Editing Samaria (section)

{{Short description|Region of ancient Israel}}
{{Distinguish|Samarium|Samarra|Samara|Shimron|Sumeria|Simeria}}
{{About|the geographic region|the city|Samaria (ancient city)|the Israeli administration over West Bank settlements|Judea and Samaria Area|other uses}}
{{pp-extended|small=yes}}
{{Infobox landform
| name = Samaria
| type = [[Region]]
| designation = 
{{Nobold|
{{lang|ar|السامرة}}, {{Script/Hebrew|שֹׁומְרוֹן}}}}
| highest_point = [[Tall Asur]] (Ba'al Hazor)
| photo = File:Views from Sebastia 18.jpg
| photo_caption = Hills near the ruins of [[Samaria (ancient city)|Samaria]]
| map = 
| coordinates = {{Coord|32.275|N|35.190|E|display=inline,title}}
| range = 
| part_of = {{hlist|[[Israel]]|[[West Bank]], [[Palestine]]}}
| highest_elevation = {{cvt|1,016|m}}
| age = 
| length = 
| width = 
| area = <!-- {{cvt|NN|ha|acres}} -->
| depth = 
| drop = 
| formed_by = 
| geology = <!-- or |type = -->
}}

'''Samaria''' ({{IPAc-en|s|ə|ˈ|m|æ|r|i|ə|,_|-|ˈ|m|ɛər|i|ə}}), the [[Hellenized]] form of the Hebrew name '''Shomron''' ({{langx|he|{{Script/Hebrew|שֹׁמְרוֹן|translit=Šōmrōn}}}}),<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Samaria |encyclopedia=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language |year=2022 |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers |location= |id= |url=https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=Samaria |access-date=23 November 2022 |archive-date=23 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221123235652/https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=Samaria |url-status=live }}</ref> is used as a historical and [[Hebrew Bible|biblical]] name for the central [[region]] of the [[Land of Israel]]. It is bordered by [[Judea]] to the south and [[Galilee]] to the north.<ref name="Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Samaria-historical-region-Palestine |title=Samaria - historical region, Palestine |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=31 May 2018 |archive-date=18 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221218101044/https://www.britannica.com/place/Samaria-historical-region-Palestine |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="War">{{cite web |url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/josephus-wara.html |author=Josephus Flavius |title=''Jewish War'', book 3, chapter 3:4-5 |via=Ancient History Sourcebook: Josephus (37 – after 93 CE): Galilee, Samaria, and Judea in the First Century CE |publisher=Fordham.edu |access-date=31 December 2012 |archive-date=29 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230429124644/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/josephus-wara.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The region is known to the [[Palestinians]] in Arabic under two names, '''Samirah''' ({{langx|ar|السَّامِرَة‎}}, ''as-Sāmira''), and '''Mount Nablus''' (جَبَل نَابُلُس, ''Jabal Nābulus'').

The first-century historian [[Josephus]] set the [[Mediterranean Sea]] as its limit to the west, and the [[Jordan Rift Valley|Jordan River]] as its limit to the east.<ref name="War" /> Its territory largely corresponds to the [[Hebrew Bible|biblical]] allotments of the [[tribe of Ephraim]] and the western half of [[Tribe of Manasseh|Manasseh]]. It includes most of the region of the ancient [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]], which was north of the [[Kingdom of Judah]]. The border between Samaria and Judea is set at the latitude of [[Ramallah]].<ref>''The New Encyclopaedia Britannica'': Macropaedia, 15th edition, 1987, volume 25, "Palestine", p. 403</ref>

The name "Samaria" is derived from the [[Samaria (ancient city)|ancient city of Samaria]], capital of the northern Kingdom of Israel.{{sfn|Mills|Bullard|1990}}<ref name="etym">{{cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=Samaria |title=Online Etymology Dictionary |website=www.etymonline.com |access-date=2014-01-28 |archive-date=2023-02-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208141232/https://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=Samaria |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/expeditions/reisner.html |title=Open Collections Program: Expeditions and Discoveries, Harvard Expedition to Samaria, 1908–1910 |website=ocp.hul.harvard.edu |access-date=2012-02-25 |archive-date=2023-02-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208141226/http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/expeditions/reisner.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The name Samaria likely began being used for the entire kingdom not long after the town of Samaria had become Israel's capital, but it is first documented after its conquest by the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]], which incorporated the land into the province of [[Samerina]].{{sfn|Mills|Bullard|1990}}

Samaria was used to describe the northern midsection of the land in the [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine|UN Partition Plan for Palestine]] in 1947. It became the administrative term in [[Six-Day War|1967]], when the [[West Bank]] was [[Hebraization of Palestinian place names|defined by Israeli officials]] as the [[Judea and Samaria Area]],<ref name="Judea and Samaria4">{{cite book |title=International Law and the Administration of Occupied Territories: Two Decades of Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip |author=Emma Playfair |year=1992 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=41 |quote=On 17 December 1967, the Israeli military government issued an order stating that "the term 'Judea and Samaria region' shall be identical in meaning for all purposes ... to the term 'the West Bank Region'". This change in terminology, which has been followed in Israeli official statements since that time, reflected a historic attachment to these areas and rejection of a name that implied Jordanian sovereignty over them.}}</ref> of which the entire area north of the [[Jerusalem District]] is termed as Samaria. In 1988, [[State of Jordan|Jordan]] ceded its claim of the area to the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] (PLO).<ref name="jordan">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/01/world/hussein-surrenders-claims-west-bank-plo-us-peace-plan-jeopardy-internal-tensions.html |title=Hussein surrenders claims on West Bank to the P.L.O.; U.S. peace plan in jeopardy; Internal Tensions |first=John |last=Kifner |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=1 August 1988 |access-date=12 February 2017 |archive-date=6 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111206001844/http://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/01/world/hussein-surrenders-claims-west-bank-plo-us-peace-plan-jeopardy-internal-tensions.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1994, control of Areas 'A' (full civil and security control by the [[Palestinian National Authority|Palestinian Authority]]) and 'B' (Palestinian civil control and joint Israeli–Palestinian security control) were transferred by Israel to the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority and the international community do not recognize the term "Samaria"; in modern times, the territory is generally known as part of the West Bank.<ref name="Caplan2011">{{cite book |author=Neil Caplan |title=The Israel-Palestine Conflict: Contested Histories |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JyAgn_dD43cC&pg=PT18 |date=19 September 2011 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-4443-5786-8 |pages=18–}}</ref>