The 'West Bank' (, '', , ''Hagadah Hamaaravit''), also known as '
Judea and Samaria', is a
landlocked territory on the west bank of the
Jordan River in the
Middle East. Togerther with the
Gaza Strip it forms the
State of Palestine declared in
1988, Since
1967 most of the West Bank has been under
Israeli military occupation and settlement. The occupation is not recognised internationally,
UN Resolution 242 calls from territories seized by Israel in 1967, generally regarded as including all of the West Bank.
After the dissolution of the
Ottoman Empire in 1922, this territory was part of the
British Mandate of Palestine. The
1948 Arab-Israeli War saw the establishment of Israel in the former mandate, while the
Gaza Strip was captured by
Egypt. The West Bank was captured and
annexed by
Jordan, and the
1949 Armistice Agreements defined its interim boundary. From 1948 until 1967, the area was
under Jordanian rule, though Jordan did not officially relinquish its claim to the area until
1988. It was captured by Israel
[1][2] during the
Six-Day War. With the exception of
East Jerusalem it was not annexed by
Israel, although most of the West Bank remains under Israeli military occupation. Large numbers of
Israeli settlements have also been built in the region.
__TOC__
Origin of the name
West Bank
The region did not have a separate existence until 1948–9, when it was defined by the
Armistice Agreement between Israel and Jordan. The name "West Bank" was apparently first used by Jordanians at the time of their
annexation of the region, and has become the most common name used in
English and related languages. The term literally means 'the West bank of the river Jordan'; the Kingdom of Jordan being on the 'East bank' of this same river Jordan.
Judea and Samaria
Prior to this usage of the name "West Bank", the region was commonly referred to as
Judea and Samaria, its long-standing name. For example, U.N. Resolution 181, the
1947 partition plan, explicitly refers to the central section of the Arab State as "the hill country of Samaria and Judea". For region boundaries set forth in the resolution see the text
here.
Israelis refer to the region either as a unit: "The West Bank" (
Hebrew: "ha-Gada ha-Ma'aravit" "הגדה המערבית"), or as two units:
Judea (Hebrew: "Yehuda" "יהודה") and
Samaria (Hebrew: "Shomron" "שומרון"), after the two biblical kingdoms (the southern
Kingdom of Judah and the northern
Kingdom of Israel — the capital of which was, for a time, in the town of Samaria). The border between Judea and Samaria is a belt of territory immediately north of (and historically traditionally including) Jerusalem sometimes called the "land of
Benjamin". The name ''Judea and Samaria'' has been in continual use by Jews as well as various others since
biblical times. This name carries an emotional meaning to many Jews as the cradle of Jewish Nation is derived from the time of
King David in the region, the main religious sites and tombs are present there, and continuous Jewish communities were concentrated in the area throughout the years.
Cisjordan/Transjordan
The neo-
Latin name ''
Cisjordan'' or ''Cis-Jordan'' (literally "on this side of the [River] Jordan") is the usual name in the
Romance languages and . The analogous ''
Transjordan'' has historically been used to designate the region now comprising the state of Jordan which lies on the "other side" of the
River Jordan. In English, the name ''Cisjordan'' is also occasionally used to designate the entire region between the
Jordan River and the
Mediterranean Sea, particularly in the historical context of the British Mandate and earlier times. The use of ''Cisjordan'' to refer to the smaller region discussed in this article is rare in English; the name ''West Bank'' is standard usage for this geo-political entity. For the low-lying area immediately west of the Jordan, the name ''Jordan Valley'' is used instead.
History
Map of West Bank settlements and closures as of January 2006, prepared by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Yellow areas are the main Palestinian urban centres. Light pink represents closed military areas or settlement boundary areas or areas isolated by the
Israeli West Bank Barrier; dark pink represents settlements, outposts or military bases. The black line marks the route of the Barrier.
The territories now known as the West Bank were part of the Mandate of Palestine granted to Great Britain by the League of Nations after WWI. The current border of the West Bank was not a dividing line of any sort during the Mandate period. When the United Nations General Assembly voted in 1947 to partition Palestine into a Jewish State, an Arab State, and an internationally-administered enclave of Jerusalem, almost all of the West Bank was assigned to the Arab State. In the ensuing 1948 Arab-Israel war, the territory was captured by the neighboring kingdom of Jordan. It was annexed by Jordan in 1950 but this annexation was recognized only by the
United Kingdom. (
Pakistan is often, but apparently falsely,
[1] assumed to have recognized it also.)
The
1949 Armistice Agreements established the "Green Line" separating the territories held by Israel and its neighbors. During the 1950s, there was a significant
influx of Palestinian refugees and violence together with Israeli reprisal raids across the Green Line.
