Judea and Samaria Area אֵזוֹר יְהוּדָה וְשׁוֹמְרוֹן, يهودا والسامرة, is the Israeli administrative division encompassing the West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem.
The Judea and Samaria Area covers a portion of the territory designated by the ancient names Judea and Samaria. Samaria corresponds to part of the ancient Kingdom of Israel, also known as the Northern Kingdom.
Following the Assyrian conquest of the Northern Israelite Kingdom around 721 BCE, its people were deported and replaced by forced resettlement by other peoples, which eventually became Samaritans, at the hands of the Assyrians. As a direct consequence, a central part of the former Northern Kingdom of Israel was renamed Samaria known as Shomron in Hebrew. During the Hellenistic and Roman period the name of the former Southern Kingdom of Judah was Hellenised to Judea.
The name Judea, when used in Judea and Samaria, refers to all of the region south of Jerusalem, including Gush Etzion and Har Hebron. The region of Samaria refers to the area north of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is excluded from the administrative structure of the Judea and Samaria Area.
Cities
Ariel
Betar Illit
Ma’ale Adumim
Modi’in Illit
Local councils
Alfei Menashe
Beit Aryeh-Ofarim
Beit El
Efrat
Elkana
Giv’at Ze’ev
Har Adar
Immanuel
Karnei Shomron
Kedumim
Kiryat Arba
Ma’ale Efraim
Oranit
Regional councils
Bik’at HaYarden
Gush Etzion
Har Hebron
Mateh Binyamin
Megilot Dead Sea
Shomron