}}, page 229. Records show that the United States de facto accepted the annexation without formally recognizing it. [http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?type=turn&entity=FRUS.FRUS1950v05.p0943&id=FRUS.FRUS1950v05&isize=M United States Department of State / Foreign relations of the United States, 1950. The Near East, South Asia, and Africa] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514153358/http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?type=turn&entity=FRUS.FRUS1950v05.p0943&id=FRUS.FRUS1950v05&isize=M |date=14 May 2011 }} pg. 921</ref><ref name=Silverburg>It is often stated that Pakistan recognized it as well, but that seems to be incorrect; see S. R. Silverburg, Pakistan and the West Bank: A research note, Middle Eastern Studies, 19:2 (1983) 261–263.</ref><ref>George Washington University. Law School (2005). The George Washington international law review. George Washington University. p. 390. Retrieved 21 December 2010. <q>Jordan's illegal occupation and Annexation of the West Bank</q></ref> [[Abdullah I of Jordan|King Abdullah of Jordan]] was crowned King of Jerusalem by the Coptic Bishop on 15 November 1948.<ref>Enrico Molinari,[https://books.google.com/books?id=hQaDrfuGw1YC&pg=PA92 ''The Holy Places of Jerusalem in Middle East Peace Agreements: The Conflict Between Global and State Identities,'']{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Sussex Academic Press, 2010 p.92.</ref> Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank, including [[East Jerusalem]], were granted Jordanian citizenship and half of the [[Parliament of Jordan|Jordanian Parliament]] seats, thus enjoying equal opportunities in all sectors of the state.<ref>[[Karen Armstrong|Armstrong, Karen]]. ''Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths''. New York: Ballantine Books, 1996. p. 387.</ref><ref name="jifa">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C9TkD3ugwEUC&pg=PA211LPG |title=Citizenship and the State in the Middle East: Approaches and Applications |access-date=18 October 2015 |author1=Nils August Butenschon |author2=Uri Davis |author3=Manuel Sarkis Hassassian |publisher=Syracuse University Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-8156-2829-3 |archive-date=7 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207212656/https://books.google.com/books?id=C9TkD3ugwEUC&pg=PA211lpg |url-status=live }}</ref>

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&nbsp;million. The last Jordanian elections in which West Bank residents voted in were those of April 1967. Their parliamentary representatives continued in office until 1988, when West Bank seats were abolished. Palestinians enjoyed equal opportunities in all sectors of the state without discrimination.<ref name="jifa" /> Agriculture remained the primary activity of the territory. The West Bank, despite its smaller area, contained half of Jordan's agricultural land.<ref name="auto2">{{cite web |url=http://www.rviewer.com/main/articles/Chapter8.html |title=Assessing the Viability of a Palestinian State |author=Paul H. Smith |date=July 1993 |publisher=Defense Intelligence College |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021208052428/http://www.rviewer.com/main/articles/Chapter8.html |archive-date=8 December 2002}}</ref>

In 1966, 43% of the labor force of 55,000 worked in agriculture, and 2,300&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> 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 was not surpassed until 1983.<ref name="auto2"/> The [[tourism]] industry played an important role. 26 branches of 8 Arab banks were present. The [[Jordanian dinar]] became legal tender and remains so until today.{{citation needed|date=December 2012}} 80% of Jordan's fruit-growing land and 40% of its vegetables lay in the West Bank. With the onset of the occupation, the area could no longer produce export earnings.{{sfn|Cooley|1984|p=13}}

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.{{sfn|Mansour|2015|pp=73–74}} Even 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.{{sfn|Unctad|2016|p=5}}

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.{{sfn|Unctad|2016|p=5}} The West Bank's population was 585,500,{{efn|According to Mansour, the population stood at 803,600,{{sfn|Mansour|2015|p=71}}}} 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.{{sfn|Tuma|Darin-Drabkin|1978|pp=47,50}} 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%.{{sfn|Van Arkadie|1977|p=104}}

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 [[Self-sustainability|economic self-reliance]].

===Israeli Military Governorate and Civil Administration===
{{main|Israeli Military Governorate|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 [[No man's land (West Bank)#Israel–Jordan|Israeli–Jordanian no man's land]], the West Bank was not annexed by Israel. It remained under [[Israeli Military Governorate|Israeli military control]] until 1982.

The [[1974 Arab League summit]] resolution at [[Rabat]] designated the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] (PLO) as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people". Jordan did not officially relinquish its claim to the area until 1988,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DWhgIe3Hq98C&pg=PA247 |title=The Palestine Yearbook of International Law 1987-1988 |editor=Anis F. Kassim |year=1988 |page=247 |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers |isbn=978-90-411-0341-3 |access-date=25 November 2015 |archive-date=3 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230303182150/https://books.google.com/books?id=DWhgIe3Hq98C&pg=PA247 |url-status=live }}</ref> when it severed all administrative and legal ties with the West Bank and eventually stripped West Bank Palestinians of Jordanian citizenship.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=asQryfnCVsEC&pg=PA196 |title=Israel, the Hashemites, and the Palestinians: The fateful triangle |editor=Efraim Karsh |editor2=P. R. Kumaraswamy |year=2003 |page=196 |isbn=978-0-7146-5434-8 |last1=Karsh |first1=Efraim |last2=Kumaraswamy |first2=P. R.|publisher=Psychology Press }}</ref>

In 1982, as a result of the [[Egypt–Israel peace treaty]], the direct military rule was transformed into a [[Israeli Civil Administration|semi-civil authority]], operating directly under the Israeli Ministry of Defense, taking control of civil matters of Palestinians from the IDF to civil servants in the Ministry of Defense. The Israeli settlements were administered 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 [[Palestinian enclaves|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 (West Bank)|Area C]], approximately 61%, is under full Israeli control. Though 164 nations refer to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as "[[Israeli-occupied territories|Occupied Palestinian Territory]]",<ref name="UNGeneva Convention">{{cite web |title=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 |publisher=United Nations |date=17 December 2003 |url=http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/97360ee7a29e68a085256df900723485/d6f5d7049734efff85256e1200677754 |access-date=27 September 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070603050844/http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/97360ee7a29e68a085256df900723485/d6f5d7049734efff85256e1200677754 |archive-date=3 June 2007}}</ref><ref name="ICRCGeneva Convention">{{cite web |title=Conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention: Statement by the International Committee of the Red Cross |publisher=[[International Committee of the Red Cross]] |date=5 December 2001 |url=http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/5fldpj.htm |access-date=27 September 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110207175611/http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/5fldpj.htm |archive-date=7 February 2011}}</ref> the state of Israel quotes the UN that only territories captured in war from "an established and recognized sovereign" are considered occupied territories.<ref name="GovILDisputed Territories">{{cite web |url=http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFA-Archive/2003/Pages/DISPUTED%20TERRITORIES-%20Forgotten%20Facts%20About%20the%20We.aspx |title=Disputed Territories: Forgotten Facts about the West Bank and Gaza Strip |publisher=Israeli government's Ministry of Foreign Affairs |access-date=5 June 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130821162131/http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFA-Archive/2003/Pages/DISPUTED%20TERRITORIES-%20Forgotten%20Facts%20About%20the%20We.aspx |archive-date=21 August 2013}}</ref>

After the [[Battle of Gaza (2007)|2007 split]] between [[Fatah]] and [[Hamas]], the West Bank areas under Palestinian control are an exclusive part of the Palestinian Authority. The [[Gaza Strip]] is [[Gaza Strip under Hamas|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."{{efn|"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."{{sfn|Gorenberg|2007|pp=81–83}}}} 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.{{sfn|Lein|Weizman|2002|pp=12–13}} Israel had no overall approach for integrating the West Bank.{{efn|[[Ilan Pappe]] holds a dissenting view, claiming that a Shacham Plan existed for the occupation and administration of the West Bank before 1967.{{sfn|Pappe|2017|p={{page needed|date=January 2021}}}}}}

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.{{sfn|Cohen|1985|p=245}}{{sfn|Van Arkadie|1977|pp=112–113}} By June 1967, only a third of West Bank land had been registered under Jordan's ''Settlement of Disputes over Land and Water Law''. In 1968, Israel moved to cancel the possibility of registering one's title with the Jordanian Land Register.{{sfn|Nicoletti|Hearne|2012|p=14}}

[[Ian Lustick]] states that Israel "virtually prevented" Palestinian investment in local industry and agriculture.{{sfn|Lustick|2018|p=11}} 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.{{sfn|Van Arkadie|1977|pp=104,111}} 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.{{sfn|Kadri|1998|p=518}}

As much as 40% of the workforce commuted to Israel on a daily basis finding only poorly paid menial employment.{{sfn|Bergman|2018|p=309}} Remittances from labourers earning a wage in Israel were the major factor in Palestinian economic growth during the 1969–73 boom years.{{sfn|Van Arkadie|1977|p=110}} 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.{{sfn|Van Arkadie|1977|pp=110–111}} The contrast between the quality of their lives and Israelis' growing prosperity stoked resentment.{{sfn|Bergman|2018|p=309}}

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.{{sfn|Quigley|2005|p=186}} Israeli milk producers exerted pressure on the [[Ministry of Economy (Israel)|Ministry for Industry and Trade]] to stop the establishment of a competitive dairy in [[Ramallah]].{{sfn|El-Farra|MacMillen|2000|p=161}}

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.{{sfn|El-Farra|MacMillen|2000|p=164}} Israeli [[Protectionism|protectionist policies]] 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.{{sfn|Kadri|1998|pp=517–518}}

===Legal status===
{{main|Israeli occupation of the West Bank|Legality of the Israeli occupation of Palestine}}

{{See also|Israeli apartheid|ICJ case on Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories|Judea and Samaria Area}}
[[File:1947-UN-Partition-Plan-1949-Armistice-Comparison.svg|thumb|upright=1.15|right|alt=Map comparing the borders of the 1947 partition plan and the armistice of 1949.|{{Partition Plan-Armistice Lines comparison map legend}}]]
From 1517 to 1917 the West Bank was part of the [[Ottoman Empire]]. Turkey, successor state to the Ottoman Empire, [[Treaty of Lausanne (1923)|renounced]] its territorial claims in 1923, signing the [[Treaty of Lausanne (1923)|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.<ref name=JQ2005>{{cite book |last1=Quigley |first1=John |title=The Case for Palestine An International Law Perspective |url=https://archive.org/details/caseforpalestine00quig |url-access=limited |year=2005 |publisher=Duke University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/caseforpalestine00quig/page/n12 15]}}</ref> 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#The Ottoman Land Code (as used in Palestine)|Ottoman Land Code of 1858]]), applying these laws to both Arab and Jewish legal tenants or otherwise.<ref>''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."</ref> 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 [[Jordanian annexation of the West Bank|annexed it in 1950]].<ref name="digicoll.library.wisc.edu"/>

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]],<ref>[[UN Security Council Resolution 446|Resolution 446]], [[UN Security Council Resolution 465|Resolution 465]], Resolution 484, among others</ref> the [[United Nations General Assembly]],<ref name="UNGeneva Convention"/> the United States,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001/nea/8262.htm |title=Israel and the occupied territories |publisher=State.gov |date=4 March 2002 |access-date=3 October 2010 |archive-date=18 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418160939/https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001/nea/8262.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> the EU,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/countries-and-regions/countries/occupied-palestinian-territory/ |title=Palestine – Trade – European Commission |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715070820/http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/countries-and-regions/countries/occupied-palestinian-territory/ |archive-date=15 July 2014}}</ref> the [[International Court of Justice]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory |publisher=[[International Court of Justice]] |date=9 July 2004 |url=http://domino.un.org/UNISPAl.NSF/85255e950050831085255e95004fa9c3/3740e39487a5428a85256ecc005e157a |access-date=27 September 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070828174856/http://domino.un.org/UNISPAl.NSF/85255e950050831085255e95004fa9c3/3740e39487a5428a85256ecc005e157a |archive-date=28 August 2007}}</ref> and the [[International Committee of the Red Cross]]<ref name="ICRCGeneva Convention"/> 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/d9d90d845776b7af85256d08006f3ae9/a2c2938216b39de485256ea70070c849?OpenDocument |title=UN Resolution 58/292 (17 May 2004) |publisher=United Nations |quote=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 |access-date=22 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510095509/http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/d9d90d845776b7af85256d08006f3ae9/a2c2938216b39de485256ea70070c849?OpenDocument |archive-date=10 May 2011}}</ref>

The [[International Court of Justice]] (ICJ) and the [[Supreme Court of Israel]] have ruled that the status of the West Bank is that of military occupation.<ref name=FD>{{cite book |last1=Domb |first1=Fania |title=International Law and Armed Conflict: Exploring the Faultlines |year=2007 |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers |isbn=978-90-04-15428-5 |page=511 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B1ZIIDeEc5AC&pg=PA511 |access-date=29 October 2020 |archive-date=3 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230303182236/https://books.google.com/books?id=B1ZIIDeEc5AC&pg=PA511 |url-status=live }}</ref> In its 2004 advisory opinion the International Court of Justice concluded that:

