The "West Bank"

 

The West Bank is a landlocked territory in West Asia's Levant region, bounded by Israel to the north, west, and south, and by Jordan and the Dead Sea to the east. It is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that collectively make up Palestine. Since the 1967 Six-Day War, the West Bank has been under Israeli military occupation, a status that remains a central focus of international law, human rights monitoring, and geopolitical conflict. 

Governance and Territorial Divisions

The geopolitical structure of the West Bank is primarily defined by the framework established during the 1990s Oslo Accords. The agreements partitioned the territory into three administrative zones, which persist today: 

• Area A: Encompasses approximately 18% of the territory. The Palestinian Authority (PA) maintains nominal civil and internal security control over these densely populated hubs, which include major Palestinian cities like Ramallah, Nablus, and Jenin. 
• Area B: Accounts for roughly 22% of the West Bank. The PA manages civil administration—such as education and healthcare—while sharing security oversight with the Israeli military. 
• Area C: Comprises over 60% of the land area. Israel retains full civilian and military governance. This zone contains agricultural lands, critical infrastructure, and almost all of the Israeli settlements. 

Population and Demographics

According to demographic records and estimates curated by organizations like Encyclopædia Britannica:

• Palestinian Residents: Around 3.3 million Palestinians reside across the territory, primarily concentrated within the major municipal hubs of Areas A and B. 
• Israeli Settlers: Upwards of 529,000 Israeli Jewish citizens live within specialized settlements and outposts in Area C. An additional 246,000 reside in East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in 1967. 
• Refugee Communities: The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) actively services 19 registered refugee camps within the West Bank, offering healthcare, education, and essential social infrastructure to displaced populations. 

Key Historical Milestones

• Pre-1948: The land was part of the Ottoman Empire for centuries before falling under British control following World War I as part of Mandatory Palestine. 
• Jordanian Rule (1948–1967): In the wake of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the territory was occupied and subsequently annexed by Jordan, which coined the geographical name "West Bank" to denote its position relative to the Jordan River. 
• Israeli Occupation (1967–Present): Israel captured the territory during the Six-Day War. Within Israel, the area is frequently designated by its biblical names, Judea and Samaria. 

Current Dynamics

Tensions in the region remain elevated. Comprehensive databases managed by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHHA) track a sharp rise in home demolitions, land disputes, and localized violence. Concurrently, the expansion of Israeli settlement networks and the installation of high-tech security checkpoints—such as facial recognition systems—continue to restrict freedom of movement for Palestinian residents, drawing ongoing international scrutiny and legal pushback from foreign governments. 

The terms border and boundary are almost never used because none exist. 

The West bank has no defined border and the meaning changes every time Israel moves the now famous yellow lines dividing land controlled by Israel from land being progressively occupied with the pursuit of Greater Israel (aka Eretz Israel).