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Palestinian State (proposed)
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
Languages:
Arabic, Hebrew, English
Ethnicity/race:
West Bank: Palestinian Arab and other 83%,
Jewish 17%; Gaza Strip: Palestinian Arab and other 99.4%, Jewish
0.6%
Religions:
West Bank: Islam 75% (predominantly Sunni),
Jewish 17%, Christian and other 8%; Gaza Strip: Islam 98.7%
(predominantly Sunni), Christian 0.7%, Jewish 0.6%.
Economic summary: Gaza Strip:
GDP/PPP (2003 est.): $768 million; $600 per capita. Real
growth rate: 4.5%. Inflation: 3% (includes West Bank)
(2004). Unemployment: 19.9% (includes West Bank)
(Jan.–Sept. 2005). Arable land: 29%.
Agriculture: olives, citrus, vegetables; beef, dairy
products. Labor force: 278,000 (April–June 2005);
agriculture 11.9%, industry 18%, services 70.1% (April–June
2005). Industries: generally small family businesses that
produce cement, textiles, soap, olive-wood carvings, and
mother-of-pearl souvenirs; the Israelis have established some
small-scale, modern industries in the settlements and industrial
centers. Natural resources: arable land, natural gas.
Exports: $270 million f.o.b (2003, includes West Bank):
citrus, flowers, textiles (Gaza Strip); olives, fruit, vegetables,
limestone (West Bank). Imports: $1.9 billion (c.i.f., 2002,
includes West Bank): food, consumer goods, construction materials.
Major trading partners: Israel, Egypt, West Bank. West
Bank: GDP/PPP (2003 est.): $1.8 billion; $1,100 per capita.
Real growth rate: 6.2% (2004 est.). Arable land:
16.9%. Agriculture: olives, citrus, vegetables; beef, dairy
products. Labor force: 614,000 (April–June 2005);
agriculture 18.4%, industry 24%, services 57.6% (April–June
2005). Natural resource: arable land. Major trading
partners: Israel, Jordan, Gaza Strip (2004).
Communications: Telephones: main lines
in use: 95,729 (total for Gaza Strip and West Bank) (1997); mobile
cellular: Gaza Strip: n.a.; West Bank: n.a. Radio broadcast
stations: Gaza Strip: AM 0, FM 0, shortwave 0; West Bank: AM 1,
FM 0, shortwave 0 (2000). Radios: Gaza Strip: n.a.; West
Bank: n.a.; note: most Palestinian households have radios (1999).
Television broadcast stations: Gaza Strip: 2 (operated by the
Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation) (1997); West Bank: n.a.
Televisions: Gaza Strip: n.a.; West Bank: n.a.; note: most
Palestinian households have televisions (1999). Internet Service
Providers (ISPs): Gaza Strip: 3; West Bank: 8 (1999).
Internet users: 60,000 (total for Gaza Strip and West Bank)
(2001).
Transportation: Railways: Gaza Strip:
total: n.a.; note: one line, abandoned and in disrepair, little
trackage remains; West Bank: 0 km. Highways: Gaza Strip:
total: n.a.; paved: n.a.; unpaved: n.a.; note: small, poorly
developed road network; West Bank: total: 4,500 km; paved: 2,700 km;
unpaved: 1,800 km (1997 est.); note: Israelis have developed many
highways to service Jewish settlements. Ports and harbors:
Gaza Strip: Gaza; West Bank: none. Airports: Gaza Strip: 2
(2001); West Bank: 3 (2002).
International disputes: West Bank and
Gaza Strip are Israeli-occupied with current status subject to the
Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement—permanent status to be
determined through further negotiation.
Major sources and definitions
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Geography
The 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.
Government
The Palestinian Authority (PA), with Yasir Arafat its elected leader,
took control of the newly non-Israeli-occupied areas, assuming
governmental duties in 1994.
History
The 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.
In 1993, highly secretive talks in Norway between the PLO and the
Israeli government resulted in the Oslo Accord. The accord stipulated a
five-year plan in which Palestinians of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip
would gradually become self-governing. On Sept. 13, 1993, Arafat and
Israeli prime minister Yitzak Rabin signed the historic “Declaration
of Principles.” As part of the agreement, Israel pulled out of the
Gaza Strip and Jericho in the West Bank in 1994. The Palestinian Authority
(PA), with Arafat as its elected leader, took control of the newly
non-Israeli-occupied areas, assuming all governmental duties.
Intensive negotiations between Barak and Arafat in 2000 remained
deadlocked over Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, which Arafat insisted
must be the capital of the future Palestinian state. At the end of
September, however, the stalemate disintegrated into the worst violence
between Israelis and Palestinians in years, provoked by Likud hard-liner
Ariel Sharon's visit to the compound called Temple Mount by Jews and Haram
al-Sharif by Muslims. The compound is a fiercely contested site that is
sacred to both faiths. The intensified violence, which included an
unprecedented number of Palestinian suicide attacks against Israeli
civilians and the inevitable Israeli military reprisals, was dubbed the
al-Aksa intifada. In four years (2000–2004), the intifada had led to
the deaths of almost 4,000, including nearly 3,000 Palestinians.
