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.
The Israeli West Bank barrier, comprising the West Bank Wall and the West Bank fence, is a separation barrier built by Israel along the Green Line and inside parts of the West Bank. Israel describes the wall as a necessary security barrier against Palestinian political violence; whereas Palestinians describe it as an element of racial segregation and a representation of Israeli apartheid, who often call it "Wall of Apartheid". At a total length of 708 kilometres (440 mi) upon completion, the route traced by the barrier is more than double the length of the Green Line, with 15% of its length running along the Green Line or inside Israel, and the remaining 85% running as much as 18 kilometres (11 mi) inside the West Bank, effectively isolating about 9% of the land and approximately 25,000 Palestinians from the rest of the Palestinian territory.
Giv'at Ze'ev is an urban Israeli settlement in the West Bank, five kilometers northwest of Jerusalem. The settlement was founded in 1977 on the site of the abandoned Jordanian military camp, adjacent to the site of ancient Gibeon. While it lies within the borders of the Matte Binyamin Regional Council, it is a separate municipal entity. In 2021 it had a population of 20,034.
Mateh Binyamin Regional Council is a regional council governing 46 Israeli settlements and outposts in the West Bank. The council's jurisdiction is from the Jordan valley in the east to the Samarian foothills in the west, and from the Shiloh river in the north to the Jerusalem Mountains in the south.
Highway 90 is the longest Israeli road, at about 480 kilometres (300 mi), and stretches from Metula and the northern border with Lebanon, along the western side of the Sea of Galilee, through the Jordan River Valley, along the Dead Sea's western bank, through the Arabah valley, and until Eilat and the southern border with Egypt on the Red Sea. The central section of the road traverses the Israeli-occupied West Bank. While it passes near the city of Jericho, it runs through Area C and does not enter areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority.
Highway 1 is the main highway in Israel, connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and continuing eastwards to the Jordan Valley in the West Bank.
Israel's policies and actions in its ongoing occupation of the Palestinian territories have drawn accusations that it is committing the crime of apartheid. Leading Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights groups have said that the totality and severity of the human rights violations against the Palestinian population in the occupied territories, and by some in Israel proper, amount to the crime against humanity of apartheid. Israel and some of its Western allies have rejected the accusation, with the former often labeling the charge antisemitic.
Route 443 is also known as Ma'ale Beit Horon, following the ancient east-west trade route connecting the Via Maris and the Way of the Patriarchs. It is the main highway connecting Tel Aviv and Gush Dan with Jerusalem via Modi'in. While technically listed as a regional road, it is, for the most part, a divided, four-lane highway which utilizes some grade separation and interchanges, as well as major at-grade intersections, and thus is not classified as a motorway, even though there is a short motorway section on its western end, connecting it to westbound Highway 1.
Highway 60 or is a south–north intercity road in Israel and the Palestinian West Bank that stretches from Beersheba to Nazareth.
Seam Zone is a term used to refer to a land area in the Israeli-occupied West Bank located east of the Green Line and west of Israel's separation barrier, populated largely by Israelis in settlements such as Alfei Menashe, Ariel, Beit Arye, Modi'in Illit, Giv'at Ze'ev, Ma'ale Adumim, Beitar Illit and Efrat.
E1 – also called the E1 area, E1 zone or E1 corridor – is an area of the West Bank within the municipal boundary of the Israeli settlement of Ma'ale Adumim. It is located adjacent to and northeast of East Jerusalem and to the west of Ma'ale Adumim. It covers an area of 12 square kilometres (4.6 sq mi), which is home to a number of Bedouin communities including the village of Khan al-Ahmar and their livestock as well as a large Israeli police headquarters. The Palestinian tent site of Bab al Shams, which was established for several days in early 2013, also lay within this area.
Almon, also known as Anatot, is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, organized as a community settlement. Built over land confiscated from the nearby Palestinian town of 'Anata, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council. In 2021 it had a population of 1,442.
Kfar Adumim is a mixed religious-secular Israeli settlement in the West Bank. It is located in the Judean Desert, on the southern bank of Wadi Qelt, about 2 miles northeast of the town Ma'ale Adumim. It is at 367 meters above sea level. It is organized as a community settlement and falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Binyamin Regional Council. In 2021 it had a population of 4,927. The Israel Central Bureau of Statistics counts the populations of nearby settlements Alon and Nofei Prat as part of the population of Kfar Adumim.
Hafrada is the policy of the government of Israel to separate the Israeli population from the Palestinian population in the occupied Palestinian territories, in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Jerusalem Road 20 is a combination of existing roads and new construction creating a continuous route between Jerusalem's Highway 50 and Pisgat Ze'ev via Beit Hanina. The number "20" is a designation used by the Jerusalem Municipality. Several segments of the road follow national road 4197. The cost of the project was NIS 180 million and was completed on 5 May 2013.
Restrictions on the movement of Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories by Israel is an issue in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. According to B'Tselem, following the 1967 war, the occupied territories were proclaimed closed military zones. In 1972, general exit orders were issued allowing residents of those territories to move freely between the West Bank, Israel and the Gaza Strip. Following the First Intifada by 1991, the general exit orders were revoked, and personal exit permits were required. According to B'Tselem, a measure of overall closure of the territories was enacted for the first time in 1993, and would result in total closures following rises in Palestinian political violence.
The Israeli permit regime in the West Bank is the legal regime that requires Palestinians to obtain a number of separate permits from the Israeli military authorities governing Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank for a wide range of activities. The first military order requiring permits for the Palestinians was issued before the end of the 1967 Six-Day War. The two uprisings of 1987 and 2001 were met by increased security measures, differentiation of IDs into green and red, policies of village closures, curfews and more stringent restrictions on Palestinian movement, with the general exit permit of 1972 replaced by individual permits. The stated Israeli justification for this new permit regime regarding movements was to contain the expansion of the uprisings and protect both the IDF and Israeli civilians from military confrontations with armed Palestinians. The regime has since expanded to 101 different types of permits covering nearly every aspect of Palestinian life, governing movement in Israel and in Israeli settlements, transit between Gaza and the West Bank, movement in Jerusalem and the seam zone, and travel abroad via international borders. The Israeli High Court has rejected petitions against the permit regime, allowing that it severely impinges on the rights of Palestinian residents but that the harm was proportionate.
The proposed Israeli annexation of the West Bank, or parts thereof, has been considered by Israeli politicians since the area was captured and occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War.
The Palestinian enclaves are areas in the West Bank designated for Palestinians under a variety of unsuccessful U.S. and Israeli-led proposals to end the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The enclaves are often compared to the nominally self-governing black homelands created in apartheid-era South Africa, and are thus referred to as bantustans. They have been referred to figuratively as the Palestinian archipelago, among other terms. The de facto status in 2024 is that Israel controls all area outside these enclaves.
