Israeli occupation of the West Bank
The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has been under military occupation by Israel since 7 June 1967, when Israeli forces captured the territory, then ruled by Jordan, during the Six-Day War. The status of the West Bank as a militarily occupied territory has been affirmed by the International Court of Justice and, with the exception of East Jerusalem, by the Israeli Supreme Court. The official view of the Israeli government is that the laws of belligerent occupation do not apply to the territories, which it considers instead "disputed", and it administers the West Bank, excepting East Jerusalem, under the Israeli Civil Administration, a branch of the Israeli Ministry of Defense. Considered to be a classic example of an "intractable conflict", the length of Israel's occupation was already regarded as exceptional after two decades, and is now the longest in modern history. Israel has cited several reasons for retaining the West Bank within its ambit: a claim based on the notion of historic rights to this as a homeland as claimed in the Balfour Declaration of 1917; security grounds, both internal and external; and the deep symbolic value for Jews of the area occupied.
Israeli settlement of Carmel, Har Hebron
Umm al-Khair Palestinian village near Carmel
"Fight the enemy. Price Tag." Hebrew Graffiti spray-painted by Israeli settlers in Urif
"No more administrative orders." Graffiti spray-painted in Hebrew by Israeli settlers on a car in Fara'ata, 2018
The West Bank, so called due to its relation to the Jordan River, is the larger of the two Palestinian territories. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the Levant region of West Asia, it is bordered by Jordan and the Dead Sea to the east and by Israel to the south, west, and north. The territory has been under Israeli occupation since 1967.
City of Bethlehem, West Bank
The Cave of the Patriarchs is one of the most famous holy sites in the region.
King Hussein flying over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem when it was under Jordanian control, 1965
City of Jericho, West Bank