Nature de ce terrain
A highland spine between the coastal plain and the Jordan Valley, with the main Palestinian cities along its crest. Its defining feature is administrative: the Oslo II division into Areas A, B and C, the barrier and the closure system fragment the territory more than its terrain does.
Confiance : élevée Au 2026-10Revu le 2026-10-12
Où les mouvements se concentrent
The only crossing between the West Bank and Jordan for most Palestinians, and therefore their main gate to the outside world. Its opening hours and closures are a measure of access, recorded for movement of people and goods, not of forces.
Caractère physique
- Terrain dominant
- A north–south limestone ridge — the Nablus and Hebron hills, with Ramallah and Jerusalem between them — terraced and cultivated on its western slopes. To the east the ground drops steeply through dry desert hills to the Jordan Valley, which lies below sea level and runs south to the Dead Sea. The north, around Jenin, opens into wider, more fertile valleys.
- Implications pour la mobilité
- The terrain channels movement along the ridge and down a few valleys to the east, but in practice movement is governed by the closure system rather than by the ground: OCHA counted 925 movement obstacles in December 2025, against a twenty-year average of 647. Palestinian movement between the cities, into Jerusalem and across the Jordan depends on checkpoints, permits and road restrictions, which is why access, not distance, separates places.
- Contraintes saisonnières
- Mediterranean winters bring rain and occasional snow on the high ridge; the Jordan Valley stays hot and dry most of the year. The olive harvest each autumn is the season in which access to agricultural land, and incidents around it, are most closely recorded.
- Eau et obstacles naturels
- The mountain aquifer beneath the ridge is the territory's main water source, and its allocation under the Oslo arrangements is a standing dispute. The Jordan river and the Dead Sea form the eastern edge. The barrier is the principal man-made obstacle: OCHA reports it at 712 km planned, 64 per cent built and 85 per cent of its route inside the West Bank.
- Urbanisation et peuplement
- Palestinian cities sit along the ridge — Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Hebron, with Tulkarm and Qalqilya on the western edge — surrounded by villages and, in the north, refugee camps that are dense neighbourhoods of their cities. Israeli settlements are distributed across Area C. Under Oslo II (1995) Area A is under Palestinian civil and security control, Area B under Palestinian civil and joint security control, and Area C, about 60 per cent of the territory, under Israeli civil and security control.
Portée opérationnelle générale
The West Bank's geography is administrative before it is physical. The fragmentation into Areas A, B and C, the barrier and the closure system mean that control is exercised over movement and land status rather than over fronts. This is why the module's West Bank records are about the closure regime, land registration in Area C and the status of the northern camps: the decisions that change the territory are legal and administrative, and the 2025–2026 operations in the northern camps were notable precisely because they held ground inside Area A cities.
Observé
Since January 2025 the Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams camps have been emptied and closed by Israeli forces, and in February 2026 Israel restarted formal land registration in Area C.
Évalué
The administrative map is where change in the West Bank is happening; the physical terrain explains the shape of the cities and the barrier, not the direction of the file.
« Observé » désigne ce que montrent les sources. « Évalué » désigne la lecture qu’en fait Vigil, assortie du degré de confiance de cette fiche.
Logistics through this ground
Lieux de ce terrain
Pertinence pour les campagnes
Ce qui reste inconnu
- The module does not map Areas A, B and C or the barrier's route; it records the categories and OCHA's published figures.
- Whether the closed-military-area orders over the northern camps were renewed after August and September 2026 is not established.
Questions Watch concernées par ce terrain
Questions analytiques permanentes dont les éléments passent par ce terrain, chacune avec sa dernière revue. Dérivées de l’objet Watch, jamais reformulées ici.
- HumanitaireLes habitants reviennent-ils dans les camps de Jénine, Tulkarm et Nur Shams, ou les camps restent-ils fermés en vertu d’ordres renouvelés ?
- ÉconomiqueL’argent parvient-il à la masse salariale et aux services publics de l’Autorité palestinienne, et par quel canal ?
- PolitiqueQuels actes juridiques et administratifs israéliens modifiant la manière dont les terres de Cisjordanie sont administrées entrent en vigueur ?
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Évalué au — 2026-10 Dernière revue — 2026-10-12