1952 TEL AVIV PALESTINE ISRAEL VINTAGE ORIGINAL PHOTO TROOPS ACME UNSELTTLED For Sale

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1952 TEL AVIV PALESTINE ISRAEL VINTAGE ORIGINAL PHOTO TROOPS ACME UNSELTTLED:
$221.82

1952 UNSETTLED PALESTINE MEASURING APPROXIMATELY 7 1/8 X 9 INCHES
Photographers in unsettled Palestine must carry plenty ofpasses and identification as they go about their work.Here E.,F. Ilani, right, Acme staff photographer, has hiscredentials checked by an Israeli guard during a curfewin Tel Aviv

The Gaza Strip (/ˈɡɑːzə/ ⓘ;[10] Arabic: قِطَاعُ غَزَّةَ Qiṭāʿ Ġazzah [qɪˈtˤɑːʕ ˈɣaz.za]), or simply Gaza, is a polity and the smaller of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the West Bank). On the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, Gaza is bordered by Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the east and north.
The territory came into being when it was controlled by Egypt during the 1948 Arab–Israeli war, and became a refuge for Palestinians who fled or were expelled during the 1948 Palestine war.[11][12] Later, during the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel captured and occupied the Gaza Strip, initiating its decades-long military occupation of the Palestinian territories.[11][12] The mid-1990s Oslo Accords established the Palestinian Authority (PA) as a limited governing authority, initially led by the secular party Fatah until that party's electoral defeat in 2006 to the Sunni Islamic Hamas. Hamas would then take over the governance of Gaza in a battle the next year,[13][14][15][16] subsequently warring with Israel.
In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew its military forces from Gaza, dismantled its settlements, and implemented a temporary blockade of Gaza.[17] The blockade became indefinite after the 2007 Hamas takeover, supported by Egypt through restrictions on its land border with Gaza.[18][17] Despite the Israeli disengagement, the United Nations (UN), the International Committee of the Red Cross, and many human-rights organizations continue to consider Gaza to be held under Israeli military occupation, due to what they consider Israel's effective military control over the territory; Israel disputes that it occupies the territory.[19][20][21] The current blockade prevents people and goods from freely entering or leaving the territory, leading to Gaza often being called an "open-air prison."[22][23] The UN, as well as at least 19 human-rights organizations, have urged Israel to lift the blockade.[24] Israel has justified its blockade on the strip with wanting to stop flow of arms, but Palestinians and rights groups say it amounts to collective punishment and exacerbates dire living conditions.[25] A tightened blockade since the start of the Israel–Hamas war has contributed to an ongoing famine.[26]
The Gaza Strip is 41 kilometres (25 miles) long, from 6 to 12 km (3.7 to 7.5 mi) wide, and has a total area of 365 km2 (141 sq mi).[27][28] With around 2 million Palestinians[29] on approximately 365 km2 (141 sq mi) of land, Gaza has one of the world's highest population densities.[30][31] More than 70% of Gaza's population are refugees or descendents of refugees, half of whom are under the age of 18.[32] Sunni Muslims make up most of Gaza's population, with a Palestinian Christian minority. Gaza has an annual population growth rate of 1.99% (2023 est.), the 39th-highest in the world.[33] Gaza's unemployment rate is among the highest in the world, with an overall unemployment rate of 46% and a youth unemployment rate of 70%.[18][34] Despite this, the area's 97% literacy rate is higher than that of nearby Egypt, while youth literacy is 88%.[35] Gaza has throughout the years been seen as a source of Palestinian nationalism and resistance.[36][37][38]
Gaza Strip Gaza StripFlag of Hamas Hamas governmentNorth GazaGazaGAZA CITYDeir al-BalahKhan YunisRafahvteHistorySee also: History of Gaza CityHistorically part of the Palestine region, the area was controlled since the 16th century by the Ottoman Empire; in 1906 the Ottomans and the British Empire set the region's international border with Egypt.[39] With the defeat of the Central Powers in World War I and the subsequent partition of the Ottoman Empire, the British deferred the governance of the Gaza Strip area to Egypt, which declined the responsibility.[40] Britain itself kept and ruled the territory it occupied in 1917–18, from 1920 until 1948 under the internationally accepted frame of "Mandatory Palestine".
