The Occupied West Bank is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the Levant region of Western Asia that forms the main bulk of the Palestinian territories. It is bordered by Jordan and the Dead Sea to the east and by Israel to the south, west, and north. The Israeli occupation of the West Bank began on 7 June 1967, when Israeli forces captured and occupied the territory (including East Jerusalem), then ruled by Jordan, during the Six-Day War, and continues to the present day. The status of the West Bank as a militarily occupied territory has been affirmed by the International Court of Justice and, with the exception of East Jerusalem, by the Israeli Supreme Court. Israel has cited several reasons for retaining the West Bank within its ambit, including a claim based on the notion of historic rights to this as a homeland, security grounds, and the deep symbolic value for Jews of the area occupied. The West Bank has been under an Israeli military occupation since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, and the very existence of settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories violates international humanitarian law and is a war crime.