In May of 1967 Egypt ordered out U.N. peacekeeping troops and re-militarized the
Sinai peninsula, and blockaded the
straits of Tiran. Fearing an Egyptian attack, the government of
Levi Eshkol attempted to restrict any confrontation to Egypt alone. In particular it did whatever it could to avoid fighting Jordan, as it did not want to have to deal with the Palestinian population of the West Bank. However, "carried along by a powerful current of Arab nationalism", on May 30, 1967
King Hussein flew to Egypt and signed a mutual defense treaty in which the two countries agreed to consider "any armed attack on either state or its forces as an attack on both".
Fearing an imminent Egyptian attack, on June 5, the Israel Defense Forces launched a pre-emptive attack on Egypt
[4] which began what came to be known as the
Six Day War.
Jordan soon began shelling targets in west Jerusalem,
Netanya, and the outskirts of
Tel Aviv.
[1] Despite this, Israel sent a message promising not to initiate any action against Jordan if it stayed out of the war. Hussein replied that it was too late, "the die was cast".
On the evening of June 5 the Israeli cabinet convened to decide what to do;
Yigal Allon and
Menahem Begin argued that this was an opportunity to take the Old City of Jerusalem, but Eshkol decided to defer any decision until
Moshe Dayan and
Yitzhak Rabin could be consulted.
[6] Uzi Narkis made a number of proposals for military action, including the capture of
Latrun, but the cabinet turned him down. The Israeli military only commenced action after Government House was captured, which was seen as a threat to the security of Jerusalem.
[7] On June 6 Dayan encircled the city, but, fearing damage to holy places and having to fight in built-up areas, he ordered his troops not to go in. However, upon hearing that the U.N. was about to declare a ceasefire, he changed his mind, and without cabinet clearance, decided to take the city.
[6] After fierce fighting with Jordanian troops in and around the Jerusalem area, Israel captured the Old City on June 7.
No specific decision had been made to capture any other territories controlled by Jordan. After the Old City was captured, Dayan told his troops to dig in to hold it. When an armored brigade commander entered the West Bank on his own initiative, and stated that he could see
Jericho, Dayan ordered him back. However, when intelligence reports indicated that Hussein had withdrawn his forces across the Jordan river, Dayan ordered his troops to capture the West Bank.
[7] Over the next two days, the IDF swiftly captured the rest of the West Bank and blew up the Abdullah and Hussien Bridges over the Jordan, thereby severing the West Bank from the East.
[10] According to Narkis:
First, the Israeli government had no intention of capturing the West Bank. On the contrary, it was opposed to it. Second, there was not any provocation on the part of the IDF. Third, the rein was only loosened when a real threat to Jerusalem's security emerged. This is truly how things happened on June 5, although it is difficult to believe. The end result was something that no one had planned.[11]
In November, 1967,
UN Security Council Resolution 242 was unanimously adopted, calling for "the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East" to be achieved by "the application of both the following principles:" "Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict" (see
semantic dispute) and: "Termination of all claims or states of belligerency" and respect for the right of every state in the area to live in peace within secure and recognised boundaries.
Egypt, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon entered into consultations with the UN Special representative over the implementation of 242. .
[12]
In 1988, Jordan ceded its claims to the West Bank to the
Palestine Liberation Organization, as "the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people."
[2][3]
Administration
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 areas:
| Area | Control | Administration | % of WB
land | % of WB
Palestinians |
|---|
| A | Palestinian | Palestinian | 17% | 55% |
| B | Israeli | Palestinian | 24% | 41% |
| C | Israeli | Israeli | 59% | 4%[13] |
Area A comprises Palestinian towns, and some rural areas away from Israeli population centers in the north (between
Jenin,
Nablus,
Tubas, and
Tulkarm), the south (around
Hebron), and one in the center south of
Salfit. Area B adds other populated rural areas, many closer to the center of the West Bank. Area C contains all the
Israeli settlements, roads used to access the settlements, buffer zones (near settlements, roads, strategic areas, and Israel), and almost all of the
Jordan Valley and
Judean Desert.
Areas A and B are themselves divided among 227 separate areas (199 of which are smaller than 2 square kilometers) that are separated from one another by Israeli-controlled Area C.
[14]
Areas A, B, and C cut across the 11
Governorates (districts) used as administrative divisions by the
Palestinian Authority and named after major towns.
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.
[15]
The
Palestinian Authority has full civil control in area A, area B is characterized by joint-administration between the
PA and
Israel, while area C is under full Israeli control. Israel maintains overall control over
Israeli settlements, roads, water, airspace, "external" security and borders for the entire territory
Demographics
Main articles: Demographics of the West Bank
Palestinian Children in Hebron
The
Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics estimated that approximately 2.5 million
Palestinians lived in the West Bank (including Israeli-administered
East Jerusalem) at the end of
2006.
