West Bank

The West Bank (Arabic: الضفة الغربية‎, aḍ-Ḍiffä l-Ġarbīyä, Hebrew: הגדה המערבית‎, Hagadah Hamaaravit), also known as "Judea and Samaria", is a landlocked territory on the west bank of the Jordan River in the Middle East. Since 1967 most of the West Bank has been under Israeli occupation.

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 parts of the former mandate, while the West Bank was captured and annexed by Jordan. The 1949 Armistice Agreements defined its interim boundary. From 1948 until 1967, the area was under Jordanian rule, and Jordan did not officially relinquish its claim to the area until 1988. It was captured by Israel during the Six-Day War. With the exception of East Jerusalem it was not annexed by Israel. Most of the residents are Palestinians, although large numbers of Israeli settlements have also been built in the region.

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.