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 Palestinian State (proposed)| Facts & Figures |
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West Bank and Gaza Strip
President: Mahmoud Abbas (2005) Prime Minister: Salam Fayyad;
interim (2007) Land area: West Bank: 2,178 sq mi (5,641 sq
km); total area: West Bank: 2,263 sq mi (5,860 sq km); Gaza
Strip: 139 sq mi (360 sq km) Population (2007 est.): West Bank:
2,535,927, Gaza Strip: 1,482,405 (growth rate: West Bank: 3.0%, Gaza
Strip: 3.7%); birth rate: West Bank: 31.0/1000, Gaza Strip:
38.9/1000; infant mortality rate: West Bank: 18.7/1,000, Gaza Strip:
21.9/1000; life expectancy: West Bank: 73.5, Gaza Strip: 72.2;
density per sq mi: West Bank: 1,164, Gaza Strip: 10,077. NOTE:
figures above include approximately 8,000 Israeli settlers who
evacuated the Gaza Strip in Aug. 2005.
Capital:
Undetermined Large cities (2003 est.): Gaza,
1,331,600 (metro. area), 407,600 (city proper), Hebron, 137,000;
Nablus, 115,400 Monetary units: New Israeli shekels,
Jordanian dinars, U.S. dollars More Facts & Figures |
West Bank and Gaza Strip
GeographyThe West Bank is located to the east of Israel and the west of Jordan.
The Gaza Strip is located between Israel and Egypt on the Mediterranean
coast.
GovernmentThe Palestinian Authority (PA), with Yasir Arafat its elected leader,
took control of the newly non-Israeli-occupied areas, assuming
governmental duties in 1994.
HistoryThe history of the proposed modern Palestinian state, which is expected
to be formed from the territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, began
with the British Mandate of Palestine. From Sept. 29, 1923, until May 14,
1948, Britain controlled the region, but by 1947, Britain had appealed to
the UN to solve the complex problem of competing Palestinian and Jewish
claims to the land. In Aug. 1947, the UN proposed dividing Palestine into
a Jewish state, an Arab state, and a small international zone. Arabs
rejected the idea. As soon as Britain pulled out of Palestine in 1948,
neighboring Arab nations invaded, intent on crushing the newly declared
State of Israel. Israel emerged victorious, affirming its sovereignty. The
remaining areas of Palestine were divided between Transjordan (now
Jordan), which annexed the West Bank, and Egypt, which gained control of
the Gaza Strip.
Through a series of political and social policies, Jordan sought to
consolidate its control over the political future of Palestinians and to
become their speaker. Jordan even extended citizenship to Palestinians in
1949; Palestinians constituted about two-thirds of the country's
population. In the Gaza Strip, administered by Egypt from 1948–1967,
poverty and unemployment were high, and most of the Palestinians lived in
refugee camps.
In the Arab-Israeli War of 1967, Israel, over a period of six days,
defeated the military forces of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan and annexed the
territories of East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, the West Bank, the Gaza
Strip, and all of the Sinai Peninsula. The Palestinian Liberation
Organization (PLO), formed in 1964, was a terrorist organization bent on
Israel's annihilation. Palestinian rioting, demonstrations, and terrorist
acts against Israelis became chronic. In 1974, PLO leader Yasir Arafat
addressed the UN General Assembly, the first stateless government to do
so. Violence again escalated in 1987 during the
intifada
(“shaking off”), a new era in Palestinian mass mobilization.
In 1988, Yasir Arafat publicly eschewed terrorism and officially
recognized the state of Israel.
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