[16], though a recent study by the American-Israel Demographic Research Group disputes these figures (see
#Recent Developments).
There are over 275,000
Israeli settlers living in the West Bank, as well as around 200,000 Israeli Jews 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 or low thousands. The Jews in the West Bank live mostly isolated in Israeli settlements with little social interaction with other Palestinians. Interactions between the two societies have generally declined following the Palestinian
Intifadas, though an economic relationship often exists between adjacent
Israeli settlements and
Palestinian villages.
Approximately 30% of Palestinians living in the West Bank are
refugees from villages and towns located in what became Israel during the
1948 Arab-Israeli War (see
Palestinian exodus).
[17][18][19]
Recent Developments
A 2005 study
[ The Million Person Gap: The Arab Population in the West Bank and Gaza B. Zimmerman, R. Seid and M. L. Wise ] concluded that the Palestine Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) had seriously overestimated the growth of the Palestinian population. According to the study, successive PCBS projections were extrapolated from flawed 1997 census data that counted residents living abroad, double counted residents of Jerusalem, and overestimated
birth rates and
net migration rate. The study placed the Arab population of the West Bank at only 1.41 Million, not including approximately 220,000 residents of East Jerusalem counted in
Israel's census.
Sergio DellaPergola, a demographer at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, criticised the study's authors of misunderstanding basic principles of demography and of making multiple methodological errors that invalidated the results.
[20]
Significant population centers
Significant population centers| Center | Population |
|---|
| al-Bireh | 40,000 |
|---|
| Betar Illit | 29,355 |
|---|
| Bethlehem | 30,000 |
|---|
| Gush Etzion | 40,000 |
|---|
| Hebron | 120,000 |
|---|
| Jericho | 25,000 |
|---|
| East Jerusalem | 400,000 |
|---|
| Jenin | 47,000 |
|---|
| Ma'ale Adummim | 33,259 |
|---|
| Modi'in Illit | 34,514 |
|---|
| Nablus | 100,000 |
|---|
| Qalqilyah | 40,000 |
|---|
| Ramallah | 60,000 |
|---|
| Tulkarm | 75,000 |
|---|
| Yattah | 42,000 |
|---|
The most densely populated part of the region is a mountainous spine, running north-south, where the cities of
Nablus,
Ariel,
Abu Dis,
Ramallah,
al-Bireh,
Ma'ale Adummim,
Bethlehem,
Beitar Illit,
Gush Etzion,
Hebron,
Tubas and
Yattah are located.
Jenin, in the extreme north of the West Bank 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 is situated in the
Jordan Valley, north of the
Dead Sea.
Transportation and communication
Roads
Checkpoint before entering
Jericho, 2005.
The West Bank has 4,500 km of roads, of which 2,700 km are paved.
In response to shootings by Palestinians, some highways, especially those leading to
Israeli settlements, are completely inaccessible to cars with Palestinian license plates, while many other roads are restricted only to public transportation and to Palestinians who have special permits from Israeli authorities
[5][6] [7].
Due to numerous shooting
assaults
targeting Israeli vehicles, the
IDF bars Israelis from using most of the original roads in the West Bank. Israel's longstanding policy of separation-to-prevent-friction dictates the development of alternative highway systems for Israelis and Palestinian traffic.
Israel maintains more than 50 checkpoints in the West Bank
[8].
As such, movement restrictions are also placed on main roads traditionally used by Palestinians to travel between cities, and such restrictions have been blamed for poverty and economic depression in the West Bank
[9]. Since the beginning of 2005, there has been some amelioration of these restrictions. According to recent human rights reports, "Israel has made efforts to improve transport contiguity for Palestinians travelling in the West Bank. It has done this by constructing underpasses and bridges (28 of which have been constructed and 16 of which are planned) that link Palestinian areas separated from each other by Israeli settlements and bypass roads"
[10] and by removal of checkpoints and physical obstacles, or by not reacting to Palestinian removal or natural erosion of other obstacles. "The impact (of these actions) is most felt by the easing of movement between villages and between villages and the urban centres"
[11].
However, the obstacles encircling major Palestinian urban hubs, particularly Nablus and Hebron, have remained. In addition, the
IDF prohibits Israeli citizens from entering Palestinian-controlled land (Area A).
As of August 2007, a divided highway is currently under construction that will pass through the West Bank. The highway 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 freely pass north-south through Israeli-held land.