1948–1959: All-Palestine governmentMain articles: All-Palestine Protectorate and All-Palestine GovernmentDuring the 1948 Palestine war and more specifically the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees fled or were expelled to the Gaza Strip.[41] By the end of the war, 25% of Mandatory Palestine's Arab population was in Gaza, though the Strip constituted only 1% of the land.[42] The same year, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was established to administer various refugee programmes.[43]
On 22 September 1948 (near the end of the Arab–Israeli War), in the Egyptian-occupied Gaza City, the Arab League proclaimed the All-Palestine Government, partly to limit Transjordan's influence over Palestine. The All-Palestine Protectorate was quickly recognized by six of the Arab League's then-seven members (excluding Transjordan): Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen.[44] It was not recognized by any other country.[citation needed]
After the cessation of hostilities, the Israel–Egypt Armistice Agreement of 24 February 1949 established the line of separation between Egyptian and Israeli forces, as well as the modern boundary between Gaza and Israel, which both signatories declared not to be an international border. The southern border with Egypt was unchanged.[39]
Palestinians living in Gaza or Egypt were issued All-Palestine passports. Egypt did not offer them citizenship. From the end of 1949, they received aid directly from UNRWA. During the Suez Crisis (1956), Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula were occupied by Israeli troops, who withdrew under international pressure. The All-Palestine government was accused of being little more than a façade for Egyptian control, with negligible independent funding or influence. It subsequently moved to Cairo and dissolved in 1959 by decree of Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser.[citation needed]
1956–1957: Israeli occupationFurther information: Suez Crisis
Palestinians in an outdoor market in the Gaza Strip in 1956During the 1956 Suez Crisis (the Second Arab–Israeli war), Israel invaded Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula. On 3 November, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) attacked Egyptian and Palestinian forces at Khan Yunis.[45] The city of Khan Yunis resisted being captured, and Israel responded with a heavy bombing campaign that inflicted heavy civilian casualties.[46] After a fierce battle, the Israeli 37th Armored Brigade's Sherman tanks broke through the heavily fortified lines outside of Khan Yunis held by the 86th Palestinian Brigade.[47]
After some street-fighting with Egyptian soldiers and Palestinian fedayeen, Khan Yunis fell to the Israelis.[47] Upon capturing Khan Yunis, the IDF committed an alleged massacre.[48] Israeli troops started executing unarmed Palestinians, mostly civilians; in one instance men were lined up against walls in central square and executed with machine guns.[49] The claims of a massacre were reported to the United Nations General Assembly on 15 December 1956 by UNRWA director Henry Labouisse, who reported from "trustworthy sources" that 275 people were killed in the massacre, of which 140 were refugees and 135 local residents.[50][51]
On 12 November, days after the hostilities had ended, Israel killed 111 people in the Rafah refugee camp during Israeli operations, provoking international criticism.[52][48]
Israel ended the occupation in March 1957, amid international pressure. During the four-month Israeli occupation, 900–1,231 people were killed.[53] According to French historian Jean-Pierre Filiu, 1% of the population of Gaza was killed, wounded, imprisoned or tortured during the occupation.[53]
1959–1967: Egyptian occupationMain article: Occupation of the Gaza Strip by Egypt
Che Guevara visiting Gaza in 1959After the dissolution of the All-Palestine Government in 1959, under the excuse of pan-Arabism, Egypt continued to occupy Gaza until 1967. Egypt never annexed the Strip, but instead treated it as a controlled territory and administered it through a military governor.[54] The influx of over 200,000 refugees from former Mandatory Palestine, roughly a quarter of those who fled or were expelled from their homes during, and in the aftermath of, the 1948 Arab–Israeli War into Gaza[55] resulted in a dramatic decrease in the standard of living. Because the Egyptian government restricted movement to and from Gaza, its inhabitants could not look elsewhere for gainful employment.[56]
1967: Israeli occupationSee also: Israeli Military GovernorateIn June 1967, during the Six-Day War, IDF captured Gaza. Under the then head of Israel's Southern Command Ariel Sharon, dozens of Palestinians, suspected of being members of the resistance, were executed without trial.[57]