{{Blockquote|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.<ref name=FD/><ref name=ICJ2004>{{cite book |title=Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Advisory Opinion, I. C. J. Reports |year=2004 |publisher=International Court of Justice |isbn=978-92-1-070993-4 |page=136}}</ref>}}

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

{{Blockquote|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.<ref name=FD/><ref name=BietSourik>{{cite web |title=Beit Sourik Village Council v. 1.The Government of Israel 2.Commander of the IDF Forces in the West Bank |url=http://elyon1.court.gov.il/Files_ENG/04/560/020/A28/04020560.A28.HTM |publisher=The Supreme Court Sitting as the High Court of Justice |access-date=8 May 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121218130109/http://elyon1.court.gov.il/files_eng/04/560/020/A28/04020560.a28.htm |archive-date=18 December 2012}}</ref>}}

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 argues that the West Bank was not captured in war because it was not under the legitimate [[Sovereign state|sovereignty]] of any state prior to the Six-Day War (when it was occupied by Israel).<ref name="GovILDisputed Territories"/>

The [[International Court of Justice]] advisory opinion 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''.<ref>[http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/131/1671.pdf Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706021237/http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/131/1671.pdf |date=6 July 2010 }}, see paragraphs 90–101 and p.5</ref> The international community regards the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) as territories occupied by Israel.<ref>[https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/007/2009/en/ Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territories: The conflict in Gaza: A briefing on applicable law, investigations and accountability] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150415160014/https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/007/2009/en/ |date=15 April 2015 }}, Amnesty International. 19 January 2009. Retrieved 5 June 2009; [http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/06/isrlpa13698.htm Human Rights Council Special Session on the Occupied Palestinian Territories] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081015172833/http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/06/isrlpa13698.htm |date=15 October 2008 }} Human Rights Watch, 6 July 2006; [http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/06/israel.gaza.occupation.question/index.html Is Gaza 'occupied' territory?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090121084340/http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/06/israel.gaza.occupation.question/index.html |date=21 January 2009 }} CNN, 6 January 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-30.</ref>

In 2024, the ICJ reaffirmed in an [[advisory opinion]] that Israel's military occupation of the West Bank (along with the Gaza strip and East Jerusalem) is unlawful. The opinion added that Israel's "legislation and measures violate the international prohibition on [[racial segregation]] and [[Israeli apartheid|apartheid]]."<ref name=":1" />

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.<ref>[http://www.bbcgovernorsarchive.co.uk/docs/reviews/lubell_law_report.pdf Independent law report commissioned by the BBC Board of Governors] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110504022016/http://www.bbcgovernorsarchive.co.uk/docs/reviews/lubell_law_report.pdf |date=4 May 2011 }}, BBC Governors' Archive, February 2006 (pages 48–50)</ref>

As of June 2024, 146 (75.6%) of the 193 member states of the [[United Nations]] have [[International recognition of Palestine|recognised]] the [[State of Palestine]]<ref>Evan Centanni,
[http://www.polgeonow.com/2013/11/map-palestine-recognized-two-more-countries.html Map: Palestine Recognized by Two More Countries (134/193)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202165158/http://www.polgeonow.com/2013/11/map-palestine-recognized-two-more-countries.html |date=2 February 2014 }} Political Geography Now, 2 November 2013</ref> within the [[Palestinian territories]], which are recognized by Israel to constitute a single territorial unit,<ref>[http://www.reut-institute.org/Publication.aspx?PublicationId=1095 'West Bank and Gaza Strip as a Single Territorial Unit,'] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140924042001/http://www.reut-institute.org/Publication.aspx?PublicationId=1095 |date=24 September 2014 }} Reut Institute.</ref><ref>[http://www.europeanforum.net/country/palestinian_territories 'Palestinian Territories,'] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090603113808/http://www.europeanforum.net/country/palestinian_territories |date=3 June 2009 }} European Forum for Democracy and Solidarity, 31 January 2014</ref> and of which the West Bank is the core of the would-be state.<ref>[https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21603478-aside-israels-fears-palestinian-reconciliation-has-long-way-go 'An awkward new government,'] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701194436/http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21603478-aside-israels-fears-palestinian-reconciliation-has-long-way-go |date=1 July 2017 }} [[The Economist]] 7 June 2014.</ref> 
[[File:Jericho from above.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|right|City of [[Jericho]], West Bank]]

===Political status===
{{Main|Status of territories occupied by Israel in 1967}}

[[File:Bush abbas presidential guard.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|right|U.S. President [[George W. Bush|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 on the Middle East|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 [[history of the State of Palestine]]). 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''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3464.htm |title=Jordan (03/08) |publisher=State.gov |access-date=9 October 2008 |archive-date=4 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190604185040/https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3464.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/t/pm/64711.htm |title=Israel |publisher=State.gov |access-date=9 October 2008 |archive-date=6 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090206082956/http://2001-2009.state.gov/t/pm/64711.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2007/90212.htm#OT |title=Israel and the Occupied Territories |date=14 September 2007 |publisher=State.gov |access-date=9 October 2008 |archive-date=25 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225221837/https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2007/90212.htm#OT |url-status=live }}</ref>

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",<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4382343.stm 'US will accept Israel settlements'] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312191029/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4382343.stm |date=12 March 2007 }}, BBC News Online, 25 March 2005.</ref> reflecting [[George W. Bush|President Bush]]'s statement a year earlier that a permanent peace treaty would have to reflect "demographic realities" on the West Bank.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4445839.stm 'UN Condemns Israeli settlements'] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060822064952/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4445839.stm |date=22 August 2006 }}, BBC News Online, 14 April 2005.</ref> 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.<ref name=CNNObama>{{cite news |last1=Cohen |first1=Tom |title=Obama calls for Israel's return to pre-1967 borders |url=https://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/05/19/obama.israel.palestinians/index.html |access-date=11 May 2012 |publisher=CNN|date=19 May 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120501083901/http://articles.cnn.com/2011-05-19/politics/obama.israel.palestinians_1_israel-palestinian-conflict-borders-settlements?_s=PM:POLITICS |archive-date=1 May 2012}}</ref><ref name=HzObama>{{cite news |last1=Mozgovaya |first1=Natasha |title=Obama to AIPAC: 1967 borders reflect long-standing U.S. policy |url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/obama-to-aipac-1967-borders-reflect-long-standing-u-s-policy-1.363351 |access-date=11 May 2012 |newspaper=Haaretz |date=22 May 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120516115436/http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/obama-to-aipac-1967-borders-reflect-long-standing-u-s-policy-1.363351 |archive-date=16 May 2012}}</ref>

In December 2016, [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334|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]].<ref name=resolution_text>{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/press/en/2016/sc12657.doc.htm |title=Israel's Settlements Have No Legal Validity, Constitute Flagrant Violation of International Law, Security Council Reaffirms: 14 Delegations in Favour of Resolution 2334 (2016) as United States Abstains |publisher=United Nations |date=23 December 2016 |access-date=25 December 2016 |archive-date=22 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200222235715/https://www.un.org/press/en/2016/sc12657.doc.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=BBC>{{cite news |title=Israeli settlements: UN Security Council calls for an end |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38421026 |access-date=23 December 2016 |publisher=BBC News |date=23 December 2016 |archive-date=26 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161226190109/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38421026 |url-status=live }}</ref> The United States abstained from the vote.<ref name=powers_statement>{{cite web |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/full-text-of-us-envoy-samantha-powers-speech-after-abstention-on-anti-settlement-vote/ |title=Full text of US envoy Samantha Power's speech after abstention on anti-settlement vote |website=[[The Times of Israel]] |date=23 December 2016 |access-date=24 December 2016 |archive-date=24 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161224143533/http://www.timesofisrael.com/full-text-of-us-envoy-samantha-powers-speech-after-abstention-on-anti-settlement-vote/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=BBC/>

In 2020, President [[Donald Trump]] unveiled a [[2020 Trump Israel–Palestine plan|peace plan]], radically different from previous peace plans. The plan failed to gain support.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/28/world/middleeast/peace-plan.html |title=Trump Releases Mideast Peace Plan That Strongly Favors Israel |first1=Michael |last1=Crowley |first2=David M. |last2=Halbfinger |newspaper=The New York Times |date=28 January 2020 |access-date=1 April 2022 |archive-date=26 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200226003653/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/28/world/middleeast/peace-plan.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2021/05/25/trump-accords-between-israel-arab-nations-tested-gaza-conflict/5078845001/ |title=Trump touted the Abraham Accords as a 'new dawn' for the Middle East. 9 months later, Gaza erupted. |first=Courtney |last=Subramanian |website=USA Today |access-date=1 April 2022 |archive-date=16 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210616072903/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2021/05/25/trump-accords-between-israel-arab-nations-tested-gaza-conflict/5078845001/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

West Bank was ranked 10th most electoral [[democracy in the Middle East and North Africa]] according to [[V-Dem Democracy indices]] in 2024 with a score of 0.254 out of one.<ref name="report">[https://v-dem.net/documents/43/v-dem_dr2024_lowres.pdf Democracy Report 2024, Varieties of Democracy]</ref>

{{Anchor|Geography}}
==Geography==
[[File:Judean Hills from Ramallah.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|right|View of the [[Judaean Mountains]] from [[Ramallah]]]]
The West Bank has an area of {{Convert|5628 or 5,640|km2|abbr=off}}, which comprises 21.2% of former Mandatory Palestine (excluding Jordan)<ref name=Arnon>{{cite journal |last=Arnon |first=Arie |date=Autumn 2007 |pages=573–595 [575] |url=http://www.econ.bgu.ac.il/facultym/arnona/Israeli_Policy_towards_the_Occupied_Palestinian_Territories_The_Economic_Dimension_1967-2007.pdf |title=Israeli Policy towards the Occupied Palestinian Territories: The Economic Dimension, 1967–2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130630142150/http://www.econ.bgu.ac.il/facultym/arnona/Israeli_Policy_towards_the_Occupied_Palestinian_Territories_The_Economic_Dimension_1967-2007.pdf |archive-date=30 June 2013 |journal=Middle East Journal |volume=61 |issue=4 |doi=10.3751/61.4.11}}</ref> and has generally rugged mountainous terrain. The total length of the land boundaries of the region are {{cvt|404|km|0|abbr=off}}.<ref name=CIA/> 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, Palestine|Mount Nabi Yunis]], at 1,030&nbsp;m (3,379&nbsp;ft) [[Above mean sea level|above sea level]].<ref>{{cite web |date=24 March 2007 |url=http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=1033 |access-date=14 October 2012 |title=A house demolished, three others threatened in the town of Halhul |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070527225642/http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=1033 |archive-date=27 May 2007 |publisher=Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem & Land Research Center}}</ref> The West Bank is landlocked; its highlands are the main recharge area for Israel's coastal aquifers.<ref name=CIA/>

The West Bank has {{Convert|220|km2|abbr=on}} of water area, consisting of the northwestern quarter of the Dead Sea.

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%).<ref name=CIA/> Forests and woodland comprise just 1%, with no permanent crops.<ref name=CIA/>

===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 [[Judaean Desert|Judean Desert]] and the shoreline of the Dead Sea – both with dry and hot climate.

