Samaria in Wikipedia

Samaria, or the Shomron (Hebrew: שֹׁמְרוֹן‎, Standard Šoməron Tiberian Šōmərôn; Greek: Σαμάρεια; Arabic: سامريّون‎, Sāmariyyūn or السامرة, as-Samarah – also known as جبال نابلس, Jibal Nablus) is a term used for a mountainous region roughly corresponding to the northern part of the West Bank. Etymology - The name "Samaria" derives from an ancient city of the same name, which was located near the south of Samaria, and was the capital of the Kingdom of Israel. According to Kings 1 16:24, it is derived from the individual [or clan] Shemer, from whom Omri purchased the site. The name was the only name used for this area from ancient times until the Jordanian conquest of 1948, at which point the Jordanian occupiers coined the term West Bank.[1] Geographical location - To the north, Samaria is bounded by the Jezreel Valley; to the east by the Jordan Rift Valley; to the west by the Carmel Ridge (in the north) and the Sharon plain (in the west); to the south by the Jerusalem mountains. In Biblical times, Samaria "reached from the [Mediterranean] sea to the Jordan Valley",[2] including the Carmel Ridge and Plain of Sharon. The Samarian hills are not very high, seldom reaching the height of over 800 meters. Samaria's climate is more hospitable than the climate further south. [edit]Political control The modern history of Samaria begins when the territory of Samaria, formerly part of the Ottoman Empire, was entrusted to the United Kingdom to administer in the aftermath of World War I as a British Mandate of Palestine, by the League of Nations. As a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War the territory was unilaterally incorporated as Jordanian-controlled territory and residents would later receive Jordanian passports. The areas of Samaria and Judea conquered by Jordan were renamed the West Bank (of the Jordan river).[citation needed] Samaria came under the control of Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War. Jordan ceded control of the area to the PLO [West Bank, including Samaria], in November 1988- later confirmed by the Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty of 1993. Jordan instead recognizes the Palestinian Authority as sovereign in the territory. In the 1994 Oslo accords, responsibility for the administration over some of the territory of Samaria (Areas 'A' and 'B') was transferred to the Palestinian Authority. Samaria is one of the several standard statistical "areas" utilized by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics.[3] "The Israeli CBS also collects statistics on the rest of the West Bank and the Gaza District. It has produced various basic statistical series on the territories, dealing with population, employment, wages, external trade, national accounts, and various other topics."[4] The Palestinian Authority however use Nablus, Tulkarm, Jenin, Qalqilya, Salfit, Ramallah and Tubas Governorates as administrative centres for the same region. The Shomron Regional Council administers the Jewish communities and settlements throughout the northern Samaria area. Israel has been criticized for the policy of establishing settlements in Samaria. Israel's position is that the legal status of the land is unclear. On March 22, 1979, the UN Security approved resolution 446 which unambiguously stated settlements in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem were illegal...