Between 1967 and 1968, Israel evicted approximately 75,000 residents of the Gaza Strip who Golda Meir described as a "fifth column". In addition, at least 25,000 Gazan residents were prevented from returning after the 1967 war. Ultimately, the Strip lost 25% (a conservative estimate) of its prewar population between 1967 and 1968.[58]
Between 1973 (after the Yom Kippur War) and 1987, official policy on economic development in the Gaza Strip remained the same as in 1969 with limited local investment and economic opportunity coming primarily from employment in Israel.[59]Gaza City in 1967According to Tom Segev, moving the Palestinians out of the country had been a persistent element of Zionist thinking from early times.[60] In December 1967, during a meeting at which the Security Cabinet brainstormed about what to do with the Arab population of the newly occupied territories, one of the suggestions Prime Minister Levi Eshkol proffered regarding Gaza was that the people might leave if Israel restricted their access to water supplies.[61] A number of measures, including financial incentives, were taken shortly afterwards to begin to encourage Gazans to emigrate elsewhere.[60][62] Following the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, "various international agencies struggled to respond" and American Near East Refugee Aid was founded to help victims of the conflict by providing immediate emergency relief.[63]Israeli soldiers in Gaza in 1969Subsequent to this military victory, Israel created the first Israeli settlement bloc in the Strip, Gush Katif, in the southwest corner near Rafah and the Egyptian border on a spot where a small kibbutz had previously existed for 18 months between 1946 and 1948. The kibbutz community had been established as part of the Jewish Agency's "11 points in the Negev" plan, in which 11 Jewish villages were built across the Negev in a single night as a response to the Morrison-Grady Plan, which threatened to exclude the Negev from a future Jewish State. In total, between 1967 and 2005, Israel established 21 settlements in Gaza, comprising 20% of the total territory. The economic growth rate from 1967 to 1982 averaged roughly 9.7 percent per annum, due in good part to expanded income from work opportunities inside Israel, which had a major utility for the latter by supplying the country with a large unskilled and semi-skilled workforce. Gaza's agricultural sector was adversely affected as one-third of the Strip was appropriated by Israel, competition for scarce water resources stiffened, and the lucrative cultivation of citrus declined with the advent of Israeli policies, such as prohibitions on planting new trees and taxation that gave breaks to Israeli producers, factors which militated against growth. Gaza's direct exports of these products to Western markets, as opposed to Arab markets, was prohibited except through Israeli marketing vehicles, in order to assist Israeli citrus exports to the same markets. The overall result was that large numbers of farmers were forced out of the agricultural sector. Israel placed quotas on all goods exported from Gaza, while abolishing restrictions on the flow of Israeli goods into the Strip. Sara Roy characterised the pattern as one of structural de-development.[59]
On 26 March 1979, Israel and Egypt signed the Egypt–Israel peace treaty.[64] Among other things, the treaty provided for the withdrawal by Israel of its armed forces and civilians from the Sinai Peninsula, which Israel had captured during the Six-Day War. The Egyptians agreed to keep the Sinai Peninsula demilitarized. The final status of the Gaza Strip, and other relations between Israel and Palestinians, was not dealt with in the treaty. Egypt renounced all territorial claims to territory north of the international border. The Gaza Strip remained under Israeli military administration. The Israeli military became responsible for the maintenance of civil facilities and services.
After the 1979 Egypt–Israel peace treaty, a 100-meter-wide buffer zone between Gaza and Egypt known as the Philadelphi Route was established. The international border along the Philadelphi corridor between Egypt and Gaza is 11 kilometres (7 miles) long.
1987: First IntifadaMain article: First Intifada
Israeli soldiers opposite Palestinian protesters in the strip during the First Intifada in 1987The First Intifada was a sustained series of protests and violent riots carried out by Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories and Israel.[65] It was motivated by collective Palestinian frustration over Israel's military occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, as it approached a twenty-year mark, having begun after Israel's victory in the 1967 Arab–Israeli War.[66] The uprising lasted from December 1987 until the Madrid Conference of 1991, though some date its conclusion to 1993, with the signing of the Oslo Accords.
