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." . 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.

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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" ( 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-. 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

; 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, {Link without Title} 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". Michael Oren , ''Six Days of War'', Oxford University Press, 2002, ISBN 0195151747, p. 130 Fearing an imminent Egyptian attack, on June 5, the Israel Defense Forces launched a pre-emptive attack on EgyptPre-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. which began what came to be known as the Six Day War .

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.Shlaim, 2000, p. 246.

• Bethlehem University , a Roman Catholic institution partially funded by the Vatican , opened its doors in 1973 {Link without Title} .


• 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 {Link without Title} .


• An-Najah College in Nablus likewise became An-Najah National University in 1977 {Link without Title} .


• The Hebron University was established in 1980 {Link without Title}


• 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 {Link without Title} .


• 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 {Link without Title} .


• In 2005, the Israeli government recommended to upgrade the 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".'Husseini Threatens Hadassah', ''The Palestine Post'', 18 March , 1948, p. 1. Medical convoys between the Yishuv-controlled section of Jerusalem and Mount Scopus were attacked since December 1947. ''The Palestine Post'', 14 April , 1948, p. 3 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.

• 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;



Annexation



• To ultimately exchange the Land For Peace with neighbouring states




Settlements and International Law

See Also: Israeli settlement#Legal status of the settlements


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 EU Committee Report. Retrieved April 19, 2007 and the Arab League [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=1&cid=1173879198619&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull Arab League news report. Retrieved April 19, 2007 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. Diplomatic and Legal Aspects of the Settlement Issue , Jerusalem Issue Brief, Vol. 2, No. 16, website. URL accessed April 10, 2006.

In 2005 the United States ambassador to Israel, Dan Kurtzer, expressed U.S. support "for the retention by Israel of major Israeli population centres the West Bank as an outcome of negotiations", 'US will accept Israel settlements' , BBC News Online, , 2005.

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 '' 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.''[http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/ba123cded3ea84a5852560e50077c2dc!OpenDocument UNSC Resolution 446 (1979) of 22 March 1979

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." 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.


West Bank barrier

in the west bank, the Green Line passes less than 20km from central Tel Aviv ]]
See Also: Israeli West Bank barrier


The , cutting off 8.5% of the West Bank and encompassing tens of villages and tens of thousands of Palestinians.¹¹.¹²

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 ; Map of Palestine - Land of Israel, 1845 it has helped reduce incidents of terrorism by 90% from 2002 to 2005;Wall Street Journal, "After Sharon", January 6, 2006. its supporters claim that the onus is now on the Palestinian Authority to fight terrorism. Sen. Clinton: I support W. Bank fence, PA must fight terrorism

Opponents claim the barrier is an illegal attempt to annex Palestinian land under the guise of security, Under the Guise of Security , 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. Movement and access restrictions in the West Bank: Uncertainty and inefficiency in the Palestinian economy . World Bank Technical Team. May 9, 2007.

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.http://www.womeningreen.org/sayjune02.htm


NOTES




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 Settlement s


• 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




Cultural Heritage


• ''Protection, conservation and valorization of Palestinian Cultural Patrimony'', Fabio Maniscalco (ed.), monographic collection ''"Mediterraneum. Protection and valorization of cultural and environmental patrimony"'' , vol. 5 (Al Quds University of Jerusalem - University L'Orientale of Naples), Massa Publisher -->