In the most highly elevated areas in the northwest, annual rainfall is more than 27 inches (685&nbsp;mm). This declines in the southwest and southeast to less than 4 inches (100&nbsp;mm). Hilly terrains are used for sheep grazing and cultivating olives, cereals and fruits. The Jordan River valley is also cultivated for various fruits and vegetables.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-11-02 |title=West Bank {{!}} History, Population, Map, Settlements, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/West-Bank |access-date=2023-11-03 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica|archive-date=22 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422014625/https://www.britannica.com/place/West-Bank |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Government and politics==
{{Main|Government of Palestine}}

===Political administration===
{{main|West Bank Areas in the Oslo II Accord}}

{{Administration in the Palestine region}}

====Palestinian enclaves====
{{main|Palestinian enclaves|Palestinian National Authority}}

[[File:Settlements2006.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|right|A 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 [[West Bank Areas in the Oslo II Accord|Areas]]:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Area!!Security!!Civil Admin!!% of WB<br />land!!% of WB<br />Palestinians
|-
|A||Palestinian||Palestinian||18%||55%
|-
|B||Israeli||Palestinian||21%||41%
|-
|[[Area C (West Bank)|C]]||Israeli||Israeli||61%||4%<ref>{{cite web |url=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/World/palest.htm |title=JURIST – Palestinian Authority: Palestinian law, legal research, human rights |publisher=Jurist.law.pitt.edu |access-date=9 October 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805032025/http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/world/palest.htm |archive-date=5 August 2011}}</ref>
|}

Area A, 2.7% of the West Bank under 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 (city)|Tubas]], and [[Tulkarm]]), the south (around [[Hebron]]), and one in the center south of [[Salfit]].<ref name="Oslo 2">{{cite web |last1=Gvirtzman |first1=Haim |title=Maps of Israeli Interests in Judea and Samaria Determining the Extent of the Additional Withdrawals |date=8 February 1998 |url=http://www.biu.ac.il/Besa/books/maps.htm |access-date=1 September 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130506141747/http://www.biu.ac.il/Besa/books/maps.htm |archive-date=6 May 2013}}</ref> Area B, 25.2% of the area of the terriroty, adds what was the contemporary  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 {{cvt|2|km2|sqmi|0|sp=us}}) that are separated from one another by Israeli-controlled Area C.
<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.prb.org/Articles/2002/TheWestBankandGazaAPopulationProfile.aspx |title=The West Bank and Gaza: A Population Profile – Population Reference Bureau |publisher=Prb.org |access-date=9 October 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081025203542/http://www.prb.org/Articles/2002/TheWestBankandGazaAPopulationProfile.aspx |archive-date=25 October 2008}}</ref> Areas A, B, and C cross the 11 [[Governorates of the Palestinian National Authority|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,<ref>[[Jonathan Cook]], [http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/world-bank-report-is-a-message-against-israeli-occupation 'World Bank report is a message against Israeli occupation,'] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017024400/http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/world-bank-report-is-a-message-against-israeli-occupation |date=17 October 2013 }} The National, 15 October 2013,</ref> 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.<ref>Ron Pundak [https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/decoding-bibi-s-west-bank-agenda.premium-1.455265 'Decoding Bibi's West Bank agenda,'] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120803033617/http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/decoding-bibi-s-west-bank-agenda.premium-1.455265 |date=3 August 2012 }} at [[Haaretz]], 3 August 2012.</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.btselem.org/English/Publications/Summaries/200205_Land_Grab.asp |title=B'Tselem – Publications – Land Grab: Israel's Settlement Policy in the West Bank, May 2002 |publisher=Btselem.org |access-date=9 October 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006161118/http://www.btselem.org/english/publications/summaries/200205_land_grab.asp |archive-date=6 October 2008}}</ref> 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.<ref name=AUS2922p4>{{harvnb|World Bank|2013|p=4}}. "Less than 1 percent of Area C, which is already built up, is designated by the Israeli authorities for Palestinian use; the remainder is heavily restricted or off-limits to Palestinians, 13 with 68 percent reserved for Israeli settlements, 14 c. 21 percent for closed military zones, 15 and c. 9 percent for nature reserves (approximately 10 percent of the West Bank, 86 percent of which lies in Area C). These areas are not mutually exclusive, and overlap in some cases. In practice it is virtually impossible for Palestinians to obtain construction permits for residential or economic purposes, even within existing Palestinian villages in Area C: the application process has been described by an earlier World Bank report (2008) as fraught with "ambiguity, complexity and high cost"."</ref><ref name=IllegalSettlements-C>{{cite news |quote=Arab illegal construction is 16 times that of Jews, per person (..) The NGO Regavim presented the committee with aerial photographs that show that the PA is systematically encouraging illegal construction in the area next to Jerusalem. The construction is funded by EU states, in contravention of the law and previous agreements (..) PA works day and night to take over state land. |last1=Ronen |first1=Gil |title=2014: Arabs Built 550 Illegal Structures in Area C Alone |url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/188349 |access-date=7 December 2014 |publisher=Arutz Sheva |date=7 December 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141210011404/http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/188349 |archive-date=10 December 2014}}</ref>

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 [[West Bank barrier|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.<ref name="OCHAoPtHumanitarianImpact">{{cite web |url=http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/TheHumanitarianImpactOfIsraeliInfrastructureTheWestBank_full.pdf |title=The Humanitarian Impact on Palestinians of Israeli Settlements and Other Infrastructure in the West Bank |publisher=UN [[Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs]] – Occupied Palestinian Territory |access-date=9 April 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326021132/http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/TheHumanitarianImpactOfIsraeliInfrastructureTheWestBank_full.pdf |archive-date=26 March 2009}}</ref>

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 [[Israel]]i authorities, with the security forces of the PA and Hamas being responsible for torture, arrests and arbitrary detentions.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mcquaid |first1=Elwood |url=https://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=224143 |title=PA bans journalists from reporting human rights abuses |work=The Jerusalem Post |date=8 July 2010 |access-date=31 July 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805020106/http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=224143 |archive-date=5 August 2011}}</ref>

====Area annexed by Israel====
{{main|East Jerusalem}}

[[File:Greater Jerusalem May 2006 CIA remote-sensing map 3500px.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|right|[[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.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Quiet Deportation: Revocation of Residency of East Jerusalem Palestinians |author=Yael Stein |publisher=Joint report by [[Hamoked]] and [[B'Tselem]] |date=April 1997 |url=http://www.btselem.org/Download/199704_Quiet_Deportation_Eng.doc |type={{DOClink}} |access-date=27 September 2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060928061451/http://www.btselem.org/Download/199704_Quiet_Deportation_Eng.doc |archive-date=28 September 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Quiet Deportation: Revocation of Residency of East Jerusalem Palestinians (Summary) |author=Yael Stein |publisher=Joint report by [[Hamoked]] and [[B'Tselem]] |date=April 1997 |url=http://www.btselem.org/English/Publications/Summaries/199704_Quiet_Deportation.asp |access-date=27 September 2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060628220355/http://www.btselem.org/English/Publications/Summaries/199704_Quiet_Deportation.asp |archive-date=28 June 2006}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Legal status of East Jerusalem and its residents |publisher=[[B'Tselem]] |url=http://www.btselem.org/english/Jerusalem/Legal_Status.asp |access-date=27 September 2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061010085544/http://www.btselem.org/English/Jerusalem/Legal_Status.asp |archive-date=10 October 2006}}</ref> There are various possible reasons as to why the West Bank had not been annexed to Israel after its [[Six-Day War|capture in 1967]].<ref name="MBard">[[Mitchell Bard]]. {{cite web |title=Our Positions: Solving the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict |publisher=[[Free Muslim Coalition Against Terrorism]] |url=http://www.freemuslims.org/issues/israel-palestine.php |access-date=27 September 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061012015516/http://www.freemuslims.org/issues/israel-palestine.php |archive-date=12 October 2006}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Bard">[[Mitchell Bard]]{{full citation needed|date=January 2021}}</ref><ref name="Bamberger">{{cite book |author=David Bamberger |title=A Young Person's History of Israel |publisher=Behrman House |orig-year=1985 |year=1994 |location=USA |page=128 |isbn=978-0-87441-393-9}}</ref>
*To ultimately exchange [[land for peace]] with neighbouring states<ref name="Bard"/><ref name="Bamberger"/>
*Fear that the population of ethnic Arabs, including Israeli citizens of Palestinian ethnicity, would outnumber the Jewish Israelis west of the Jordan River.<ref name="MBard"/><ref name="Bard"/>
*The disputed legality of [[annexation]] under the [[Fourth Geneva Convention]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/07/22/2740184/carter-center-calls-for-end-to-east-jerusalem-deportations |title=Carter Center calls for end to Jerusalem deportations &#124; JTA – Jewish & Israel News |publisher=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |date=22 July 2010 |access-date=3 October 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100726081628/http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/07/22/2740184/carter-center-calls-for-end-to-east-jerusalem-deportations |archive-date=26 July 2010}}</ref>
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."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/sep/15/comment |title=The end of Zionism |author=Avraham Burg |work=The Guardian |location=London |date=15 September 2003 |access-date=8 September 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130827133259/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/sep/15/comment |archive-date=27 August 2013}}</ref>

====Area C and Israeli settlements====
{{Main|Area C (West Bank)|International law and Israeli settlements}}

[[File:West Bank Access Restrictions (United Nations OCHA oPt) May 2023 01.pdf|thumb|upright=1.15|right|Map of [[Israeli settlement]]s and [[Area C (West Bank)|Area C]] (magenta and blue), 2023]]

As of 2022, there are over 450,000 [[Israeli settlement|Israeli settlers]] living in 132 [[Israeli settlement]]s in the West Bank excluding East Jerusalem, with an additional 220,000 Jewish settlers residing in 12 settlements in [[East Jerusalem]].<ref name=":52">{{Cite web |title=Population |url=https://peacenow.org.il/en/settlements-watch/settlements-data/population |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220611210642/https://peacenow.org.il/en/settlements-watch/settlements-data/population |archive-date=11 June 2022 |access-date=2022-06-01 |website=Peace Now}}</ref><ref name=":42">{{Cite web |last=Role |first=Iran's Regional |title=Israel's Rush to 'Apply Sovereignty' in the West Bank: Timing and Potential Consequences |url=https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/israels-rush-apply-sovereignty-west-bank-timing-and-potential-consequences |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220519193524/https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/israels-rush-apply-sovereignty-west-bank-timing-and-potential-consequences |archive-date=19 May 2022 |access-date=2022-06-01 |website=The Washington Institute}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=November 2023}} In addition, there are over 140 [[Israeli outpost]]s 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 "[[Israeli outpost|illegal outposts]]".<ref name="btselem">{{cite web |url=https://www.btselem.org/settlements |title=Settlements, B'Tselem |publisher=B'Tselem |access-date=2020-07-10 |archive-date=24 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724232206/https://www.btselem.org/settlements |url-status=live }}</ref>

As a result of [[Israeli law in the West Bank settlements|the application of Israeli law in the settlements ("Enclave law")]], large portions of Israeli [[Civil law (legal system)|civil law]] are applied to Israeli settlements and to Israelis living in the [[Israeli-occupied territories]].<ref name="Ben-NaftaliSfard2018">{{cite book |author1=Orna Ben-Naftali |author2=Michael Sfard |author3=Hedi Viterbo |title=The ABC of the OPT: A Legal Lexicon of the Israeli Control over the Occupied Palestinian Territory |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Is5TDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA52 |date=10 May 2018 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-15652-4 |pages=52– |access-date=15 October 2018 |archive-date=3 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230303182234/https://books.google.com/books?id=Is5TDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA52 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The international consensus is that all Israeli settlements on the West Bank are illegal under international law.<ref>{{cite book |editor=Emma Playfair |title=International Law and the Administration of Occupied Territories: Two Decades of Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1992 |location=USA |page=396 |isbn=978-0-19-825297-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Cecilia Albin |title=Justice and Fairness in International Negotiation |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2001 |location=Cambridge |page=150 |isbn=978-0-521-79725-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Mark Gibney |author2=Stanlislaw Frankowski |title=Judicial Protection of Human Rights: Myth or Reality? |publisher=Praeger/Greenwood |year=1999 |location=Westport, Connecticut |page=72 |isbn=978-0-275-96011-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite newspaper The Times|title=Plia Albeck: Lawyer whose advice underpinned Israel's controversial settlements policy in the West Bank |date=5 October 2005 |page=71 |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/plia-albeck-7q6lxlm0lmh | quote=All Israeli settlements on the West Bank beyond the Green Line border are considered illegal under international law. But Albeck, as head of the Civil Department of the State Attorney's Office, determined that 1.5 million ''dunums'', or 26 per cent of the land in the region, was state land that could be used for building settlements. She thus became the legal architect of Israel's massive settlement programme under the prime ministers Menahem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir in the 1980s. At her peak Albeck, rather than the Attorney-General, signed the documents that determined whether land was privately owned or could be taken over by the Government.}}</ref> In 2002, the [[European Union]] as a whole found all Israeli settlement activities to be illegal.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ue.eu.int/uedocs/cms_data/docs/2004/12/22/%7B3FA161D9-6DA6-408F-85CE-20D0EC68DDFF%7D.pdf |title=EU Committee Report |access-date=19 April 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614203022/http://ue.eu.int/uedocs/cms_data/docs/2004/12/22/%7B3FA161D9-6DA6-408F-85CE-20D0EC68DDFF%7D.pdf |archive-date=14 June 2007|quote=The EU continues to oppose Israeli settlement activities in the Occupied Territories as being illegal under international law}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dromi |first1=Shai M. |title=Uneasy Settlements: Reparation Politics and the Meanings of Money in the Israeli Withdrawal from Gaza |journal=Sociological Inquiry |year=2014 |volume=84 |issue=1 |doi=10.1111/soin.12028 |pages=294–315 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/976461 |access-date=29 June 2019 |archive-date=26 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026163232/https://zenodo.org/record/976461 |url-status=live }}</ref> The majority of legal scholars hold the settlements to violate international law;<ref name="maj2"/> however, some others, including [[Julius Stone]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aijac.org.au/news/article/international-law-and-the-arab-israel-conflict |title=International Law and the Arab Israel Conflict |editor=Ian Lacey |author=Julius Stone |date=13 October 2003 |quote=Extracts from ''Israel and Palestine – Assault on the Law of Nations'' |publisher=[[AIJAC]] |access-date=4 February 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111124001631/http://www.aijac.org.au/news/article/international-law-and-the-arab-israel-conflict |archive-date=24 November 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/the-illegal-settlements-myth/ |title=The Illegal-Settlements Myth |author=David M. Phillips |journal=[[Commentary (magazine)|Commentary]] |date=December 2009 |issue=December 2009 |access-date=4 February 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20120206204134/http://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/the-illegal-settlements-myth/ |archive-date=6 February 2012}}</ref> [[Eugene Rostow]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tzemachdovid.org/Facts/islegal1.shtml |title=Resolved: are the settlements legal? Israeli West Bank policies |publisher=Tzemachdovid.org |access-date=9 October 2008 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080915102140/http://www.tzemachdovid.org/Facts/islegal1.shtml |archive-date=15 September 2008}}</ref> and [[Eugene Kontorovich]],<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kontorovich |first1=Eugene |date=20 November 2019 |title="Israeli settlements in the West Bank do not violate international law," according to Eugene Kontorovich |url=https://www.law.gmu.edu/news/2019/israeli_settlements_do_not_violate_international_law_according_to_eugene_kontorovich |publisher=George Mason University Scalia Law School |access-date=6 March 2025}}</ref> have argued that they are legal under international law.<ref>{{cite news |title=FAQ on Israeli settlements |publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC News]] |date=26 February 2004 |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/middleeast/settlements.html |access-date=27 September 2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070605085401/http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/middleeast/settlements.html |archive-date=5 June 2007}}</ref>

