West Bank
The West Bank is a piece of land in the Middle East. It touches the Dead Sea and the River Jordan. The landscape is mostly hills or desert. The weather in the summer is hot and dry. It is cooler and rainy in the winter. Some Israelis and other nations disagree on whose it really is. Since 1990 there are talks between the Israeli government and the Palestinians about what will happen in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the future. Most people on the West Bank are Palestinians but there are also many Jewish settlers in settlements. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be illegal under international law. The territory has been under Israeli occupation since 1967.
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الضفة الغربية הגדה המערבית | |
|---|---|
.svg) Location of the West Bank within the claimed territory of the State of Palestine | |
| Coordinates: 32°00′N 35°21′E / 32.000°N 35.350°ECoordinates: 32°00′N 35°21′E / 32.000°N 35.350°E | |
| Area | |
| • Total | 5,655 km2 (2,183 sq mi) |
| Population | |
| • Total | 2,949,246 (est., July 2021)[a] |
| Languages | Arabic, Hebrew |
| Religion | Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Samaritanism |
| Currency | Israeli shekel (ILS) Jordanian dinar (JOD) |
The State of Palestine claims the West Bank with East Jerusalem included.
The West Bank is divided into 165 Palestinian enclaves that are under partial Palestinian rule. The rest of the West Bank, including 200 Israeli settlements, is under full Israeli control.[2]
Israeli settlers and civilians living or traveling through the West Bank are subject to Israeli law, and are represented in the Knesset; On the other hand, Palestinian civilians (and mostly stuck in or confined to scattered enclaves), are subject to martial law and are not permitted to vote in Israel's national elections.[b]
Names
The occupied West Bank is called "Judea and Samaria" by the Israeli government and some Jews and Christian Zionists (en).[3]{{}}
West Bank Media
City of Bethlehem, West Bank
The Cave of the Patriarchs is one of the most famous holy sites in the region.
King Hussein flying over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem when it was under Jordanian control, 1965
City of Jericho, West Bank
U.S. President George Bush and Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, 2008
View of the Judaean Mountains from Ramallah
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
Greater Jerusalem, May 2006. CIA remote sensing map showing areas considered settlements, plus refugee camps, fences, walls, etc.
Map of Israeli settlements and Area C (magenta and blue), 2023
Related pages
Other websites
Notes
- ↑ Over 670,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank as of 2022; approximately 227,100 Israeli settlers live in East Jerusalem as of 2019.[1]
- ↑ While Arab citizens of Israel, most of whom are ethnically Palestinian, can vote in Israeli national elections and live under civilian not military rule, very few live in the West Bank settlements, whose funding and purpose is directed at promoting Jewish residency.
Sources
- ↑ "West Bank". Central Intelligence Agency. 17 October 2023 – via CIA.gov.
- ↑ Israel's control of the airspace and the territorial waters of the Gaza Strip Archived 5 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Harrison, Rebecca (2 October 2007). "Amen" for Israel, say Christian Zionists. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL02191676/. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
