Judea and Samaria

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Judea and Samaria

Judea and Samaria (Yehuda VeShomron, also an acronym ??"? Yosh or ?"? Shai; , al-Yahudiyyah was-Samarah) is the official Israeli term roughly corresponding to the territory usually known outside Israel

Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
as the West Bank

West Bank

The West Bank is the eastern Part of the Palestinian territories on the west bank of the River Jordan in the Middle East. To the west, north, and south the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel....
. Jordan occupied the territory and annexed it in 1950. The area was captured from Jordan by Israel in the 1967 Six Day war, and is considered an occupied territory

Military occupation

Belligerent military occupation occurs when the control and authority over a territory passes to a belligerent....
by the International Court of Justice

International Court of Justice

The International Court of Justice is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands....
.

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Israel

West Bank

Military occupation

Belligerent military occupation occurs when the control and authority over a territory passes to a belligerent....
by the International Court of Justice

International Court of Justice

The International Court of Justice is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands....
. The United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, Social change, human rights and achieving world peace....
has declared that resolution of the conflict must be based on the withdrawal of Israeli forces from territories it occupied in the war, in conjunction with the termination of all claims or states of belligerency. The term Judea and Samaria is generally taken to exclude East Jerusalem. However the West Bank is sometimes taken to exclude East Jerusalem as well.

The term "Judea and Samaria" is also employed specifically as a collective reference to the Israeli settlement

Israeli settlement

Israeli settlements are communities inhabited by Israelis in territory that was captured during the 1967 Six-Day War. Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank, which is partially under Israeli military administration and partially under the control of the Palestinian National Authority, and in the Golan Heights, which are under Isr...
s in that area, historically and presently, especially by Jewish settlers and their supporters. Many Arab Palestinians object to this term as a rejection of their claim to the land. Left-wing Israelis prefer "HaGada HaMa'aravit" (???? ??????? "The West Bank" in Hebrew) or "Hashetahim Hakvushim" (?????? ???????, The Occupied Territories).

Status

The Judea and Samaria area is administered by the Israel Defense Forces

Israel Defense Forces

The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew Acronym and initialism Tzahal , are Israel's military forces, comprising the GOC Army Headquarters, Israeli Air Force and Israeli navy....
Central Command, and administrative decisions are subject to the command's chief, Aluf

Aluf

Aluf is the term used for General and Admiral in the Israel Defense Forces . In addition to the Aluf rank itself, there are four other ranks which are derivatives of the word....
Gadi Shamni

Gadi Shamni

Aluf Gadi Shamni is a general in the Israel Defense Forces and the current head of Central Command . In 1977 Shamni was drafted into the Paratroopers Brigade , which he stayed in for much of his early career....
.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 242

United Nations Security Council Resolution 242

United Nations List of the UN resolutions concerning Israel and Palestine 242 was adopted unanimously by the UN Security Council on November 22, 1967, in the aftermath of the Six Day War....
, adopted after Israel captured the region from Jordan in the Six Days War, declares that Israel must withdraw from territories captured in the conflict, in conjunction with the termination of all claims or states of belligerency. The future status of the region is a key factor in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Israeli-Palestinian conflict

The Israeli?Palestinian conflict is an ongoing dispute between Israelis and the Palestinian people. It forms part of the wider Arab?Israeli conflict....
.

Terminology

The term "Judea and Samaria" was officially adopted by the Israeli government in 1967 but not used extensively until the Likud

Likud

Likud is the major center-right List of political parties in Israel in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin, largely as the "direct ideological descendant" of the Herut, in an alliance with several other right-wing and liberal parties....
assumed office in 1977.

The name Judea, when used in Judea and Samaria, refers to all of the region south of Jerusalem

Jerusalem

Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and its List of Israeli cities in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if Positions on Jerusalem East Jerusalem is included....
, including settlements in Gush Etzion and Har Hebron. The region of Samaria, on the other hand, refers to settlements in all areas north of the Jerusalem.