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".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israelis-were-warned-on-illegality-of-settlements-in-1967-memo-469443.html |title=Israelis were warned on illegality of settlements in 1967 memo |author=Donald Macintyre |date=11 March 2006 |newspaper=The Independent |location=London |page=27 |access-date=4 February 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120909101149/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israelis-were-warned-on-illegality-of-settlements-in-1967-memo-469443.html |archive-date=9 September 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0311-06.htm |title=Israelis Were Warned on Illegality of Settlements in 1967 Memo |publisher=Commondreams.org |access-date=9 October 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515194230/http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0311-06.htm |archive-date=15 May 2008}}</ref><ref>[[Gershom Gorenberg|Gorenberg, Gershom]]. "The Accidental Empire". New York: Times Books, Henry Holt and Company, 2006. p. 99.</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news |first=Theodor |last=Meron |title=The West Bank and International Humanitarian Law on the Eve of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Six-Day War |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-journal-of-international-law/article/west-bank-and-international-humanitarian-law-on-the-eve-of-the-fiftieth-anniversary-of-the-sixday-war/E1D4F9F5B3C43C943D9C3F31EABF79B3 |work=American Journal of International Law |date=10 May 2017 |accessdate=30 July 2022 |archive-date=30 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730134921/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-journal-of-international-law/article/west-bank-and-international-humanitarian-law-on-the-eve-of-the-fiftieth-anniversary-of-the-sixday-war/E1D4F9F5B3C43C943D9C3F31EABF79B3 |url-status=live }}</ref>

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 [[Fourth Geneva Convention|1949 Fourth Geneva Convention]]"''.''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/d744b47860e5c97e85256c40005d01d6/ba123cded3ea84a5852560e50077c2dc |title=UNSC Resolution 446 (1979) of 22 March 1979 |publisher=United Nations |access-date=22 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510095515/http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/d744b47860e5c97e85256c40005d01d6/ba123cded3ea84a5852560e50077c2dc |archive-date=10 May 2011}}</ref>

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."<ref>[http://www.icrc.org/Web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/iwpList325/D86C9E662022D64E41256C6800366D55 Implementation of the Fourth Geneva Convention in the occupied Palestinian territories: history of a multilateral process (1997–2001)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060929074057/http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/iwpList325/D86C9E662022D64E41256C6800366D55 |date=29 September 2006 }}, ''International Review of the Red Cross'', 2002 – No. 847.</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite news |title=Olmert curbs WBank building, expansion and planning |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL31349948 |work=Reuters|date=31 December 2007 |access-date=31 December 2007 |first1=Adam |last1=Entous |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080103050544/http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL31349948 |archive-date=3 January 2008}}</ref> 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.<ref name="NewSettlement">{{cite news |title=Israel launches massive new West Bank settlement plans |url=http://www.israelherald.com/index.php/sid/225274007 |date=31 August 2014 |access-date=1 September 2014 |work=Israel Herald |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903124155/http://www.israelherald.com/index.php/sid/225274007 |archive-date=3 September 2014}}</ref> According to reports on Israel Radio, the development is a response to the [[2014 kidnapping and murder of Israeli teenagers]].<ref name="NewSettlement" />

====Palestinian outposts====
[[File:Palestinian demonstration against demolish of the village susya.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|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]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Meron Rapoport |url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/idf-completes-evacuation-of-bil-in-outpost-1.177194 |title=IDF Completes Evacuation of Bil'in 'Outpost' |date=21 December 2005 |work=Haaretz |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101209080625/http://www.haaretz.com/news/idf-completes-evacuation-of-bil-in-outpost-1.177194 |archive-date=9 December 2010}}</ref> 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".<ref>[http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4174682,00.html Europe to pursue Area C projects] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170418091040/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4174682,00.html |date=18 April 2017 }}, YnetNews 12 January 2012</ref><ref name=jps41-3>{{cite journal |title=A2. European Union, Internal Report on "Area C and Palestinian State Building," Brussels, January 2012 (excerpts) |journal=Journal of Palestine Studies |volume=41 |issue=3 |date=Spring 2012 |pages=220–223 |jstor=10.1525/jps.2012.xli.3.220 |doi=10.1525/jps.2012.xli.3.220}}</ref>

In May 2012, a petition<ref name="may8p">[http://www.regavim.org.il/images/stories/hakl.pdf]{{Dead link|date=May 2018|bot=SheriffIsInTown|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> was filed to the [[Israeli Supreme Court]] about the legality of more 15<ref name="may8p"/> Palestinian outposts and Palestinian building in "Area C". The cases were filed by [[Regavim (NGO)|Regavim]].<ref name="nrgheb">{{cite web |url=http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART2/366/534.html?hp=1&cat=404&loc=11 |title=עשרות ''מאחזים'' פלסטיניים הוקמו ביו''ש; בג''ץ יכריע |website=NRG מעריב |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130813124841/http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART2/366/534.html?hp=1&cat=404&loc=11 |archive-date=13 August 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Illegal Palestinian quarry near Beit Fajar to close | date=13 March 2011 |url=https://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=208098&R=R2 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130225082312/http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=208098 |archive-date=25 February 2013}}</ref>

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<ref name="list_of_pettions">{{cite web |url=http://www.regavim.org.il/index.php/activity/allpetitions |title=List of petitions by the Regavim NGO |website=regavim.org.il |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120223211957/http://www.regavim.org.il/index.php/activity/allpetitions |archive-date=23 February 2012}}</ref> 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<ref>{{cite news |title=Palestinians erect outpost in E1 zone |newspaper=Ynetnews |date=11 January 2013 |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4331277,00.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130209034356/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4331277,00.html |archive-date=9 February 2013 |last1=Levy |first1=Elior}}</ref>

''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]]<ref>{{cite news |title=Report: IDF fire injures 2 Palestinians |newspaper=Ynetnews |date=18 January 2013 |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4334255,00.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130203132415/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4334255,00.html |archive-date=3 February 2013 |last1=Levy |first1=Elior}}</ref>

====West Bank barrier====
{{main|Israeli West Bank barrier}}

[[File:West Bank barrier.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|right|[[West Bank barrier]] ("Separation Wall")]]
The [[Israeli West Bank barrier]] is a physical [[separation barrier|barrier]] ordered for construction by the Israeli Government, consisting of a network of fences with vehicle-barrier trenches. Israel began building the barrier on 23 June 2002,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Timeline |url=https://world101.cfr.org/understanding-international-system/conflict/israeli-palestinian-conflict-timeline |access-date=2023-12-01 |website=World101 from the Council on Foreign Relations |date=11 October 2023|archive-date=2 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202031607/https://world101.cfr.org/understanding-international-system/conflict/israeli-palestinian-conflict-timeline |url-status=live }}</ref> two years into the [[Second Intifada]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Metais |first=Ilona |title=The West Bank Barrier: Origins, Implementation, and Consequences |url=https://fluxirr.mcgill.ca/article/download/55/46 |access-date=1 December 2023 |archive-date=9 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211209183610/https://fluxirr.mcgill.ca/article/download/55/46 |url-status=live }}</ref> It is surrounded by an on average {{cvt|60|m|ft|0|sp=us}} wide exclusion area (90%) and up to {{cvt|8|m|ft|0|sp=us}} high concrete walls (10%), although in most areas the wall is not nearly that high.<ref>{{cite web |title=HCJ 7957/04 Mara'abe v. The Prime Minister of Israel |url=http://elyon1.court.gov.il/Files_ENG/04/570/079/A14/04079570.A14.pdf |publisher=Supreme Court of Israeli (High Court of Justice) |access-date=17 December 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20051028233445/http://elyon1.court.gov.il/files_eng/04/570/079/a14/04079570.a14.pdf |archive-date=28 October 2005}}</ref> It is located mainly within the West Bank, partly along the [[1949 Armistice Agreements|1949 Armistice line]], or "[[Green Line (Israel)|Green Line]]" between the West Bank and Israel. The length of the barrier as approved by the Israeli government is {{cvt|708|km|mi|sp=us}} long.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=File:West Bank Access Restrictions.pdf – Wikipedia |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:West_Bank_Access_Restrictions.pdf |access-date=2022-06-02 |website=commons.wikimedia.org |date=7 September 2020|archive-date=23 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523175400/https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:West_Bank_Access_Restrictions.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> As of 2020, approximately {{cvt|454|km|mi|sp=us}} have been constructed (64%).<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.btselem.org/english/Separation_Barrier/Statistics.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031120125813/http://www.btselem.org/english/Separation_Barrier/Statistics.asp |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 November 2003 |title=B'Tselem – The Separation Barrier – Statistics |publisher=Btselem.org |access-date=9 October 2008}}</ref> 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.<ref name=B>{{cite web |title=Separation Barrier: 9 July 2006: Two Years after the ICJ's Decision on the Separation Barrier |publisher=[[B'tselem]] |date=9 July 2006 |access-date=11 May 2007 |url=http://www.btselem.org/english/separation_barrier/20060709_Hague_2nd_anniversary.asp |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927221914/http://www.btselem.org/english/separation_barrier/20060709_Hague_2nd_anniversary.asp |archive-date=27 September 2007}}</ref><ref name=CBC>{{cite news |title=Indepth Middle East:Israel's Barrier |author=Margarat Evans |publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]] |date=6 January 2006 |access-date=5 November 2007 |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/middleeast/israel_barrier.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070518071453/http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/middleeast/israel_barrier.html |archive-date=18 May 2007}}</ref><ref name=ICJ>{{cite web |title=Israel's Separation Barrier:Challenges to the Rule of Law and Human Rights: Executive Summary Part I and II |publisher=[[International Commission of Jurists]] |date=6 July 2004 |access-date=11 May 2007 |url=http://www.icj.org/news.php3?id_article=3410&lang=en&print=true |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070706125257/http://www.icj.org/news.php3?id_article=3410&lang=en&print=true |archive-date=6 July 2007}}</ref>

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 (city)|Ariel]], [[Gush Etzion]], [[Immanuel (town)|Immanuel]], [[Karnei Shomron]], [[Givat Ze'ev]], [[Oranit]], and [[Maale Adumim]].

