- Note: this page is mostly for disambiguation. When referring to the Bible Judea and Bible Samaria, link separately. When referring to this modern and disputed usage, link to West Bank.
The phrase Judea and Samaria refers to lands named and described in the holy texts of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, parts of which are now the West Bank, which is claimed by Palestinians for a Palestinian state. The phrase almost always recurs in reference to West Bank settlements which are (according to the UN, mostly illegally) placed on lands claimed by Palestinian Arabs. The rationales for this vary. One is that the lands were part of the biblical Judea and Samaria, another is for security purposes in order to emphasize Israel's claim, and another that prior to the 1948 Arab-Israeli War Jewish communities had existed in a few towns there, although they were destroyed or evacuated in the war (or in Hebron's case, in the 1929 riots). In Zionist circles, including Christian Zionism, this is considered a valid defense or analysis of such settlement.
Note that the borders of the biblical Judea and Samaria do not correspond to the borders of the West Bank.
See also: Israeli settlement