Administrative sub-regions

The district is further divided into 8 military administrative regions: Menashe (Jenin

Jenin

Jenin , a city in the West Bank. Jenin serves as the administrative centre of the Jenin Governorate and is a major Palestinian agricultural center....
area), HaBik'a (Jordan Valley

Jordan Valley (Middle East)

The Jordan Valley is a geographical region that forms part of the larger Jordan Rift Valley. It is 120 kilometers long and 15 kilometers wide, where it runs from the northern Dead Sea in the south to Lake Tiberias in the north....
), Shomron

Samaria

Samaria, or the Shomron is a term used for the mountainous region in northern Israel roughly corresponding to the northern part of the West Bank....
(Shechem

Shechem

Shechem was Canaanite city mentioned in the Amarna letters, and later became an Israelite city in the tribe of Manasseh. It was the first capital of the Kingdom of Israel....
area, known in Arabic as Nablus

Nablus

Nablus is a Palestinian people city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 134,000. Located in a strategic position between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center....
), Efrayim (Tulkarm

Tulkarm

Tulkarm or Tulkarem is a Palestinian city in the Tulkarm Governorate in the northwestern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Tulkarm city and the adjacent refugee camp had a population of approximately 58,962 inhabitants at mid-year 2006....
area), Binyamin (Ramallah

Ramallah

Ramallah is a Palestinian people city in the central West Bank adjacent to al-Bireh with a population nearly 25,500. Ramallah is located 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem and currently serves as the administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority....
/al-Bireh

Al-Bireh

al-Bireh or el-Bira is a Palestinian people city adjacent to Ramallah in the central West Bank, north of Jerusalem. It is situated on the central ridge running through the West Bank and Israel and is above sea level, covering an area of ....
area), Maccabim (Maccabim

Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut

Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut is a city in the Center District of Israel. Formed as the result of the merger of Modi'in and Maccabim-Re'ut in 2003, the city was, as of the end of 2007, home to approximately 67,100....
area), Etzion

Gush Etzion

Gush Etzion refers to a group of Jewish villages established from the 1920s south of Jerusalem on the northern part of Mount Hebron in the southern West Bank, and destroyed during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War....
(Bethlehem

Bethlehem

Bethlehem is a Palestine city in the central West Bank, approximately south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism....
area) and Yehuda

Judea

Judea or Jud?a is the name given to the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel , an area now divided between Israel and the West Bank ....
(Hebron

Hebron

Hebron is the largest city in the West Bank, located in the south, 30 kilometers south of Jerusalem. It is home to some 166,000 Palestinians, and over 500 Israelis....
area).

History

Samaria was one of the administrative districts of the British Mandate of Palestine. Reference to Judea and Samaria as a single unit is more recent, specifically since the time of their occupation and annexation by Jordan

Rule of the West Bank and East Jerusalem by Jordan

The West Bank and East Jerusalem were occupied by Jordan for a period of nearly two decades starting from the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. In 1950, with United Kingdom approval, and despite Arab League opposition, Jordan extended its jurisdiction over the West Bank....
.