Supporters of the barrier stated it was necessary for protecting Israeli civilians from Palestinian attacks, which increased significantly during the [[Second Intifada|Al-Aqsa Intifada]];<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.securityfence.mod.gov.il/Pages/ENG/questions.htm |title=Israel Security Fence – Ministry of Defense |publisher=Securityfence.mod.gov.il |access-date=9 October 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131003072906/http://www.securityfence.mod.gov.il/Pages/ENG/questions.htm |archive-date=3 October 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.zionism-israel.com/map_of_israel_security_problem_distances.htm |title=Map of Palestine – Land of Israel, 1845 |publisher=Zionism-israel.com |access-date=3 October 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101201154156/http://zionism-israel.com/map_of_israel_security_problem_distances.htm |archive-date=1 December 2010}}</ref> 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,<ref>{{cite news |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |title=After Sharon |date=6 January 2006}}</ref> though Israel's State Comptroller has acknowledged that most of the suicide bombers crossed into Israel through existing checkpoints.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/d80185e9f0c69a7b85256cbf005afeac/c4c1970ae0ba634b85256e510073d1e3/$FILE/PA-ICJ%20written%20statement%20(exec%20summary).pdf#page=8 |title=Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory |date=30 January 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510095453/http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/d80185e9f0c69a7b85256cbf005afeac/c4c1970ae0ba634b85256e510073d1e3/$FILE/PA-ICJ%20written%20statement%20(exec%20summary).pdf#page=8 |archive-date=10 May 2011}}</ref> Its supporters state that the [[Philosophic burden of proof|onus]] is now on the Palestinian Authority to fight terrorism.<ref>[https://www.haaretz.com/news/sen-clinton-i-support-w-bank-fence-pa-must-fight-terrorism-1.173922 Sen. Clinton: I support W. Bank fence, PA must fight terrorism] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605192658/http://www.haaretz.com/news/sen-clinton-i-support-w-bank-fence-pa-must-fight-terrorism-1.173922 |date=5 June 2011 }}. Haaretz, 13 November 2005</ref>

Opponents state the barrier is an illegal attempt to annex Palestinian land under the guise of security,<ref>{{cite web |title=Under the Guise of Security |publisher=Btselem.org |url=http://www.btselem.org/english/Publications/summaries/200512_Under_the_Guise_of_Security.asp |access-date=22 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070405095349/http://www.btselem.org/english/Publications/summaries/200512_Under_the_Guise_of_Security.asp |archive-date=5 April 2007}}</ref> violates international law,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/07/09/israel.barrier/index.html |title=U.N. court rules West Bank barrier illegal |publisher=CNN|date=9 July 2004 |access-date=22 May 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108022553/http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/07/09/israel.barrier/index.html |archive-date=8 November 2012}}</ref> has the intent or effect to pre-empt final status negotiations,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/israel/Story/0,2763,976105,00.html |title=Set in stone |work=The Guardian |author=Geraldine Bedell |date=15 June 2003 |access-date=18 December 2016 |archive-date=3 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230303182238/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/jun/15/israelandthepalestinians.features |url-status=live }}</ref> and severely restricts Palestinian livelihoods, particularly limiting their freedom of movement within and from the West Bank thereby undermining their economy.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Settlements and separation in the West Bank: future implications for health |date=February 2014 |journal=Medicine, Conflict and Survival |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=4–10 |last1=Bogue |first1=Patrick |last2=Sullivan |first2=Richard |last3=Anonymous |last4=Grandinetti |first4=Guglielmo Chelazzi |doi=10.1080/13623699.2013.873643 |pmid=24684018 |s2cid=41065377}}</ref>

=====Palestinian governorates=====
{{main|Governorates of Palestine}}

[[File:WestBankGovernatesNonLabeled.png|thumb|upright=1.15|right|[[Governorates of the Palestinian National Authority|Northern Governorates]]]]
After the signing of the [[Oslo Accords]], the West Bank was divided into 11 [[governorate]]s 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.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Governorate!!Population<ref name=geohive>{{cite web |trans-title=Statistical Yearbook of Palestine |url=http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Downloads/book2173.pdf |title=كتاب فلسطين الاحصائي السنوي |access-date=31 January 2016 |publisher=Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics |date=December 2015 |language=ar |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160422210843/http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Downloads/book2173.pdf |archive-date=22 April 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref>!!Area (km<sup>2</sup>)<ref name=geohive/>
|-
|[[Jenin Governorate]]||align="right"| 311,231 ||align="right"| 583
|-
|[[Tubas Governorate]]||align="right"| 64,719 ||align="right"| 372
|-
|[[Tulkarm Governorate]]||align="right"| 182,053 ||align="right"| 239
|-
|[[Nablus Governorate]]||align="right"| 380,961 ||align="right"| 592
|-
|[[Qalqilya Governorate]]||align="right"| 110,800 ||align="right"| 164
|-
|[[Salfit Governorate]]||align="right"| 70,727 ||align="right"| 191
|-
|[[Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate]]||align="right"| 348,110 ||align="right"| 844
|-
|[[Jericho Governorate]]||align="right"| 52,154 ||align="right"| 608
|-
|[[Jerusalem Governorate]]<br />(including Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem with Israeli citizenship)||align="right"| 419,108 ||align="right"| 344
|-
|[[Bethlehem Governorate]]||align="right"| 216,114 ||align="right"| 644
|-
|[[Hebron Governorate]]||align="right"| 706,508 ||align="right"| 1,060
|-
!Total!! style="text-align:right;"| 2,862,485 !!align="right"| 5,671
|}

===== Israeli 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]]), [[Samaria|Shomron]] ([[Shechem]] area, known in Arabic as [[Nablus]]), Efrayim ([[Tulkarm]] area), Binyamin ([[Ramallah]]/[[al-Bireh]] area), Maccabim ([[Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut|Maccabim]] area), [[Gush Etzion|Etzion]] ([[Bethlehem]] area) and [[Judea|Yehuda]] ([[Hebron]] area).

===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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pcpsr.org/survey/polls/2001/p2a.html |title=Survey Research Unit |publisher=Pcpsr.org |date=9 July 2001 |access-date=22 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510022428/http://www.pcpsr.org/survey/polls/2001/p2a.html |archive-date=10 May 2011}}</ref> 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).<ref>{{cite web |title=Israeli public opinion regarding the conflict |publisher=The Center for Middle East Peace and Economics Cooperation |url=http://www.mifkad.org.il/en/more.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070210190934/http://www.mifkad.org.il/en/more.asp |archive-date=10 February 2007 |access-date=27 September 2006}}</ref>
* 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;
* [[Population transfer|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).<ref>{{cite journal |author=Asher Arian |title=A Further Turn to the Right: Israeli Public Opinion on National Security – 2002 |journal=Strategic Assessment |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=50–57 |date=June 2002 |url=http://www.tau.ac.il/jcss/sa/v5n1p4Ari.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060103083229/http://www.tau.ac.il/jcss/sa/v5n1p4Ari.html |archive-date=3 January 2006 |access-date=27 September 2006}}</ref>

==Economy==
{{Main|Economy of Palestine}}

As of the early-21st century, the economy of Palestine is chronically depressed, with [[unemployment]] rates constantly over 20% since 2000. The unemployment rate was 19% in the West Bank in first half of 2013.<ref name=AUS2922p2a>{{harvnb|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."</ref>

===Transportation and communications===
====Road system====
[[File:Road 5066 A.JPG|thumb|upright=1.15|A road in the West Bank]]
{{main|Palestinian freedom of movement#Restriction of movement in the West Bank}}

In 2010, the West Bank and Gaza Strip together had {{cvt|4686|km|mi|-0}} of roadways.<ref name=CIA/>

It has been said that for "Jewish settlers, roads ''connect''; for Palestinians, they ''separate''."{{sfn|Kamrava|2016|p=86}} Between 1994 and 1997, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) built {{cvt|290|km|mi|-0}} of bypass roads in the territories, on appropriated land because they ran close to Palestinian villages.{{sfn|Efrat|2006|p=85}} The given aim was said to be to afford protection to settlers from Palestinian sniping, bombing, and drive-by shootings.{{sfn|Galchinsky|2004|p=117}} For [[Tel Aviv University|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".{{efn|"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."{{sfn|Efrat|2006|p=85}}}}
[[File:Bethlehem.JPG|thumb|upright=1.15|Roads of [[Bethlehem]], West Bank]]
A large number of embankments, concrete slabs and barriers impeded movement on primary and secondary roads. The result was to [[Canton (country subdivision)|cantonize]] and fragment Palestinian townships, and cause endless obstacles to Palestinians going to work, schools, markets and relatives.{{efn|" 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."{{sfn|Hass|2002|p=6}}}} Ramallah was cut off from all of its feeder villages in 2000.{{sfn|Hass|2002|p=6}}

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.{{sfn|Efrat|2006|p=85}} Even before the Al Aqsa Intifada, [[United Nations Population Fund|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.{{sfn|Aswad|2007}}

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&nbsp;million a year, adding that other, earlier calculations (2007) suggest restrictions on the Palestinian labour market cost the West Bank approximately US$229&nbsp;million per annum. It concluded that such imposed restrictions had a major negative impact on the local economy, hindering stability and growth.{{sfn|World Bank|2013|p=30}} 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.{{sfn|Makdisi|2010|pp=63–64}}

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.{{sfn|Handel|2010|pp=259,261}} Israel sets up [[Random checkpoint|flying checkpoints]] without notice. In 2017, 2,941 flying checkpoints were set up along West Bank roads, around 327 a month. There were 476 unstaffed physical obstacles (dirt mounds, concrete blocks, gates and fenced sections) on roads. Of the gates erected at village entrances, 59 were always closed.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Restrictions on Movement |publisher=[[B'Tselem]] |date=11 November 2017 |url=https://www.btselem.org/freedom_of_movement |access-date=2 February 2019 |archive-date=5 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605022611/http://www.btselem.org/English/Freedom_of_Movement/Closure.asp |url-status=live }}</ref>

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.{{sfn|Efrat|2006|p=86}} According to [[Health Minister of the Palestinian National Authority|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.<ref>{{cite news |title=Israeli jailed over baby tragedy |publisher=[[BBC News]] |date=12 September 2008 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7612887.stm |access-date=2 February 2019 |archive-date=29 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180929132407/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7612887.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Machsom Watch]] accumulated over a mere five years (2001–2006) some 10,000 eyewitness reports and testimonies regarding the difficulties faced by Palestinians trying to negotiate West Bank checkpoints.{{sfn|Keshet|2013|p=viii}}

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,<ref>{{harvnb|World Bank|2013|p={{page needed|date=January 2021}}}}. "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."</ref> while many other roads were restricted only to public transportation and to Palestinians who have special permits from Israeli authorities.<ref name="humanitarianinfo2">{{cite web |url=http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/docs/UN/OCHA/OCHAoPt_ClosureAnalysis0106_En.pdf |title=Westbank closure count and analysis, January 2006 |access-date=22 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326181004/http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/docs/UN/OCHA/OCHAoPt_ClosureAnalysis0106_En.pdf |archive-date=26 March 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/5ba47a5c6cef541b802563e000493b8c/5189f43f72a68a2785256c61005a58ea!OpenDocument |title=A/57/366 of 29 August 2002 |publisher=United Nations |access-date=9 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013101725/http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/5ba47a5c6cef541b802563e000493b8c/5189f43f72a68a2785256c61005a58ea%21OpenDocument |archive-date=13 October 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=A/57/366/Add.1 of 16 September 2002 |publisher=United Nations |url=http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/a39191b210be1d6085256da90053dee5/43fc268b1bf484fd85256c610065c63a!OpenDocument |access-date=9 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013101735/http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/a39191b210be1d6085256da90053dee5/43fc268b1bf484fd85256c610065c63a%21OpenDocument |archive-date=13 October 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

At certain times, Israel maintained more than 600 checkpoints or roadblocks in the region.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/23/60minutes/main4749723.shtml |title=60 Minutes &#124; Middle East |publisher=CBS News |date=25 January 2009 |access-date=29 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20090129154058/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/23/60minutes/main4749723.shtml |archive-date=29 January 2009}}</ref>
Movement restrictions on main roads between cities were still (as of 2005) blamed for poverty and economic depression in the West Bank.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/WBN102.pdf |title=Protection of Civilians – Weekly Briefing Notes |date=20–26 April 2005 |publisher=OCHA |access-date=4 February 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20120204071859/http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/WBN102.pdf |archive-date=4 February 2012}}</ref> 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"<ref name="humanitarianinfo1">{{cite web |url=http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/docs/UN/OCHA/ochaHU0805_En.pdf |title=Closure Count and Analysis |publisher=OCHA |date=August 2005 |access-date=3 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326181017/http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/docs/UN/OCHA/ochaHU0805_En.pdf |archive-date=26 March 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:Jericho checkpoint 2005.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|A checkpoint before entering [[Jericho]], 2005]]

Israeli restrictions were tightened in 2007.<ref>{{harvnb|World Bank|2013|p={{page needed|date=January 2021}}}}. "Exports from Gaza to the West Bank and Israeli markets, traditionally Gaza's main export destinations, are prohibited (according to Gisha, an Israeli non-profit organization founded in 2005 to protect the freedom of movement of Palestinians, especially Gaza residents, 85 percent of Gaza products were exported to Israel and the West Bank prior to 2007, at which point Israeli restrictions were tightened)."</ref>

[[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.<ref>Erlanger, Steven. [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/11/world/middleeast/11road.html A Segregated Road in an Already Divided Land] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701100132/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/11/world/middleeast/11road.html |date=1 July 2017 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', (11 August 2007) Retrieved 11 August 2007</ref>

====Rail====
{{As of|2012|2}}, 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.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-draws-plan-for-475-kilometer-rail-network-in-west-bank-1.414976 |title=Israel draws plan for 475-kilometer rail network in West Bank |publisher=haaretz |date=February 2012 |access-date=23 December 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103102753/http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-draws-plan-for-475-kilometer-rail-network-in-west-bank-1.414976 |archive-date=3 November 2012}}</ref>

