Judea and Samaria
The West Bank is the most commonly used secular name used to refer to the ancient Jewish homelands of Judea and Samaria. The region is located in the west bank of the Jordan River near Jerusalem. The land is bitterly disputed between Jewish and Arab settlers in the region. The West Bank has been controlled by Israel since the Six-Day War (1967). The West Bank is not officially part of any country.
History
The name "West Bank" was used by Jordan (at the time The Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan) for the area controlled under the 1949 Armistice Agreements at the end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The Jordan annexation of the West Bank in this war lasted for 19 years and was never condemned by a single United Nations resolution.[1]
During the Six-Day War in 1967 King Hussein of Jordan ordered his army to attack Israel. The Jordan artillery shelled Israeli population centers in West Jerusalem while the Israeli army responded to the attacks by conquering East Jerusalem and the West Bank. According to the Article 52 of the UN Charter Israel acted legal by defending itself against the Jordan aggression. Nevertheless, the "occupation" of the West Bank through Israel was condemned by the European Union.[1]
