The phrase "Occupation of the Palestinian territories" usually refers to the presence and power projection of Israeli military forces and Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, though some consider all of Israel to be occupied Palestine. Both of these territories are part of former British Mandate of Palestine; both have populations consisting primarily of Arab Palestinians, some of them historic residents of the territories, some refugees who lost their homes in either the 1948 Arab-Israeli War or the Six-Day War (1967), and some recent immigrants to the area from surrounding areas; both territories were conquered (but not annexed) from Jordan and Egypt by Israel in the Six-Day War. This has created a situation where the majority of the people living in these territories — those who are not Israeli citizens — have between 1967 and 1993 been subject to Israeli military administration without the benefit of the rights of Israeli citizenship, in particular without any right to vote in Israeli elections. Most of the Palestinian population live in areas that have been under only partial Israeli control since 1993, although tribulations in the peace process occasions the redeployment of Israeli troops and reinstatement of full military administration.

Other aspects of this conflict are covered in Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Territories occupied by Israel

Critics of Israel typically cite all or several of the areas as being occupied:

• All of present-day Israel
• The Sinai: captured from Egypt in 1967 and returned under the terms of the peace treaty in 1979.
• The Golan Heights: captured from Syria in 1967 and annexed in 1981.
• Eastern parts of Jerusalem: annexed and incorporated into the municipal borders of Jerusalem since 1980.

The Yom Kippur War (1973) ultimately made only small changes in the various cease-fire lines. Israel has also, in varying degrees at various times projected power into southern Lebanon, most notably in the 1982 Invasion of Lebanon.

The international community has not recognized the annexation of eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.

Other occupiers of the West Bank

After the 1948 war, Jordan annexed the West Bank and eastern parts of Jerusalem. This annexation was not accepted by the international community.

Terminology

This is an area in which there is so much disagreement that even the vocabulary itself is very controversial.

1. While most of the world uses the term "Palestinian territories" (or even "Palestinian Territories" with a capital T) or refers to "the West Bank and Gaza", Israelis and supporters of Israel generally refer to the areas as "the territories" or Judea and Samaria. "Gaza" or "the Gaza strip" seem to be relatively uncontroverial terms.
2. While most of the world uses the term "occupation" to refer to the Israeli presence in these territories, the Israeli government and (to a lesser extent) its supporters generally avoid that term.
3. The term "Occupied Palestinian territories" is very controversial and seen by many pro-Israelis as inherently biased toward the Palestinian point of view. They offer the term "disputed territories" as a term which admits there is a dispute on the status of these territories but does not chose sides (such as "Palestinian territories" or "liberated Israeli territories").

There are many cases of controversial terms related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For example, many Palestinians and their supporters refuse to use the name "Israel", referring instead to "the Zionist entity".

"Occupation"

The phrase "Occupation of the Palestinian territories" provokes strong reactions among people who have strong opinions about the Arab-Israeli conflict.

For Palestinians and their supporters, the term aptly describes the situation, in that Israel is a foreign presence that holds areas not belonging to them by force. In their view, the occupation calls for universal moral condemnation and calls for it to end. To support this, they cite:

• The actual reality of Israeli military administration over Palestinians
• The overwhelming view among the world's governments that this is an occupation
• The legal interpretations of the International Court of Justice and other UN bodies that it is an occupation

Israelis and their supporters consider the area disputed, based on the following argument:

• Legally, no borders have been established or recognized among the parties. While there is certainly a dispute about where the borders eventually should go, it is simply incorrect to assume that armistice lines form a basis
• Semantically, the international community uses the term "disputed" about all other contested areas in the world - even those where a stronger case for "occupation" can be made
• Historically, Jews have as strong or stronger claim to the areas as Palestinians do

See also

• Occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem by Jordan
• Occupations of Palestine
• Palestinian nationalism
• Partitions of Palestine
• Proposals for a Palestinian state