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

====Crossing points to Jordan and Egypt====
[[Allenby Bridge]], or 'King Hussein Bridge', is the main port for the Palestinians in the West Bank to cross 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.<ref name="Euro-Mid">{{cite web |url=http://www.euromid.org/uploads/reports/Restricted_Hopes.pdf |title=Restricted Hopes: On The Breach of West Bank Palestinians' Right To Travel By Israeli Authorities |date=December 2011 |publisher=Euro-Mediterranean Observer for Human Rights |access-date=16 December 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304102018/http://www.euromid.org/uploads/reports/Restricted_Hopes.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref>

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. 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.<ref name="Euro-Mid"/><ref>{{Cite journal |title=معبر الكرامة – نبذة تاريخية |last=المرصد الأورومتوسطي لحقوق الإنسان |date=15 December 2015 |journal=آمال مقيدة |language=ar}} [{{cite journal |author=Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor |date=15 December 2015 |title=Dignity Crossing – A Brief History |journal=Tied Hopes |language=ar}}]</ref>

====Telecommunication====
{{Main|Communications in 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.internetworldstats.com/me/ps.htm |title=Palestine Internet Usage and Telecommunications Report |publisher=Internetworldstats.com |access-date=4 February 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20120204035341/http://www.internetworldstats.com/me/ps.htm |archive-date=4 February 2012}}</ref>

===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.<ref name=AUS2922p2b>{{harvnb|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."</ref> A 2013 [[World Bank]] report calculates that, if the [[Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip|Interim Agreement]] was respected and restrictions lifted, a few key industries alone would produce US$2.2&nbsp;billion per annum more (or 23% of 2011 Palestinian GDP) and reduce by some US$800&nbsp;million (50%) the Palestinian Authority's deficit; the employment would increase by 35%.<ref name=AUS2922pviii>{{harvnb|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."</ref>

====Water supply====
{{main|Water supply and sanitation in Palestine}}

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

{{blockquote|Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) do not have access to adequate, safe water supplies&nbsp;... Discriminatory Israeli policies in the OPT are the root cause of the striking disparity in access to water between Palestinians and Israelis&nbsp;... 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.<ref>{{cite report |url=http://www.amnesty.eu/static/Water_report_digest.pdf |access-date=2017-03-15 |title=Thirsting for Justice – Palestinian Access to Water Restricted |publisher=Amnesty International |page=2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160706031401/http://www.amnesty.eu/static/Water_report_digest.pdf |archive-date=2016-07-06}}</ref>}}

Israeli settlers in the West Bank have seized dozens of [[well]]s 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.<ref>{{cite news |author1=[[Gideon Levy]] |author2=Alex Levac |date=30 August 2019 |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-this-place-is-only-for-jews-the-west-bank-s-apartheid-springs-1.7767344 |url-access=subscription |title='This Place Is Only for Jews': The West Bank's Apartheid Springs |work=Haaretz |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190830111204/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-this-place-is-only-for-jews-the-west-bank-s-apartheid-springs-1.7767344 |archive-date=2019-08-30}}</ref>

====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 zone]]s."{{sfn|Aloni|2017|p=16}} Israel, it is argued, uses the West Bank as a "sacrifice" zone by placing 15 waste treatment plants, which are there under less stringent rules that those required in Israel because a different legal system{{Which|date=February 2024}} has been organized regarding hazardous materials that can be noxious to local people and the environment. The military authorities do not make public the details of these operations. These materials include sewage sludge, infectious medical waste, used oils, solvents, metals, [[electronic waste]] and batteries.{{sfn|Aloni|2017|pp=5–6}}

In 2007 it was estimated that 38% (35 mcm a year) of all wastewater flowing into the West Bank derived from settlements and Jerusalem.{{sfn|Hareuveni|2009|p=7}} 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,{{Clarify|date=February 2024}} whereas in Israel the laws are strictly applied and, in 2006 alone, 230 enforcements for the same abuse were enforced.{{sfn|Hareuveni|2009|pp=8–12}} 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.{{sfn|Hareuveni|2009|pp=19–21}}

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.{{sfn|Weizman|2012|p=273,n.11}} The PA raised 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.{{sfn|Hareuveni|2009|pp=19–21}} Palestinian town [[Salfit]] has been deeply affected by sewage overflow channelled past the town from the settlement of Ariel.{{sfn|Ashly|2017}}{{sfn|Weizman|2012|p=273,n.14}}

Unlike the data available for sewage treatment within Israel, the Israeli Water Commission refuses to provide public reports on 15&nbsp;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.{{sfn|Tagar|Keinen|Bromberg|2007|pp=419–420}}

The landfill near [[Al-Jiftlik]] in the [[Jericho Governorate]], built on [[Israeli land and property laws|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.<ref name="HRW 2016"/> 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.<ref name="HRW 2016"/>

Israel has been accused of engaging in 'warfare ecology' in the West Bank.<ref>{{cite book |author=M. Mason |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qKfyCAAAQBAJ |chapter=The Application of Warfare Ecology to Belligerent Occupations |editor1=Gary E. Machlis |editor2=Thor Hanson |editor3=Zdravko Špirić |editor4=Jean McKendry |title=Warfare Ecology: A New Synthesis for Peace and Security |publisher=Springer |year=2011 |isbn=978-94-007-1214-0 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=qKfyCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA164 164] |access-date=24 January 2021 |archive-date=3 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230303182250/https://books.google.com/books?id=qKfyCAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> In response to [[NIMBY|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."{{Efn|'sacrifice zone is a geographic area that has become irrevocably impaired by environmental damage or economic neglect.'{{sfn|Aloni|2017|p=17}}}}

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.<ref name="auto">{{cite web |publisher=Al Jazeera|author=Jaclynn Ashly |date=5 December 2017 |title=Israel Turns West Bank into a 'Garbage Dump' |url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/12/israel-turns-west-bank-garbage-dump-171205052610633.html |access-date=2018-02-15 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180215144124/http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/12/israel-turns-west-bank-garbage-dump-171205052610633.html |archive-date=15 February 2018}}</ref><ref name="auto1">{{cite web |magazine=[[+972 Magazine]] |author=Joshua Leifer |date=5 December 2017 |title=How Israel turned the West Bank into its garbage dump |url=https://972mag.com/how-israel-turned-the-west-bank-into-its-garbage-dump/131206/ |access-date=2018-02-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180216025315/https://972mag.com/how-israel-turned-the-west-bank-into-its-garbage-dump/131206/ |archive-date=16 February 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Aloni|2017|p=16-18}}

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.{{sfn|Aloni|2017|p=5-6}} The [[United Nations Environment Programme|UNEP]] has described Israeli vehicle dismantling in the Palestinian territories as "unregulated".<ref>{{cite web |author=<!-- not stated --> |date=28 August 2020 |title=State of Environment and Outlook Report for the occupied Palestinian territory 2020 |url=https://www.unep.org/resources/report/state-environment-and-outlook-report-occupied-palestinian-territory-2020 |website=[[United Nations Environment Programme|UNEP]] |page=14 |location=Nairobi |access-date=25 November 2025}}</ref> B'Tselem has said 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."{{sfn|Aloni|2017|p=17}}{{sfn|Efrat|2006|p=8}}{{sfn|Weizman|2012|p=20}}

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.{{sfn|Efrat|2006|p=8}} In addition to the exporting of Israeli waste and the waste generated by settlers, Israeli industrial and manufacturing operations with harmful health effects are typically outsourced to the West Bank where they can be carried out with little to no regulatory oversight.{{sfn|Aloni|2017|p=5-6}}<ref>{{cite web |last=Randles |first=Simon |date=18 March 2024 |title=Ripple Effects: Exploring the environmental impact of Israeli settlements’ wastewater discharge |url=https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/pdf/reports/ripple-effects/exploring-environmental-impact-israeli-settlements-wastewater-discharge.pdf |page=14 |website=[[Norwegian Refugee Council]] |location=Oslo |access-date=25 November 2025}}</ref>

====Palestinian water and sewage====
{{main|Water supply and sanitation in 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.<ref name="husseini">{{cite book |last1=Husseini |first1=Hiba |title=The Palestinian Water Authority: Developments and Challenges involving the Legal Framework and the Capacity of the PWA |pages=301–308 |date=n.d. |doi=10.1007/978-3-540-69509-7_31 |chapter=Palestinian Water Authority: Developments and Challenges – Legal Framework and Capacity |isbn=978-3-540-69508-0}}</ref>

About 90% of the Palestinians in the Territories had access to [[improved sanitation]] in 2008.<ref name="JMP">[http://www.wssinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/resources/Arab-States-Six-pager-Final.pdf ''A Snapshot of Drinking-water and Sanitation in the Arab States – 2010 Update''] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150513035105/http://www.wssinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/resources/Arab-States-Six-pager-Final.pdf |date=13 May 2015 }}, p. 5. WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation, November 2011. On [http://www.wssinfo.org/documents-links/documents/?tx_displaycontroller wssinfo.org, Joint Monitoring Programme (see: Regional snapshots)] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140225205449/http://www.wssinfo.org/documents-links/documents/?tx_displaycontroller |date=25 February 2014 }}</ref> [[Cesspit]]s were used by 39% of households, while access to the sewer network increased to 55% in 2011, up from 39% in 1999.<ref name="PCBS 11">[http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_PCBS/Downloads/book1813.pdf Household Environmental Survey, 2011—Main Findings] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112023926/http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_PCBS/Downloads/book1813.pdf |date=12 November 2020 }}, p. [13] (English section). Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, December 2011</ref> In the West Bank, only 13,000 out of 85,000 m<sup>3</sup> of wastewater were treated in five municipal wastewater treatment plants in [[Hebron]], [[Jenin]], [[Ramallah]], [[Tulkarem]] and [[Al-Bireh]].<ref name="Fatta">{{cite journal |title=Urban Wastewater Treatment and Reclamation for Agricultural Irrigation: The situation in Morocco and Palestine. |journal=The Environmentalist |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=227–236 |date=December 2004 |url=http://springerlink.metapress.com/content/h51600557n0j5380/?p=80dd2b999c8c44ff9f3d62e91a02db3b&pi=2 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130129012511/http://springerlink.metapress.com/content/h51600557n0j5380/?p=80dd2b999c8c44ff9f3d62e91a02db3b&pi=2 |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 January 2013 |doi=10.1007/s10669-005-0998-x |access-date=2008-02-15 |last1=Fatta |first1=D. |last2=Salem |first2=Z. |last3=Mountadar |first3=M. |last4=Assobhei |first4=O. |last5=Loizidou |first5=M. |bibcode=2004ThEnv..24..227F |s2cid=85346288|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The Al Bireh plant was constructed in 2000 with funding by the [[Germany|German]] [[aid agency]] [[KfW]].<ref>[http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTWESTBANKGAZA/Resources/WaterRestrictionsReportJuly2009.pdf ''Assessment of Restrictions on Palestinian Water Sector Development''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190529012034/https://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTWESTBANKGAZA/Resources/WaterRestrictionsReportJuly2009.pdf |date=29 May 2019 }}, p. 113. World Bank, April 2009.</ref> According to the World Bank report, the other four plants perform poorly concerning efficiency and quality.<ref>[http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTWESTBANKGAZA/Resources/WaterRestrictionsReportJuly2009.pdf ''Assessment of Restrictions on Palestinian Water Sector Development''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190529012034/https://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTWESTBANKGAZA/Resources/WaterRestrictionsReportJuly2009.pdf |date=29 May 2019 }}, p. 20. World Bank, April 2009.</ref>

====Resource extraction====
Based on the number of quarries per km<sup>2</sup> 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&nbsp;million per year.{{sfn|Niksic|Eddin|Cali|2014|p=58}}
In international law drawing on the [[Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907|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.<ref name="HRW 2016"/>

Thus the German [[HeidelbergCement|cement firm quarrying at Nahal Raba]] paid out €430,000 ($479,000) in taxes to the [[Samaria Regional Council]] in 2014 alone.<ref name="HRW 2016"/> The Israeli High Court rejected a petition that such quarrying was a violation by stating that after four decades Israeli law must adapt to "the realities on the ground". The state did undertake not to open more quarries.{{sfn|Gross|2011}}

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.<ref name="HRW 2016"/>

Israel had denied Palestinians permits to process minerals in that area of the West Bank.{{sfn|Niksic|Eddin|Cali|2014|p=58}} 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.{{sfn|Nicoletti|Hearne|2012|pp=21–22}} 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.{{sfn|Nebehay|2018}}

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&nbsp;million per annum, or 9 percent of GDP.{{sfn|World Bank|2013|pp=12–13}}{{sfn|Beckouche|2017|p=156}} 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&nbsp;million.{{sfn|Niksic|Eddin|Cali|2014|pp=58–60}}