[21]
Airports
The West Bank has three paved airports which are currently for military use only. The only civilian airport of
Atarot Airport in northern Jerusalem, which was open only to Israeli citizens, was closed in 2001 due to the Intifada. Palestinians were previously able to use Israel's
Ben Gurion International Airport with permission; however, Israel has discontinued issuing such permits, and Palestinians wishing to travel must cross the land border to either
Jordan or
Egypt in order to use airports located in these countries
[12].
Telecom
The Israeli
Bezeq and Palestinian
PalTel telecommunication companies provide communication services in the West Bank.
Radio and television
The
Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation broadcasts from an AM station in Ramallah on 675 kHz; numerous local privately owned stations are also in operation. Most Palestinian households have a radio and TV, and satellite dishes for receiving international coverage are widespread. Recently, PalTel announced and has begun implementing an initiative to provide ADSL broadband internet service to all households and businesses.
Israel's
cable television company
'HOT', satellite television provider (
DBS)
'Yes', AM & FM radio broadcast stations and public television broadcast stations all operate. Broadband internet service by Bezeq's ADSL and by the cable company are available as well.
Higher education
Before 1967 there were no universities in the West Bank (except for the Hebrew University in Jerusalem - see below). There were a few lesser institutions of higher education; for example,
An-Najah, which started as an elementary school in 1918 and became a community college in 1963. As the Jordanian government did not allow the establishment of such universities in the West Bank, Palestinians could obtain degrees only by travelling abroad to places such as Jordan, Lebanon, or Europe.
After the region was captured by Israel in the
Six-Day War, several educational institutions began offering undergraduate courses, while others opened up as entirely new universities. In total, seven Universities have been commissioned in the West Bank since 1967:
★
Bethlehem University, a
Roman Catholic institution partially funded by the
Vatican, opened its doors in 1973
[13].
★ 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
[14].
★ An-Najah College in
Nablus likewise became
An-Najah National University in 1977
[15].
★ The
Hebron University was established in 1980
[16]
★
Al-Quds University, whose founders had yearned to establish a university in Jerusalem since the early days of Jordanian rule, finally realized their goal in 1995
[17].
★ Also in 1995, after the signing of the
Oslo Accords, the
Arab American University—the only private university in the West Bank—was founded in
Jenin, with the purpose of providing courses according to the
American system of education [18].
★ In 2005, the Israeli government recommended to upgrade the
College of Judea and Samaria in
Ariel to become a full fledged university
[19]. This move to create a university within an
Israeli settlement has angered some Palestinians, although no official response was made by the Palestinian authority.
★ The
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, established in 1918, is one of Israel's oldest, largest, and most important institutes of higher learning and research. During the
1948 Arab-Israeli War, the leader of the Palestinian forces in Jerusalem,
Abdul Kader Husseini, threatened that the Hadassah Hospital and the Hebrew University would be captured or destroyed "if the Jews continued to use them as bases for attacks".
[22] Medical convoys between the Yishuv-controlled section of Jerusalem and Mount Scopus were attacked since December 1947.
[23] After the
Hadassah medical convoy massacre in 1948, which also included university staff, the Mount Scopus campus was cut off from the Jewish part of Jerusalem. After the War, the University was forced to relocate to a new campus in Givat Ram in western Jerusalem. After Israel captured
East Jerusalem in the
Six-Day War of June 1967, the University returned to its original campus in Mount Scopus.
Most universities in the West Bank have politically active student bodies, and elections of student council officers are normally along party affiliations. Although the establishment of the universities was initially allowed by the Israeli authorities, some were sporadically ordered closed by the Israeli Civil Administration during the 1970s and 1980s to prevent political activities and violence against the
IDF. Some universities remained closed by military order for extended periods during years immediately preceding and following the first Palestinian
Intifada, but have largely remained open since the signing of the Oslo Accords despite the advent of the
Al-Aqsa Intifada 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 degrees had obtained them from Palestinian institutions
[20]. According to UNESCO, Palestinians are one of the most highly educated groups in the Middle East "despite often difficult circumstances"
[21]. The literacy rate among Palestinians in the West Bank (and Gaza) (89%) is third highest in the region after Israel (95%) and Jordan (90%)
[22][23] [24].
Status
Legal status
The West Bank is currently considered under
international law to be ''
de jure'', a
territory not part of any
state. The
United Nations Security Council,
[24] the
United Nations General Assembly,
[25] the
International Court of Justice,
[26] and the
International Committee of the Red Cross[27] refer to it as
occupied by Israel.
According to
Alan Dowty, legally the status of the West Bank falls under the international law of belligerent occupation, as distinguished from nonbelligerent occupation that follows an armistice. This assumes the possibility of renewed fighting, and affords the occupier "broad leeway". The West Bank has a unique status in two respects; first, there is no precedent for a belligerent occupation lasting for more than a brief period, and second, that the West Bank was not part of a sovereign country before occupation — thus, in legal terms, there is no "reversioner" for the West Bank. This means that sovereignty of the West Bank is currently suspended, and, according to some, Israel, as the only successor state to the Palestine Mandate, has a status that "goes beyond that of military occupier alone."
