19 - The Status of the ‘West Bank’ (Judea and Samaria) and the Gaza Strip

Summary

The legal status of the West Bank remains one of the core issues of controversy in the Arab-Israel dispute. After the 1948 War, the Gaza Strip came under Egyptian control and the West Bank under the control of Jordan. Both areas came under Israel control after the 1967 war. The Israel legal position as to the status of these territories was that they were not the territories of a foreign state hence legally Israel did not have to apply the IVth Geneva Convention. Israel undertook to apply the humanitarian provisions of the Convention. Israel unilaterally withdrew its armed forces and civilians from the Gaza Strip. The majority of the population of the West Bank are Arab Palestinians who, under international law, have a right of self-determination. The 1947 UN Partition plan recommended that the West Bank be part of an Arab state. The 1922 League of Nations Mandate, however, promised the Jewish people the right to create a Jewish National Home in Palestine, which at the time, included the West Bank. Israel and the PLO have agreed to negotiate the future status of the West Bank. The majority of the Arab population of the West Bank are under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, however, the major part of the territory of the West Bank, including all Israeli settlements remain under Israeli military administration. To date, the parties have not yet managed to agree on what will be the final status of the West Bank.