For five months in 2002, Israeli troops surrounded Yasir Arafat at the
Palestinian Authority headquarters in Ramallah. Prime Minister Sharon,
blaming Arafat directly for inciting terror, called for his expulsion from
the territories. Washington echoed Israel's view that Arafat had become
“irrelevant” and announced that the U.S. would not recognize
an independent Palestinian state until Arafat was replaced. Throughout the
summer, Palestinian suicide bombings (Hamas and the Al-Aksa Martyr Brigade
claimed responsibility for the majority of them) and Israeli reprisals
continued. In March 2003, Arafat agreed to political reforms: his
government, to the disillusionment of many Palestinians, was rife with
corruption. He also agreed to share power with a prime minister. Mahmoud
Abbas, second-in-command of the PLO, assumed the post in April. Unlike
Arafat, Abbas emphatically rejected the Palestinian intifada, but he had
no influence or control over Palestinian militant groups the way Arafat
did. On May 1, the Quartet (the U.S., UN, EU, and Russia) unfurled its
“road map” for peace, which called on both sides to make
concessions and end the wave of deadly violence. But the road map quickly
led nowhere: Abbas, with little real political power, could not disable
terrorist organizations, and Israel did not dismantle settlements, much
less prevent new ones from cropping up. Sharon also continued to build the
controversial security barrier that divides Israeli and Palestinian areas.
Abbas resigned in September, and Arafat appointed a new prime minister,
Ahmed Qurei.
On March 22, 2004, Israel assassinated Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the founder
and spiritual leader of Hamas. In the previous six month, Israel had
killed more than 20 Hamas officials and vowed to destroy the entire
leadership. Within months, Israel had assassinated Yassin's successor as
well.
In July 2004, Israel revised the route of its security barrier so that
it no longer cut into Palestinian land. The UN estimated that the original
route would have taken almost 15% of West Bank territory for Israel. The
new route was also meant to limit undue hardships, such as separating
Palestinian villagers from their farmland.
On Nov. 10, Yasir Arafat died, marking the end of an era in Palestinian
affairs. On Jan. 9, 2005, former prime minister Mahmoud Abbas (also known
as Abu Mazen) was easily elected president with 62% of the vote. At a
summit in February, Abbas and Israeli prime minister Sharon agreed to an
unequivocal cease-fire, the most promising move toward peace in the four
years since the intifada began.
On Aug. 15, 2005, the withdrawal of some 8,000 Israeli settlers from
Gaza began. Two years earlier, Sharon had announced his plan for Israel's
unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. In turn, Israel was to hold on
to large blocks of land in the West Bank and reject the “right of
return” for Palestinian refugees. The Israeli evacuation involved 21
Gaza settlements as well as four of the more isolated of the West Bank's
120 settlements. Gaza, which has the world's highest population density,
gained 25% more land and plans on replacing the settlers' single-family
houses with apartment buildings to alleviate a severe housing shortage. A
private group of American philanthropists purchased 800 acres of
greenhouses from the departing settlers and donated them to the
Palestinians, preserving an important source of jobs and revenue in an
area with 40% unemployment.
Palestinian elections on Jan. 25, 2006, resulted in a stunning and
unexpected landslide victory for Hamas (74 of the 132 parliamentary seats)
over the ruling Fatah Party, and in February, Ismail Haniya, a centrist
Hamas leader, became prime minister. Most assessments indicate that
Palestinians, weary of Fatah's mismanagement and widespread corruption,
chose Hamas because it promised internal reform—Hamas's well-run
social services network provides Palestinians with much-needed education
and health care—and not because of its militant policies toward
Israel. According to a PA poll, 75% of Palestinians who voted for Hamas
supported a peace deal with Israel. Although Hamas had been engaged in a
cease-fire with Israel for more than a year, it continued to call for
Israel's destruction and refused to renounce violence. As a result,
Western donor countries cut off direct aid to the Hamas-run government. By
September, the humanitarian crisis was desperate, with 70% of Gaza's
population lacking enough food each day.
In June, the yearlong cease-fire with Israel ended. After Hamas
militants killed two Israeli soldiers and kidnapped another on June 25,
Israel launched air strikes and sent ground troops into Gaza, destroying
its only power plant and three bridges. Israel also arrested many of
Hamas's elected officials. Fighting continued in July, with Hamas firing
rockets into Israel, and Israeli troops killing about 200 Palestinians in
June and July.
In December, after months of fruitlessly attempting to form unity
government, Hamas and Farah turned on each other. Street fights and
shootings broke out between the various factions in Gaza for more than a
week until a ceasefire called by President Abbas (Fatah) and Prime
Minister Haniya (Hamas). In March 2007, the leaders of Hamas and Fatah
finally agreed on a coalition government, which Parliament later approved.
The platform that outlines the Hamas-dominated government does not
recognize Israel, accept earlier Israeli-Palestinian accords, or renounce
violence, conditions required by Western countries before they resume aid
to the Palestinian government. Despite the breakthrough, Prime Minister
Haniya and President Mahmoud Abbas remain divided on important issues
regarding Israel.
Fighting between Hamas and Fatah intensified in June 2007, with Hamas
effectively taking control of the Gaza Strip. In response, Palestinian
president Abbas dissolved the government, fired Prime Minister Ismail
Haniya, and declared a state of emergency. Salam Fayyad, an economist,
took over as interim prime minister. In an effort to boost Abbas, the
United States and the European Union said they will resume direct aid to
the Palestinians.
At a Middle East peace conference in November hosted by the United
States in Annapolis, Md., Israeli prime minister Olmert and Abbas agreed
to work together to broker a peace treaty by the end of 2008. "We agree to
immediately launch good-faith bilateral negotiations in order to conclude
a peace treaty, resolving all outstanding issues, including all core
issues without exception, as specified in previous agreements,” a
joint statement said. “We agree to engage in vigorous, ongoing and
continuous negotiations, and shall make every effort to conclude an
agreement before the end of 2008.” Officials from 49 countries
attended the conference.
See also Encyclopedia: Palestine.
Central
Bureau of Statistics www.pcbs.org/ .
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Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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