West Bank (Judea and Samaria)

Hill country west of the Jordan River, called Judea and Samaria for most of history: the heartland of the ancient Jewish kingdoms, and the origin of the word “Jew” (from Judah). It holds Hebron's Cave of the Patriarchs, Shiloh, Bethlehem and ancient Shechem (today's Nablus), alongside the Palestinian cities of Ramallah and Jenin.

History

1. c. 1000–586 BCEHeartland of the Israelite kingdoms. Samaria was the capital of the northern Kingdom of Israel, and Judah, ruled from Jerusalem, gave the Jews their name. Hebron, where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are traditionally buried at the Cave of the Patriarchs (a site holy to Jews and Muslims), was King David's first capital.
2. 1929Arab rioters killed 67 Jews in Hebron, ending a Jewish community that had lived there for centuries.
3. 1947The UN Partition Plan assigned it to the proposed Arab state.
4. 1948–67Captured by Jordan in 1948 and annexed in 1950. Almost no country recognized the annexation.
5. 1967Captured by Israel in the Six-Day War. UN Security Council Resolution 242 called for withdrawal “from territories occupied” in exchange for peace and secure borders.
6. 1988Jordan renounced its claim. The PLO declared a State of Palestine on the 1967 lines.
7. 1993–95The Oslo Accords created the Palestinian Authority and split the territory into Area A (PA control, about 18%), Area B (shared, about 22%) and Area C (Israeli control, about 60%).
8. 2000–todayFinal-status talks at Camp David (2000), Taba (2001) and Annapolis (2008) all failed. Settlements have kept growing.

Today

About 2.9 million Palestinians and about 500,000 Israeli settlers live here. Most countries regard the settlements as illegal under international law; Israel disputes that.