[28]
Political positions
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 current
Road Map for Peace, proposed by the "
Quartet" comprising the
United States,
Russia, the
European Union, and the
United Nations, envisions an independent Palestinian state in these territories living side by side with
Israel (see also
proposals for a Palestinian state).
The Palestinian people believe 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 self-determination. The
United Nations calls the West Bank and Gaza Strip ''Israeli-occupied'' (see
Israeli-occupied territories). The
United States generally agrees with this definition. Many Israelis and their supporters prefer the term ''
disputed territories,'' claiming it comes closer to a
neutral point of view; this viewpoint is not accepted by most other countries, which consider "occupied" to be the neutral description of status.
Israel argues that its presence is justified because:
# Israel's eastern border has never been defined by anyone;
# The ''disputed territories'' have not been part of any state (Jordanian annexation was never officially recognized) since the time of the
Ottoman Empire;
# According to the
Camp David Accords (1978) with
Egypt, the 1994 agreement with
Jordan and the
Oslo Accords with the
PLO, the final status of the territories would be fixed only when there was a permanent agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
Palestinian public opinion is almost unanimous in opposing Israeli military and settler presence on the West Bank as a violation of their right to statehood and sovereignty.
[29] 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); (According to a 2003 poll 76% of Israelis support a peace agreement based on that principle).
[30]
★ 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 as (for instance) citizens of Jordan with Israeli residence permit as per the
Elon Peace Plan;
★ Annexation of the West Bank and assimilation of the Palestinian population to fully fledged Israeli citizens;
★
Transfer of the East Jerusalem Palestinian population (a 2002 poll at the height of the
Al Aqsa intifada found 46% of Israelis favoring Palestinian transfer of Jerusalem residents;
[31] in 2005 two polls using a different methodology put the number at approximately 30%).
[32]
Annexation
Principal geographical features of Israel and south-eastern Mediterranean region
Israel annexed the territory of
East Jerusalem, and its Palestinian residents (if they should decline Israeli citizenship) have legal
permanent residency status.
[33][34] 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.
[35] There are various possible reasons as to why the West Bank had not been annexed to Israel after its
capture in 1967. 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 the most agreed upon:
★ Reluctance to award its citizenship to an overwhelming number of a potentially hostile population whose allies were sworn to the destruction of Israel
[36][37][38]
★ Fear that the population of non-
Zionist Arabs would outnumber the Israelis, appeal to different political interests, and vote Israel out of existence; thus failing to maintain the concept and safety of a
Jewish state [36][40]
★ To ultimately exchange the
land for peace with neighbouring states
Settlements and International Law
Main articles: Israeli settlement#Legal status of the settlements
Israeli settlements on the West Bank beyond the Green Line border are considered by some legal scholars to be illegal under international law.
[41][42][43][44] Other legal scholars
[45] including
Julius Stone,
[46] have argued that the settlements are legal under international law, on a number of different grounds. ''The Independent'' reported in March 2006 that immediately after the 1967 war
Theodor Meron, legal counsel 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".
[47][48] A contrasting opinion was held by
Eugene Rostow, a former Dean of the Yale Law School and undersecretary of state for political affairs in the administration of U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, who wrote in 1991 that Israel has a right to have settlements in the West Bank under 1967's UN Security Council Resolution 242.
[49]
It is the policy of both Israel and the United States that the settlements do not violate international law, although the United States considers ongoing settlement activity to be "unhelpful" to the peace process. The European Union
[50] and the Arab League
[51] consider the settlements to be illegal. Israel also recognizes that some small settlements are "illegal" in the sense of being in violation of Israeli law.
[52][53]
In 2005 the United States ambassador to Israel, Dan Kurtzer, expressed U.S. support "for the retention by Israel of major Israeli population centres [in the West Bank] as an outcome of negotiations",
[54] reflecting President Bush's statement a year earlier that a permanent peace treaty would have to reflect "demographic realities" on the West Bank.
[55]
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 ''[the] practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity'', and it calls on Israel ''as the occupying Power, to abide scrupulously by the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention.''
[56]
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."
[57]
West Bank barrier
Panoramic view toward Tel Aviv from the Settlement
Peduel in the west bank, the
Green line passes less than 20km from central
Tel Aviv
The
Israeli West Bank barrier is a physical
barrier being constructed by
Israel consisting of a network of fences with vehicle-barrier trenches surrounded by an on average 60 meters wide exclusion area (90%) and up to 8 meters high concrete walls (10%).