====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{{efn|"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,"{{sfn|Glock|1994|p=77}}}} and its library in East Jerusalem.{{efn|"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 [[Rockefeller Museum|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."{{sfn|Glock|1994|p=71}}}} 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.{{sfn|Friedman|1983|p=96}}
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.{{sfn|Kamrava|2016|p=116}}{{efn|Israeli settlers forced to evacuate their settlements have also called their prior state as one of a "lost paradise".{{sfn|Perugini|2014|p=55}}}}

====Tourism====
{{main|Tourism in Palestine}}

Palestine contains 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.{{sfn|World Bank|2013|p=20}} 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&nbsp;km in length, of which 15% (6&nbsp;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&nbsp;million annually.{{sfn|Niksic|Eddin|Cali|2014|pp=65–66}} It is also the only maritime recreational outlet for West Bankers, but according to an [[Association for Civil Rights in Israel|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 HaArava|Beit Ha'arava checkpoint]] on [[Highway 90 (Israel–Palestine)|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.{{efn|'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 [[yishuv]]im (Jewish communities)."{{sfn|Macintyre|2008}} }}

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.{{sfn|Isaac|2013|p=147}} From 92 to 94 cents in every dollar of the tourist trade goes to Israel.{{sfn|Isaac|2013|p=144}} 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.{{sfn|Isaac|2013|p=144}}

==Demographics==
{{Main|Demographics of Palestine}}

[[File:Nablus Children Victor Grigas 2011 -1-84.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|right|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.<ref name=CIA/><ref>{{cite news |title=Palestinians grow by a million in decade |newspaper=[[The Jerusalem Post]] |date=9 February 2008 |url=https://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=91497 |access-date=11 October 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107100020/http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=91497 |archive-date=7 November 2012}}</ref> 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,<ref>[http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=38108 THE PALESTINIAN CENSUS – SMOKE & MIRRORS] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110621231400/http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=38108 |date=21 June 2011 }}, Independent Media Review Analysis, 11 February 2008</ref> with questions also raised about the PCBS' growth assumptions for the period 1997–2003.<ref>[http://www.biu.ac.il/Besa/MSPS65.pdf The Million Person Gap: The Arab Population in the West Bank and Gaza] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070202061847/http://www.biu.ac.il/Besa/MSPS65.pdf |date=2 February 2007 }}, Mideast Security and Policy Studies No. 65, February 2006</ref> The [[Israeli Civil Administration]] put the number of Palestinians in the West Bank at 2,657,029 as of May 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.molad.org/en/articles/articlePrint.php?id=295 |title=Molad Analysis – Wrong Number |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140924041400/http://www.molad.org/en/articles/articlePrint.php?id=295 |archive-date=24 September 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.532703 |title=Demographic Debate Continues – How Many Palestinians Actually Live in the West Bank? |first1=Nir |last1=Hasson |date=30 June 2013 |newspaper=Haaretz |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141101200545/http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.532703 |archive-date=1 November 2014}}</ref>
[[File:Tal Menashe - students in the garden.JPG|thumb|upright=1.15|right|Jewish children in [[Tal Menashe]].]]
In 2014, there were 389,250 [[Israeli settlement|Israeli settlers]] living in the West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem,<ref>[http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/189430#.VLbVsoFq-K0 15,000 More Jews in Judea-Samaria in 2014] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309223147/http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/189430 |date=9 March 2016 }}, Arutz Sheva</ref> 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.<ref name=tsu>[http://www.thesamaritanupdate.com/ The Samaritan Update] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170914114057/http://thesamaritanupdate.com/ |date=14 September 2017 }} Retrieved 8 January 2013.</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5g7NNG7m5AEfoCjIspXI7lya2LTFg |title=Israel labour laws apply to Palestinian workers |date=10 October 2007 |access-date=3 October 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090109054713/http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5g7NNG7m5AEfoCjIspXI7lya2LTFg |archive-date=9 January 2009}}</ref> By 2014, 92,000 Palestinians worked in Israel legally or illegally, twice as many as in 2010.<ref>{{cite news |title=Number of Palestinians Working in Israel Doubled Over Four Years, Central Bank Says |url=https://www.haaretz.com/business/.premium-1.645266 |work=Haaretz |date=4 March 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150926043952/http://www.haaretz.com/business/.premium-1.645266 |archive-date=26 September 2015}}</ref>

In 2008, approximately 30% of Palestinians or 754,263 persons living in the West Bank were [[Palestinian refugees|refugees]] or descendants of refugees from villages and towns located in what became Israel during the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]], according to [[UNRWA]] statistics.<ref>{{cite web |title=UNRWA in Figures: Figures as of 31 December 2004 |publisher=United Nations |date=April 2005 |url=https://www.un.org/unrwa/publications/pdf/uif-dec04.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060928061448/http://www.un.org/unrwa/publications/pdf/uif-dec04.pdf |archive-date=28 September 2006 |access-date=27 September 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics |publisher=[[Palestinian National Authority]] [[Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics]] |year=2007 |url=http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/ |access-date=27 September 2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20110224060453/http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/ |archive-date=24 February 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Can trust be rebuilt? |author=Ksenia Svetlova |newspaper=[[The Jerusalem Post]] |date=1 December 2005 |url=https://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=2&cid=1132475665870&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511130927/http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=2&cid=1132475665870&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 May 2011 |access-date=27 September 2006}}</ref> 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.<ref name="EUobserver 13 January 2012">{{cite news |url=http://euobserver.com/24/114879 |title=EU ministers look to Israeli grab of Palestinian farmland |author=Andrew Rettman |date=13 January 2012 |newspaper=EUobserver |access-date=29 January 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120129075528/http://euobserver.com/24/114879 |archive-date=29 January 2012}}</ref><ref name=h20120112>{{cite news |author1=Amira Hass |title=EU report: Israel policy in West Bank endangers two-state solution |url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/eu-report-israel-policy-in-west-bank-endangers-two-state-solution-1.406945 |newspaper=Haaretz |date=12 January 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140814195358/http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/eu-report-israel-policy-in-west-bank-endangers-two-state-solution-1.406945 |archive-date=14 August 2014}}</ref><ref name=jps>{{cite journal |title=A2. European Union, Internal Report on "Area C and Palestinian State Building," Brussels, January 2012 (excerpts) |journal=Journal of Palestine Studies |year=2012 |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=220–223 |doi=10.1525/jps.2012.XLI.3.220}}</ref> In a similar period, the Jewish population in Area C has grown from 1,200 to 310,000.<ref name="EUobserver 13 January 2012"/>

===Major population centers===
[[File:Ariel085.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|right|Settlement of [[Ariel (city)|Ariel]]]]
[[File:Ramallah Residential.JPG|thumb|upright=1.15|right|Residential neighborhood of [[Ramallah]]]]

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible innercollapse" margin-left:1em;"
|+Significant population centers
|-
! Center !! Population
|-
! style="text-align: left"|[[East Jerusalem]]
|542,400{{sfn|JIPR|2018}}
|-
! style="text-align: left"|[[Hebron]] (al-Khalil)
| style="text-align:right;"|163,146<ref name="PCBS"/>
|-
! style="text-align: left"|[[Nablus]]
| style="text-align:right;"|136,132<ref name="PCBS"/>
|-
! style="text-align: left"|[[Jenin]]
| style="text-align:right;"|90,004<ref name="PCBS">[http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_PCBS/Downloads/book1487.pdf 2007 Locality Population Statistics] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101210081942/http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_PCBS/Downloads/book1487.pdf |date=10 December 2010 }}. [[Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics]] (PCBS).</ref>
|-
! style="text-align: left"|[[Tulkarm]]
| style="text-align:right;"|51,300<ref name="PCBS"/>
|-
! style="text-align: left"|[[Yattah]]
| style="text-align:right;"|48,672<ref name="PCBS"/>
|-
! style="text-align: left"|[[Modi'in Illit]]
| style="text-align:right;"|48,600<ref name="Israeli CBS">[http://www.cbs.gov.il/shnaton62/st02_15.pdf 2010 Locality Population Statistics] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120105191122/http://www.cbs.gov.il/shnaton62/st02_15.pdf |date=5 January 2012 }}. [[Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics]] (PCBS).</ref>
|-
! style="text-align: left"|[[Qalqilyah]]
| style="text-align:right;"|41,739<ref name="PCBS"/>
|-
! style="text-align: left"|[[Al-Bireh]]
| style="text-align:right;"|38,202<ref name="PCBS"/>
|-
! style="text-align: left"|[[Beitar Illit]]
| style="text-align:right;"|37,600<ref name="Israeli CBS"/>
|-
! style="text-align: left"|[[Ma'ale Adummim]]
| style="text-align:right;"|33,259<ref name="Israeli CBS"/>
|-
! style="text-align: left"|[[Ramallah]]
| style="text-align:right;"|27,460<ref name="PCBS"/>
|-
! style="text-align: left"|[[Bethlehem]]
| style="text-align:right;"|25,266<ref name="PCBS"/>
|-
! style="text-align: left"|[[Jericho]]
| style="text-align:right;"|18,346<ref name="PCBS"/>
|-
! style="text-align: left"|[[Ariel (city)|Ariel]]
| style="text-align:right;"|17,700<ref name="Israeli CBS"/>
|}

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 (city)|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.<ref>[https://www.jpost.com/VideoArticles/Video/Article.aspx?id=244475 Palestinian city of Rawabi to serve 'nation in the making'.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111210190439/http://www.jpost.com/VideoArticles/Video/Article.aspx?id=244475 |date=10 December 2011 }} [[Jerusalem Post]], 11 May 2011</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/un-chief-says-time-1327886.html |title=UN chief says time running out for peace deal |work=[[Atlanta Journal]] |date=2 February 2012}}</ref> [[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 (city)|Tubas]] are situated in the [[Jordan Valley]], north of the [[Dead Sea]].

===Ethnic cleansing===
As part of Israel's "[[Operation Iron Wall]]," Israel forcibly removed 32,000 Palestinians from their homes in West Bank [[Palestinian refugee camps | refugee camps]] in [[Tulkarem]], [[Nur Shams]], and [[Jenin refugee camp | Jenin]] in January and February 2025, according to a detailed investigation by [[Human Rights Watch]].<ref>The Guardian, 20 Nov. 2025 [https://www.independent.co.uk/bulletin/news/israel-west-bank-refugees-war-crime-b2868956.html "Israel Accused of War Crimes in Expelling West Bank Refugees from Camps"] </ref> According to the report based on the HRW investigation, these forced expulsions were the largest since the major expulsion of Palestinians in 1967, and constitute [[ethnic cleansing]], [[war crimes]] and [[crimes against humanity]].<ref>The Guardian, 20 Nov. 2025 [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-war-crimes-west-bank-human-rights-watch-report-b2869011.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawONYa5leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFydDI1V0RqUklBa2ZScHBZc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHi6OLnT6nbKaKQ3bbYYEQsjEDs4Bh-ll5ong1UQtSHak7oJrHF9Eqap68JOW_aem_RGLGKUGiWJsc9ze8Qqb79g "Israel Accused of War Crimes over Expulsion of 32,000 Refugees from West Bank Camps"]</ref> <ref>Al Jazeera, 20 Nov. 2025 [https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/11/20/israels-emptying-of-west-bank-refugee-camps-amounts-to-war-crimes-hrw "Israel’s emptying of West Bank refugee camps amounts to war crimes: HRW"] </ref>

===Religion===
{{Main|Palestinians#Religion}}

The population of the West Bank is 80–85% Muslim (mostly Sunni) and 12–14% Jewish. The remainder are 1–2.5% Christian (mostly Greek Orthodox), and others.<ref name=CIA/>