Municipalities

Cities	Local Councils	Regional Councils
Ariel Ariel (city) The city of Ariel is an Israeli settlement and city in the West Bank, in the Hebrew Bible region of Samaria near the ancient village of Timnat Serah.... Betar Illit Betar Illit Beitar Illit is an Israeli settlement and List of cities in Israel west of Gush Etzion in northern Judea region of the West Bank.Located south of Jerusalem, Beitar Illit was established in 1985 and initially settled by a small group of young families from the Religious Zionism yeshiva of Machon Meir, including that of Rabbi Reuven Hass .... Ma'ale Adummim Ma'ale Adummim Ma'ale Adumim is an Israeli Settlement and city located east of Jerusalem in the West Bank and on the edge of the Judean desert. It is located within the boundaries of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, but has had its own mayor and municipality independent of the council's jurisdiction since achieving city council in 1991.... Modi'in Illit Modi'in Illit Modi'in Illit is an Israeli settlement and city in the foothills of the Judean Mountains, midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. It is often referred to as Kiryat Sefer , the name of the settlement?s original neighborhood....	Alfei Menashe Alfei Menashe Alfei Menashe is a Jewish Israeli settlement located in the Seam Zone on the western edge of the central West Bank. It was granted Local council status in 1987.... Beit Aryeh-Ofarim Beit Aryeh-Ofarim Beit Aryeh-Ofarim is an Israeli settlement and local council in the northern West Bank.Beit Aryeh was recognised as a local council in 1989, and had Ofarim appended to it in 2004.... Beit El Efrat Efrat Efrat , or officially Efrata , is an Israeli settlement in Judea , located south of Jerusalem, between Bethlehem and Hebron. Efrat was established in 1980, and contained 8,000 residents at the end of 2007 according to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics.... Elkana Elkana Elkana or Elqana is an Israeli settlement and Local council in the north-western Samaria region in the West Bank. It was founded in 1977 by a group from Gush Emunim of religious and non-religious Jews.... Giv'at Ze'ev Giv'at Ze'ev Giv'at Ze'ev is an Israeli settlement and town governed by a Local council , located northwest of Jerusalem. While it lies within the borders of the Matte Binyamin Regional Council, it is a separate municipal entity.... Har Adar Har Adar Har Adar is an Israeli settlement and local council in the Seam Zone and the Maccabim sub-region of the West Bank. It was founded in 1982 and has a population of 2,400.... Immanuel Immanuel (town) Immanuel is an Israeli settlement and local council in the northern West Bank.According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , Immanuel had a population of 2,800 at the end of 2007, mostly Haredi Judaism Orthodox Judaism.... Karnei Shomron Karnei Shomron Karnei Shomron, or Qarne Shomron, , meaning literally "the Horns of Samaria" is an Israeli Local council that was first established in 1977.... Kedumim Kedumim Kedumim , also spelled Qedumim, is an Israeli settlement located in the northern West Bank that was founded during Hanukkah 1975 and now enjoys the municipal status of local council .... Kiryat Arba Kiryat Arba Kiryat Arba or Qiryat Arba is a Jewish settlement in the southern Judea region of the West Bank adjoining the city of Hebron.... Ma'ale Efraim Ma'ale Efraim Ma'ale Efrayim is an Israeli settlement and Local council located along the eastern slopes of the Samarian mountains in the Jordan Valley, within the West Bank.... Oranit Oranit Oranit is an Israeli settlement and local council located off Highway 5 adjacent to Kafr Qasim, north of Rosh HaAyin on the western edge of the West Bank....	Gush Etzion Gush Etzion Regional Council The Gush Etzion Regional Council is a Regional council in the northern Judean hills, or rather, the northern part of the southern area of the West Bank, administering the settlements in the Gush Etzion region, as well as others nearby.... Har Hebron Har Hebron Regional Council The Har Hebron Regional Council is an Israeli regional council in the southern Judean Hills are of Mount Hebron in the southern part of the West Bank, administering Israeli settlement in the Hebron region, as well as others nearby.... Matte Binyamin Matte Binyamin Regional Council Mateh Binyamin Regional Council is a Regional Councils in Israel covering 42 Israeli settlements in the southern Samarian hills of the West Bank.... Megilot Dead Sea Megilot Regional Council Megilot Regional Council, also called Megilot Dead Sea Regional Council or Dead Sea Regional Council is a regional council in the Judean desert near the western shores of the Dead Sea.... Shomron Shomron Regional Council The Shomron Regional Council is a Regional council in the northern Samarian hills, in the northern part of the West Bank. The offices of the regional council are located in the Barkan Industrial Park.... Biq'at HaYarden Biq'at Hayarden Regional Council Bik'at HaYarden Regional Council , also Aravot HaYarden is a Regional council covering 21 Israeli settlements in the Jordan Valley in the West Bank....

Judea and Samaria

Status

Terminology

Administrative sub-regions

History

Municipalities

See also