[58] It is located mainly within the West Bank, partly along the
1949 Armistice line, or "
Green Line" between the West Bank and Israel. As of April 2006 the length of the barrier as approved by the Israeli government is 703 kilometers (436 miles) long. Approximately 58.4% has been constructed, 8.96% is under construction, and construction has not yet begun on 33% of the barrier.
[59] The space between the barrier and the green line is a closed military zone known as the
Seam Zone, cutting off 8.5% of the West Bank and encompassing tens of villages and tens of thousands of Palestinians.
[ Indepth Middle East:Israel's Barrier Margarat Evans ].
[ Israel's Separation Barrier:Challenges to the Rule of Law and Human Rights: Executive Summary Part I and II ]
The barrier is a very controversial project. Supporters claim the barrier is a necessary tool protecting Israeli civilians from Palestinian terrorism, including suicide bombing attacks, that increased significantly during the
al-Aqsa Intifada;
[60][61] it has helped reduce incidents of terrorism by 90% from 2002 to 2005;
[62] its supporters claim that the onus is now on the Palestinian Authority to fight terrorism.
[63]
Opponents claim the barrier is an illegal attempt to annex Palestinian land under the guise of security,
[64] violates international law,
[65] has the intent or effect to pre-empt final status negotiations,
[66] and severely restricts Palestinians who live nearby, particularly their ability to travel freely within the West Bank and to access work in Israel, thereby undermining their economy.
[67] According to a 2007
World Bank report, the Israeli occupation of the West Bank has destroyed the Palestinian economy, in violation of the 2005
Agreement on Movement and Access. All major roads (with a total length of 700 km) are basically off-limits to Palestinians, making it impossible to do normal business. Economic recovery would reduce Palestinian dependence on international aid by one billion dollars per year.
[68]
Pro-settler opponents claim that the barrier is a sly attempt to artificially create a border that excludes the settlers, creating "facts on the ground" that justify the mass dismantlement of hundreds of settlements and displacement of over 100,000 Jews from the land they claim as their biblical homeland.
[69]
Notes
1. "On June 5, Israel sent a message to Hussein urging him not to open fire. Despite shelling into western Jerusalem, Netanya, and the outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel did nothing." The Six Day War and Its Enduring Legacy, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, July 2, 2002.
2. "In May-June 1967 Eshkol's government did everything in its power to confine the confrontation to the Egyptian front. Eshkol and his colleagues took into account the possibility of some fighting on the Syrian front. But they wanted to avoid having a clash with Jordan and the inevitable complications of having to deal with the predominantly Palestinian population of the West Bank.
The fighting on the eastern front was initiated by Jordan, not by Israel. King Hussein got carried along by a powerful current of Arab nationalism. On 30 May he flew to Cairo and signed a defense pact with Nasser. On 5 June, Jordan started shelling the Israeli side in Jerusalem. This could have been interpreted either as a salvo to uphold Jordanian honor or as a declaration of war. Eshkol decided to give King Hussein the benefit of the doubt. Through General Odd Bull, the Norwegian commander of UNTSO, he sent the following message the morning of 5 June: 'We shall not initiate any action whatsoever against Jordan. However, should Jordan open hostilities, we shall react with all our might, and the king will have to bear the full responsibility of the consequences.' King Hussein told General Bull that it was too late; the die was cast." Avi Shlaim, ''The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World'', W. W. Norton & Company, 2000, pp. 243-244.
3. Michael Oren, ''Six Days of War'', Oxford University Press, 2002, ISBN 0195151747, p. 130
4. Pre-emptive strike:
★ "In a pre-emptive attack on Egypt..." Israel and the Palestinians in depth, 1967: Six Day War, ''BBC'' website. URL accessed May 14, 2006.
★ "a massive pre-emptive strike on Egypt." BBC on this day, ''BBC'' website. URL accessed May 14, 2006.
★ "Israel launched a pre-emptive strike on June 5" Mideast 101: The Six Day War, ''CNN'' website. URL accessed May 14, 2006.
★ "Most historians now agree that although Israel struck first, this pre-emptive strike was defensive in nature." The Mideast: A Century of Conflict Part 4: The 1967 Six Day War, ''NPR'' morning edition, October 3, 2002. URL accessed May 14, 2006.
★ "a massive preemptive strike by Israel that crippled the Arabs’ air capacity." SIX-DAY WAR, Funk & Wagnalls® New Encyclopedia. © 2006 World Almanac Education Group via ''The History Channel'' website, 2006, URL accessed February 17, 2007.
★ "In a pre-emptive strike, Israel smashed its enemies’ forces in just six days..." Country Briefings: Israel, ''The Economist'' website, Jul 28th 2005. URL accessed March 15, 2007.
