Map of the Gaza Strip
The Palestinian territories comprises the Gaza Strip and the West Bank – territories that were from 1948 Israeli war of independence until the 1967 Six Day War occupied by Jordan and Egypt.
The international community and the Palestinian Authority regard East Jerusalem as part of the West Bank, and consequently a part of the Palestinian territories; but Israel regards it as an integral part of Israel as a result of its annexation in 1980. ‘Palestinian territories’ is one of a number of designations for these areas.
The territories were part of the territory west of the Jordan River when Mandate Palestine, formed in 1922. In March 1946, the territory east of the Jordan River, which had been ruled as a separate province of Mandate Palestine, became the independent kingdom of Transjordan, though general international recognition took a bit longer.
The Palestinian territories were captured and occupied by Transjordan (the West Bank) and by Egypt (the Gaza strip) in 1948, and acquired their current boundaries at the cessation of fighting in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, which was confirmed in the 1949 Armistice Agreements. Israel captured and occupied the territories in the 1967 Six-Day War.
In 1980 Israel annexed East Jerusalem, but United Nations Security Council Resolution 478 declared it “null and void” and required that it be rescinded, stating that it was a violation of international law. The legality of the annexation lacks international recognition.
Following the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, portions of the territories have been governed in varying degrees by the Palestinian Authority. Israel does not consider East Jerusalem nor the former Israeli–Jordanian no man’s land (the former was annexed in 1980, and the latter was annexed in 1967) to be parts of the West Bank. Israel says that both fall under full Israeli law and jurisdiction as opposed to the approximately 58% of the Israeli-defined West Bank that is ruled by the Israeli Judea and Samaria Civil Administration. This claim has not been recognized by any other country, based on unilateral annexation of territory being prohibited by customary and conventional international law.
Map of the West Bank
Notes from Wikipedia
