Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, which had governed Greater Syria for four centuries (1517–1917), the British Mandate for Palestine was established in 1922.

The Partition Plan, which proposed dividing Mandate Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish state with Jerusalem under international control, was passed by the UN General Assembly in November 1947. While the Jewish leadership accepted the plan, Arab leaders rejected it.

Following Israel's declaration of independence, Arab countries initiated a war against the newly formed state, referred to as the 1948 Arab-Israeli War or the 1948 Palestine War.

One day before the expiration of the British Mandate for Palestine, Israel declared its independence within the borders of the Jewish State set out in the Partition Plan. US President Harry Truman recognized the State of Israel de facto the following day.

The 1949 Armistice Agreements established separation lines between combatants after the 1947–1949 Palestine war, leaving Israel in control of some areas designated for the Arab state under the Partition Plan, Transjordan in control of the West Bank, Egypt in control of the Gaza Strip, and Syria in control of the Himmah Area.

Jordan annexed the West Bank in 1950, with formal recognition only from the United Kingdom, excluding East Jerusalem, which received de facto recognition. In the Gaza Strip, the Arab League formed the All-Palestine Government, operating under Egyptian occupation.

Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza Strip, along with territory from Egypt and Syria, during the Six-Day War. These territories have since been designated as Israeli-occupied territories.

Immediately after the Six-Day War, the Israeli government offered to return the Golan Heights to Syria, the Sinai to Egypt, and most of the West Bank to Jordan in exchange for peace. The Arab parties responded by declaring "no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel and no negotiations with Israel."

Israel absorbed East Jerusalem and proclaimed the entire city to be its capital in 1980. This action, though never formally amounting to legal annexation, was condemned internationally and declared "null and void" by the United Nations General Assembly.

Jordan renounced all territorial claims to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 1988, coinciding with the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) intention to declare a Palestinian state.

The Oslo Accords of the early 1990s between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel led to the creation of the Palestinian Authority. This was an interim organization created to administer a limited form of Palestinian self-governance in the territories for a period of five years during which final-status negotiations would take place.

Following the Oslo Accords, parts of the territories came under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian National Authority (Palestinian enclaves, technically known as Areas A and B). Israel still exercised full military and civil control over 61% of the West Bank (Area C).

Under the terms of the Oslo Accords signed between Israel and the PLO, the latter assumed control over the Jericho area of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Following the signing of the Israeli–Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israeli military forces withdrew from the West Bank towns of Nablus, Ramallah, Jericho, Jenin, Tulkarem, Qalqilya and Bethlehem.

The five-year interim period established by the Oslo Accords for final status negotiations expired without a final status agreement being concluded.

Direct negotiations to determine the permanent status of Gaza and the West Bank had begun after a three-year hiatus, but have been derailed by the al-Aqsa Intifada.

The Berlin Commitment reduced the access to the sea for Gaza to 12 miles (19 km).

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) employed the term Occupied Palestinian Territory in its advisory opinion, titled "Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory".

Israel disengaged from the Gaza Strip, pulling out its remaining forces and dismantling settlements.

Israel completed the disengagement from the Gaza Strip.

Hamas won a majority of seats in elections for the Palestinian Parliament and formed a government in Ramallah for the entire PA largely shunned by the United States and Israel.

Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip by force, dividing the Palestinian territories politically. Abbas's Fatah largely ruled the West Bank and was recognized internationally as the official Palestinian (National) Authority.

Since the Battle of Gaza, the two separate territories, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, are divided into a Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip and a Fatah civil leadership in the autonomous areas of the West Bank.

The UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1860, stating that the Gaza Strip constitutes an integral part of the territory occupied in 1967 that will be a part of the Palestinian state.

The UN considered the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to still be occupied by Israel.

King Abdullah of Jordan declared that his country does not want to rule the West Bank and that "the two-state solution" to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict was the only viable option.

Iceland recognized Palestine as an independent and sovereign state within the pre-1967 Six-Day War borders and formally confirmed the establishment of full diplomatic relations between Iceland and Palestine.

The United Nations independent "International Fact-Finding Mission on Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory" filed a report stating that if Israel did not stop all settlement activity immediately and begin withdrawing all settlers from the West Bank, it potentially might face a case at the International Criminal Court.

UN General Assembly resolution 67/19 passed, upgrading Palestine to "non-member observer state" status in the United Nations.

The UN Chief of Protocol decided that 'the designation of "State of Palestine" shall be used by the Secretariat in all official United Nations documents'.

The ISO adopted the name change from Palestine to State of Palestine.

Fatah and Hamas agreed to hold elections and form a compromise Unity Government. The government survived the 2014 Gaza War, but dissolved on 17 June 2015 after President Abbas said it was unable to operate in the Gaza Strip.

The ICJ wrote "Territorial scope — Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 encompassing the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip — The 'Occupied Palestinian Territory' constituting, from legal standpoint, a single territorial unit."