★ "Yet pre-emptive strikes can often be justified even if they don't meet the letter of the law. At the start of the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel, fearing that Egypt was aiming to destroy the Jewish state, devastated Egypt's air force before its pilots had scrambled their jets." Strike First, Explain Yourself Later Michael Elliott, ''Time'', Jul. 01, 2002. URL accessed March 15, 2007.
★ "the situation was similar to the crisis that preceded the 1967 Six Day war, when Israel took preemptive military action." Delay with Diplomacy, Marguerite Johnson, ''Time'', May 18, 1981. URL accessed March 15, 2007.
★ "Israel made a preemptive attack against a threatened Arab invasion..." Six-Day War, Encarta Answers, URL accessed April 10, 2007.
★ "Israel preempted the invasion with its own attack on June 5, 1967." Six-Day War, Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007. URL accessed April 10, 2007.
Following Egyptian actions:
★ "In 1967, Egypt ordered the UN troops out and blocked Israeli shipping routes - adding to already high levels of tension between Israel and its neighbours." Israel and the Palestinians in depth, 1967: Six Day War, ''BBC'' website. URL accessed May 14, 2006.
★ "In June 1967, Egypt, Syria and Jordan massed their troops on Israel's borders in preparation for an all-out attack." Mideast 101: The Six Day War, ''CNN'' website. URL accessed May 14, 2006.
★ "Nasser... closed the Gulf of Aqaba to shipping, cutting off Israel from its primary oil supplies. He told U.N. peacekeepers in the Sinai Peninsula to leave. He then sent scores of tanks and hundreds of troops into the Sinai closer to Israel. The Arab world was delirious with support," The Mideast: A Century of Conflict Part 4: The 1967 Six Day War, ''NPR'' morning edition, October 3, 2002. URL accessed May 14, 2006.
★ "War returned in 1967, when Egypt, Syria and Jordan massed forces to challenge Israel." Country Briefings: Israel, ''The Economist'' website. URL accessed March 3, 2007.
★ "After Israel declared its statehood, several Arab states and Palestinian groups immediately attacked Israel, only to be driven back. In 1956 Israel overran Egypt in the Suez-Sinai War. Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser vowed to avenge Arab losses and press the cause of Palestinian nationalism. To this end, he organized an alliance of Arab states surrounding Israel and mobilized for war." Six-Day War, Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007. URL accessed April 10, 2007.
5. "On June 5, Israel sent a message to Hussein urging him not to open fire. Despite shelling into western Jerusalem, Netanya, and the outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel did nothing." The Six Day War and Its Enduring Legacy, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, July 2, 2002.
6. Shlaim, 2000, p. 244.
7. Shlaim, 2000, p. 245.
8. Shlaim, 2000, p. 244.
9. Shlaim, 2000, p. 245.
10. Benny Morris, ''Righteous Victims'', pp. 324-5
11. Shlaim, 2000, p. 246.
12. "See Security Council Document S/10070 Para 2."
13. http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/World/palest.htm
14. www.prb.org/Articles/2002/TheWestBankandGazaAPopulationProfile.aspx
15. www.btselem.org/English/Publications/Summaries/200205_Land_Grab.asp
16. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
17. UNRWA in Figures: Figures as of 31 December 2004
18. Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
19. Can trust be rebuilt? Ksenia Svetlova
20. Sergio DellaPergola, Letter to the editor, ''Azure'', 2007, No. 27, [4]
21. Erlanger, Steven. A Segregated Road in an Already Divided Land, ''The New York Times'', (2007-08-11)
22. 'Husseini Threatens Hadassah', ''The Palestine Post'', 18 March, 1948, p. 1.
23. ''The Palestine Post'', 14 April, 1948, p. 3
24. Resolution 446, Resolution 465, Resolution 484, among others
25. 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
26. Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
27. Conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention: statement by the International Committee of the Red Cross
28. Dowty, 2001, p. 217.
29. PSR Survey
30. Israeli public opinion regarding the conflict
31. A Further Turn to the Right: Israeli Public Opinion on National Security - 2002, Asher Arian, , , Strategic Assessment, 2002
32. Suppressed poll released following WND story: Results show plurality of Israelis favor booting Palestinians Aaron Klein
33.
34. The Quiet Deportation: Revocation of Residency of East Jerusalem Palestinians (Summary) Yael Stein
35. Legal status of East Jerusalem and its residents
36. Bard
37. A Young Person's History of Israel, David Bamberger, , , Behrman House, , ISBN 0-87441-393-1
38. What Occupation?
39. Bard
40. (Bard Our Positions: Solving the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict
41. International Law and the Administration of Occupied Territories, Emma Playfair (Ed.), , , Oxford University Press, , ISBN 0-19-825297-8
42. Justice and Fairness in International Negotiation, Cecilia Albin, , , Cambridge University Press, , ISBN 0-521-79725-X
43. Judicial Protection of Human Rights: Myth or Reality?, Mark Gibney, , , Praeger/Greenwood, , ISBN 0-275-96011-0
44. 'Plia Albeck, legal adviser to the Israeli Government was born in 1937. She died on September 27, 2005, aged 68', ''The Times'', October 5, 2005, p. 71.
45. FAQ on Israeli settlements
46. http://www.aijac.org.au/resources/reports/international_law.pdf
47. Donald Macintyre, 'Israelis were warned on illegality of settlements in 1967 memo', ''The Independent'' (London), March 11, 2006, p. 27.
48. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0311-06.htm
49. http://www.tzemachdovid.org/Facts/islegal1.shtml
50. [25] EU Committee Report. Retrieved April 19, 2007
51. [26] Arab League news report. Retrieved April 19, 2007
52. Diplomatic and Legal Aspects of the Settlement Issue, Jerusalem Issue Brief, Vol. 2, No. 16, 19 January, 2003.
53. How to Respond to Common Misstatements About Israel: Israeli Settlements, Anti-Defamation League website. URL accessed April 10, 2006.
54. 'US will accept Israel settlements', BBC News Online, 25 March, 2005.
55. 'UN Condemns Israeli settlements', BBC News Online, 14 April, 2005.
56. UNSC Resolution 446 (1979) of 22 March 1979
57. Implementation of the Fourth Geneva Convention in the occupied Palestinian territories: history of a multilateral process (1997-2001), ''International Review of the Red Cross'', 2002 - No. 847.
58. Israel High Court Ruling Docket H.C.J. 7957/04
59. http://www.btselem.org/english/Separation_Barrier/Statistics.asp
60.
61. Map of Palestine - Land of Israel, 1845
62. Wall Street Journal, "After Sharon", January 6, 2006.
63. Sen. Clinton: I support W. Bank fence, PA must fight terrorism
64. Under the Guise of Security, B'Tselem]
65. "U.N. court rules West Bank barrier illegal" (CNN)
66. Set in stone, The Guardian, June 15, 2003
67. The West Bank Wall - Unmaking Palestine
68. Movement and access restrictions in the West Bank: Uncertainty and inefficiency in the Palestinian economy. World Bank Technical Team. May 9, 2007.
69. http://www.womeningreen.org/sayjune02.htm
References
★ Albin, Cecilia (2001). ''Justice and Fairness in International Negotiation''. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-79725-X
★ Bamberger, David (1985, 1994). ''A Young Person's History of Israel''. Behrman House. ISBN 0-87441-393-1
★ Dowty, Alan (2001). ''The Jewish State: A Century Later''. University of California Press. ISBN 0520229118
★
Oren, Michael (2002). ''Six Days of War'', Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195151747
★ Gibney, Mark and Frankowski, Stanislaw (1999). ''Judicial Protection of Human Rights''. Praeger/Greenwood. ISBN 0-275-96011-0
★ Playfair, Emma (Ed.) (1992). ''International Law and the Administration of Occupied Territories''. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-825297-8
★
Shlaim, Avi (2000). ''The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World'', W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0393048160
★ Howell, Mark (2007). ''What Did We Do to Deserve This? Palestinian Life under Occupation in the West Bank'', Garnet Publishing. ISBN 1859641954
See also
★
Economy of the West Bank
★
Geography of the West Bank
★
Israeli West Bank barrier
★
West Bank Closures
★
Palestinian exodus
★
Rule of the West Bank and East Jerusalem by Jordan
★
Palestine
★
Israeli Settlements
★
Israel
External links
★
West Bank from the
CIA World Factbook
★
Palestine Facts & Info from Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs
★
The Legal Status of Palestine Under International Law (Supports Palestinian claims), a publication by
Birzeit University.
★
United Nations - Question of Palestine
★
Disputed Territories: Forgotten Facts about the West Bank and Gaza Strip - from the Israeli government
★
The Westbank Dispute Analysis from ProCon
★
Large map of West Bank (1992)
★
MOVING UP: An Aliyah Journal, the new book, is an upbeat account about Aliyah and life in Israel.
★
A series of geopolitical maps of the West Bank
★
"American Thinker" opinion article which disputes some of the data in this article
★
1988 "Address to the Nation" by King Hussein of Jordan Ceding Jordanian Claims to the West Bank to the PLO
★
Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association - establishing links between the North London Borough of Camden and the town of Abu Dis in the West Bank
العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
Español
