West Bank

The West Bank has an area of 5,628 square kilometres (2,173 sq miles)

In June 1967, the West Bank and East Jerusalem were captured by Israel as a result of the 6-Day War.  With the exception of East Jerusalem and the former Israeli-Jordanian no man's land, the West Bank was not annexed  by Israel but has remained under Israeli Military Control and is referred to as Judea and Samaria Area by Israel.

Since 1979 the  UNSC,the UN General assembly,USA,EU,ICC and International Committee of Red Cross refer to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as Palestinian Territory Occupied by Israel.

UN General Assembly resolution 58/292 (17 May 2004) affirmed that the Palestinian people have the right to sovereignty over the area.

West Bank has an estimated population of 2,622,544 (June 2012). More than 80 percent, about 2,000,000, are Palestinian Arabs, approximately 500,000 are Jewish Israelis living in the West Bank, including about 192,000 in East Jerusalem, in Israeli Settlements.

The population of the West Bank is 75% Muslim while 17 % is Jewish. The remaining 8% are Christians and others

The Israeli Settlements and The international Consensus

• UN opines that all Israeli settlements on the West Bank beyond the Green Line border are illegal under international law.

• The EU and the Arab League consider the settlements to be illegal.

• UN Security Council resolution 446 states that the practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity.