West Bank

Terrain

Mostly rugged dissected upland, very hilly and mountainous, heavy vegetation is very common in most places.

lowest point: Dead Sea -408 m

highest point: Tall Asur 1,022 m

History

The Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements the DOP, signed in Washington on 13 September 1993, provided for a transitional period not exceeding five years of Palestinian interim self-government in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Under the DOP, Israel agreed to transfer certain powers and responsibilities to the Palestinian Authority, which includes the Palestinian Legislative Council elected in January 1996, as part of the interim self-governing arrangements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. A transfer of powers and responsibilities for the Gaza Strip and Jericho took place pursuant to the Israel-PLO 4 May 1994 Cairo Agreement on the Gaza Strip and the Jericho Area and in additional areas of the West Bank pursuant to the Israel-PLO 28 September 1995 Interim Agreement, the Israel-PLO 15 January 1997 Protocol Concerning Redeployment in Hebron, the Israel-PLO 23 October 1998 Wye River Memorandum, and the 4 September 1999 Sharm el-Sheikh Agreement. The DOP provides that Israel will retain responsibility during the transitional period for foreign and domestic security and public order of settlements and Israeli citizens. Direct negotiations to determine the permanent status of Gaza and West Bank had begun in September 1999 after a three-year hiatus, but have been derailed by a second intifadah that broke out in September 2000. The resulting widespread violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel's military response, and instability within the Palestinian Authority continue to undermine progress toward a permanent agreement. Futhermore, Fatah control Palestinian Cities, whilst the Yesha Council via the authority of Israel controls and manages Jewish settlements.

Understand

Within the political dispute between the Palestinians and Israelis there are two presentations of the West Bank. In Israeli terms it is called the regions of Judea, Samaria and Benjamin. Some Israelis see the West Bank territories as historically Jewish land and claim a biblical/historical birthright to resettle it by building settlements there. Israel is also building a huge concrete barrier partly within the West Bank, officially aimed at preventing the infiltration of Palestinians into Israel's official pre-1967 borders and to isolate Jewish settlements from Palestinian populated areas and unofficially accused by Palestinians as an unilateral Israeli attempt to draw the borders. The barrier cuts off Palestinians from each other, vital farm lands, and most of all: physically separates West Bank Palestinians from the Palestinian disticts of East Jerusalem and its holy sites. The Palestinians and the PNA claim this region, in addition the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, as the territory of a future Palestinian state. There are 400,000 Jews and around 1.2 million Arabs living in the territory Est. 2011 Officially, the West Bank is not part of any country, but deemed under Israeli occupation until a final peace agreement between the two above parties.