===Education===
[[File:Wikipedia education program birzeit university 2016 ceremoney 15.jpg|thumb|Palestinian students at [[Birzeit University]] in 2016]]
Seven universities are operating in the West Bank:
*[[Bethlehem University]], a [[Roman Catholic]] institution of the [[Brothers of the Christian Schools|Lasallian]] tradition partially funded by the [[Holy See|Vatican]],<ref>{{cite web |author=Alexánder González |title=Generalate – International Board of Regents of Bethlehem University Meets in Rome |url=https://www.bethlehem.edu/BUinNews/2017-02-21-generalate-international-board-of-regents-of-bethlehem-university-meets-in-rome |website=Bethlehem University in the Holy Land |publisher=Bethlehem University Foundation |access-date=1 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181201093104/https://www.bethlehem.edu/BUinNews/2017-02-21-generalate-international-board-of-regents-of-bethlehem-university-meets-in-rome |archive-date=1 December 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref> opened its doors in 1973.<ref>{{cite web |author=Philip Daoud |url=http://www.bethlehem.edu/about/history.shtml |title=Bethlehem University – History |publisher=Bethlehem.edu |date=3 October 1973 |access-date=3 October 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080119075900/http://www.bethlehem.edu/about/history.shtml |archive-date=19 January 2008}}</ref>
*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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.birzeit.edu/about_bzu/p/2542 |title=Birzeit University History |publisher=Birzeit.edu |access-date=22 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010233509/http://www.birzeit.edu/about_bzu/p/2542 |archive-date=10 October 2012}}</ref>
*An-Najah College in [[Nablus]] likewise became [[An-Najah National University]] in 1977.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.najah.edu/page/63 |title=History of An-Najah National University |publisher=Najah.edu |date=25 June 2000 |access-date=22 May 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511103114/http://www.najah.edu/page/63 |archive-date=11 May 2011}}</ref>
*[[Hebron University]] was established as College of Shari'a in 1971 and became Hebron University in 1980.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hebron.edu/index.php/en/about-hu/-facts-a-figures.html |title=Hebron University facts and figures |publisher=Hebron.edu |access-date=22 May 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718143608/http://www.hebron.edu/index.php/en/about-hu/-facts-a-figures.html |archive-date=18 July 2011}}</ref>
*[[Al-Quds University]] was founded in 1995, unifying several colleges and faculties in and around East Jerusalem.<ref>{{cite web |title=General Information |url=http://old.alquds.edu/gen_info/index.php?page=overview |archive-url=https://archive.today/20101105184751/http://old.alquds.edu/gen_info/index.php?page=overview |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 November 2010 |publisher=Al-Quds University |access-date=22 May 2011}}</ref>
*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 [[Education in the United States|American system of education]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aauj.edu/AAUJ_WEBSITE/index.php |title=The Arab American University |publisher=Aauj.edu |access-date=22 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524141551/http://www.aauj.edu/AAUJ_WEBSITE/index.php |archive-date=24 May 2011}}</ref>
*[[Ariel University]] is located in the [[Israeli settlement]] of [[Ariel (city)|Ariel]] and was granted full university status on 17 July 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18879786 |title=Israel's first settlement university stirs controversy |publisher=[[BBC News]] |date=17 July 2012 |access-date=12 January 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140328155414/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18879786 |archive-date=28 March 2014}}</ref> 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 [[Israel Defense Forces|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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://home.birzeit.edu/dsp/research/publications/2002/49e.pdf |title=Education and Human Development |publisher=Birzeit University |year=2002 |access-date=9 October 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926023114/http://home.birzeit.edu/dsp/research/publications/2002/49e.pdf |archive-date=26 September 2007}}</ref> According to UNESCO, Palestinians are one of the most highly educated groups in the Middle East "despite often difficult circumstances".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=17238&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20050928211016/http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=17238&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 September 2005 |title=UNESCO &#124; Education – Palestinian Authority |publisher=UNESCO |access-date=9 October 2008}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_pcbs/PressRelease/Illiteracy_2010E.pdf |title=On the Eve of the International Illiteracy day, 8th of September |publisher=Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics |date=7 September 2010 |access-date=3 March 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510022249/http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_pcbs/PressRelease/Illiteracy_2010E.pdf |archive-date=10 May 2011}}</ref>

==Culture==
{{Main|Culture of Palestine}}

===Television and radio===
The [[Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation]] broadcasts from an AM station in Ramallah on 675&nbsp;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. PalTel began implementing an initiative to provide ADSL broadband internet service to all households and businesses.

Israel's cable television company [[Hot (Israel)|Hot]], satellite television provider [[Yes (company)|Yes]], AM/FM radio broadcast stations, and public television stations all also operate in the West Bank. 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.

==See also==
*[[West Bank closures]]

==References==

===Notes===
{{notelist}}

===Citations===
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=CIA>{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/west-bank/ |access-date=3 October 2018 |title=Middle East: West Bank |work=The World Factbook |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |date=26 September 2018 |archive-date=22 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210722231029/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/west-bank/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
<ref name="HRW 2016">{{Cite web |title=Occupation, Inc.: How Settlement Businesses Contribute to Israel's Violations of Palestinian Rights |publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]] |date=19 January 2016 |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/01/19/occupation-inc-how-settlement-businesses-contribute-israels-violations-palestinian |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617231010/https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/01/19/occupation-inc-how-settlement-businesses-contribute-israels-violations-palestinian |archive-date=2016-06-17}}</ref>
}}

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*{{Cite journal |title=External Constraints on Manufacturing Development in Israeli-Occupied Gaza |last1=El-Farra |first1=Majed |last2=MacMillen |first2=Malcolm |journal=[[Middle Eastern Studies (journal)|Middle Eastern Studies]] |date=January 2000 |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=153–170 |doi=10.1080/00263200008701302 |jstor=4284056 |s2cid=144822037}}
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*{{Cite book |title=The Biggest Prison on Earth: A History of the Occupied Territories |last1=Pappe |first1=Ilan |year=2017 |author-link=Ilan Pappe |publisher=[[Oneworld Publications]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0pkjDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT13 |isbn=978-1-780-74433-9 |access-date=24 May 2020 |archive-date=3 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230303182252/https://books.google.com/books?id=0pkjDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT13 |url-status=live }}
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*{{Cite book |chapter=A Seeping Timebomb: Pollution of the Mountain Aquifer by Sewage |last1=Tagar |first1=Zecharya |last2=Keinen |first2=Tamar |last3=Bromberg |first3=Gidon |year=2007 |title=Water Resources in the Middle East: Israel-Palestinian Water Issues – From Conflict to Cooperation |editor1-last=Shuval |editor1-first=Hillel |editor2-last=Dweik |editor2-first=Hassan |publisher=[[Springer Science & Business Media]] |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SW67ZNZM-lIC&pg=PA419 |pages=417–426 |isbn=978-3-540-69509-7 |access-date=30 January 2019 |archive-date=3 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230303182156/https://books.google.com/books?id=SW67ZNZM-lIC&pg=PA419 |url-status=live }}
*{{Cite book |title=The Economic Case for Palestine |last1=Tuma |first1=Elias H. |last2=Darin-Drabkin |first2=Haim |year=1978 |publisher=[[Croom Helm]]}}
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*{{Cite book |title=Hollow Land: Israel's Architecture of Occupation |last1=Weizman |first1=Eyal |author-link=Eyal Weizman |year=2012 |publisher=[[Verso Books]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KfxQ5FtuCUgC&pg=PA273 |isbn=978-1-84467-915-7 |access-date=30 January 2019 |archive-date=3 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230303182233/https://books.google.com/books?id=KfxQ5FtuCUgC&pg=PA273 |url-status=live }}
*{{Cite report |title=West Bank and Gaza – Area C and the Future of the Palestinian Economy |last=World Bank |date=2 October 2013 |publisher=[[World Bank]] |url=http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/137111468329419171/pdf/AUS29220REPLAC0EVISION0January02014.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140801210703/http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2014/01/23/000442464_20140123122135/Rendered/PDF/AUS29220REPLAC0EVISION0January02014.pdf |archive-date=1 August 2014 }}<br />[https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/137111468329419171/west-bank-and-gaza-area-c-and-the-future-of-the-palestinian-economy Summary: West Bank and Gaza – Area C and the future of the Palestinian economy (English)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123015551/https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/137111468329419171/west-bank-and-gaza-area-c-and-the-future-of-the-palestinian-economy |date=23 January 2021 }}
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{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|30em}}
*Albin, Cecilia (2001). ''Justice and Fairness in International Negotiation''. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-521-79725-2}}
*Bamberger, David (1985, 1994). ''A Young Person's History of Israel''. Behrman House. {{ISBN|978-0-87441-393-9}}
*[[Alan Dowty|Dowty, Alan]] (2001). ''The Jewish State: A Century Later''. University of California Press. {{ISBN|978-0-520-22911-2}}
*[[Akiva Eldar|Eldar, Akiva]] and [[Idith Zertal|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|978-0-275-96011-7}}
*[[Neve Gordon|Gordon, Neve]] (2008).''Israel's Occupation''. University of California Press, Berkeley CA, {{ISBN|978-0-520-25531-9}}
*[[Gershom Gorenberg|Gorenberg, Gershom]]. ''The Accidental Empire''. Times Books, Henry Holt and Company. {{ISBN|978-0-8050-8241-8}}. 2006.
*Howell, Mark (2007). ''What Did We Do to Deserve This? Palestinian Life under Occupation in the West Bank'', Garnet Publishing. {{ISBN|978-1-85964-195-8}}
*[[Michael Oren|Oren, Michael]] (2002). ''Six Days of War'', Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-515174-9}}
*Playfair, Emma (Ed.) (1992). ''International Law and the Administration of Occupied Territories''. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-825297-9}}
*[[Avi Shlaim|Shlaim, Avi]] (2000). ''The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World'', W. W. Norton & Company. {{ISBN|978-0-393-04816-2}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links|auto=yes|d=yes}}
{{refbegin|30em}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100514171248/http://atlas.pcbs.gov.ps/atlas/default.asp Statistical Atlas of Palestine] – [[Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics]]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110504194237/http://report.globalintegrity.org/West%20Bank/2008 Global Integrity Report: West Bank] has governance and anti-corruption profile.
*[https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/west-bank/ West Bank] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210722231029/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/west-bank/ |date=22 July 2021 }}. ''[[The World Factbook]]''. [[Central Intelligence Agency]].
*[https://2009-2017.state.gov/p/nea/ci/pt/index.htm Palestinian Territories] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210520125610/https://2009-2017.state.gov/p/nea/ci/pt/index.htm |date=20 May 2021 }} at the [[United States Department of State]]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080607085405/http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/govpubs/for/palestine.htm Palestine] from ''UCB Libraries GovPubs''
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20041211100305/http://www.passia.org/index_pfacts.htm Palestine Facts & Info] from Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs
*[https://www.un.org/Depts/dpi/palestine/ United Nations – Question of Palestine] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190303061751/http://www.un.org/Depts/dpi/palestine/ |date=3 March 2019 }}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20031205033216/http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0n1m0 Disputed Territories: Forgotten Facts about the West Bank and Gaza Strip] – from Israeli government's Ministry of Foreign Affairs
*[http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/txu-oclc-244806184-wbank_08.jpg Large map of West Bank (2008) – C.I.A./Univ. of Texas, Austin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090509062658/http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/txu-oclc-244806184-wbank_08.jpg |date=9 May 2009 }}
*[http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/westbank_july_1992.jpg Large map of West Bank (1992)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051222112924/http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/westbank_july_1992.jpg |date=22 December 2005 }}
*[http://www.poica.org/maps/index.php A series of geopolitical maps of the West Bank] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060821013240/http://www.poica.org/maps/index.php |date=21 August 2006 }}
*[http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/88_july31.html 1988 "Address to the Nation" by King Hussein of Jordan Ceding Jordanian Claims to the West Bank to the PLO] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190722033545/http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/88_july31.html |date=22 July 2019 }}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080511212723/http://www.camdenabudis.org/ Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association&nbsp;– establishing links between the North London Borough of Camden and the town of Abu Dis in the West Bank]
*[http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/p_refugee_camps.jpg Map of Palestinian Refugee Camps 1993 (UNRWA/C.I.A./Univ. of Texas, Austin)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090604104838/http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/p_refugee_camps.jpg |date=4 June 2009 }}
*[http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/cia08/israel_sm_2008.gif Map of Israel 2008 (C.I.A./Univ. of Texas, Austin)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090509055156/http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/cia08/israel_sm_2008.gif |date=9 May 2009 }}
*[http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/isettlementswb93.jpg Map of Israeli Settlements in the West Bank Dec. 1993 (C.I.A./Univ. of Texas, Austin)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090604104845/http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/isettlementswb93.jpg |date=4 June 2009 }}
*[http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/gazastrip.jpg Map of Israeli Settlements in the Gaza Strip Dec. 1993 (C.I.A./Univ. of Texas, Austin)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090604104852/http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/gazastrip.jpg |date=4 June 2009 }}
*[https://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2009/aug/24/israel-settlements-west-bank Israeli Settlements interactive map and Israeli land use] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314111837/http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2009/aug/24/israel-settlements-west-bank |date=14 March 2016 }} from ''[[The Guardian]]''
*[http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/ocha_opt_west_bank_access_restrictions_dec_2012_geopdf_mobile.pdf West Bank access restrictions map (highly detailed), by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203010729/http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/ocha_opt_west_bank_access_restrictions_dec_2012_geopdf_mobile.pdf |date=3 December 2013 }}
*[https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21577111-jewish-settlements-expand-palestinians-are-being-driven-away-squeeze-them ''Squeeze them out; As Jewish settlements expand, the Palestinians are being driven away''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170618124730/http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21577111-jewish-settlements-expand-palestinians-are-being-driven-away-squeeze-them |date=18 June 2017 }} 4 May 2013 [[The Economist]]
{{refend}}

{{Palestine topics}}
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[[Category:West Bank| ]]
[[Category:Palestine|West Bank]]
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