The intifada began on 9 December 1987,[67] in the Jabalia refugee camp of the Gaza Strip after an Israeli army truck collided with a civilian car, killing four Palestinian workers.[68] Palestinians charged that the collision was a deliberate response for the killing of an Israeli in Gaza days earlier.[69] Israel denied that the crash, which came at time of heightened tensions, was intentional or coordinated.[70] The Palestinian response was characterized by protests, civil disobedience, and violence.[71][72] There was graffiti, barricading,[73][74] and widespread throwing of stones and Molotov cocktails at the IDF and its infrastructure within the West Bank and Gaza Strip. These contrasted with civil efforts including general strikes, boycotts of Israeli Civil Administration institutions in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, an economic boycott consisting of refusal to work in Israeli settlements on Israeli products, refusal to pay taxes, and refusal to drive Palestinian cars with Israeli licenses.[71][72][73][74]
1994: Gaza under Palestinian AuthorityIn May 1994, following the Palestinian-Israeli agreements known as the Oslo Accords, a phased transfer of governmental authority to the Palestinians took place. Much of the Strip came under Palestinian control, except for the settlement blocs and military areas. The Israeli forces left Gaza City and other urban areas, leaving the new Palestinian Authority to administer and police those areas. The Palestinian Authority, led by Yasser Arafat, chose Gaza City as its first provincial headquarters. In September 1995, Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed a second agreement, extending the Palestinian Authority to most West Bank towns.
Between 1994 and 1996, Israel built the Gaza–Israel barrier to improve security in Israel. The barrier was largely torn down by Palestinians at the beginning of the Second Intifada in September 2000.[75]
2000: Second IntifadaMain article: Second Intifada
An IDF Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozer demolishing a house in the Gaza Strip during the Second IntifadaThe Second Intifada was a major Palestinian uprising in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories and Israel. The general triggers for the unrest are speculated to have been centred on the failure of the 2000 Camp David Summit, which was expected to reach a final agreement on the Israeli–Palestinian peace process in July 2000.[76] Outbreaks of violence began in September 2000, after Ariel Sharon, then the Israeli opposition leader, made a provocative visit to the Al-Aqsa compound on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem;[76] the visit itself was peaceful, but, as anticipated, sparked protests and riots that Israeli police put down with rubber bullets and tear gas.[77] The Second Intifada also marked the beginning of rocket attacks and bombings of Israeli border localities by Palestinian guerrillas from the Gaza Strip, especially by the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad movements.
High numbers of casualties were caused among civilians as well as combatants. Israeli forces engaged in gunfire, targeted killings, and tank and aerial attacks, while Palestinians engaged in suicide bombings, gunfire, stone-throwing, and rocket attacks.[78][79] Palestinian suicide bombings were a prominent feature of the fighting and mainly targeted Israeli civilians, contrasting with the relatively less violent nature of the First Intifada.[80][81][82][83][84] With a combined casualty figure for combatants and civilians, the violence is estimated to have resulted in the deaths of approximately 3,000 Palestinians and 1,000 Israelis, as well as 64 foreigners.[85]
Between December 2000 and June 2001, the barrier between Gaza and Israel was reconstructed. A barrier on the Gaza Strip-Egypt border was constructed starting in 2004.[86] The main crossing points are the northern Erez Crossing into Israel and the southern Rafah Crossing into Egypt. The eastern Karni Crossing used for cargo, closed down in 2011.[87] Israel controls the Gaza Strip's northern borders, as well as its territorial waters and airspace. Egypt controls Gaza Strip's southern border, under an agreement between it and Israel.[88] Neither Israel or Egypt permits free travel from Gaza as both borders are heavily militarily fortified. "Egypt maintains a strict blockade on Gaza in order to isolate Hamas from Islamist insurgents in the Sinai."[89]
2005: Israel's unilateral disengagementMain article: Israeli disengagement from Gaza
Neve Dekalim was Gush Katif's urban center and the largest communityIn 2005, Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip and dismantled its settlements.[90] Israel also withdrew from the Philadelphi Route, a narrow strip of land adjacent to the border with Egypt, after Egypt agreed to secure its side of the border after the Agreement on Movement and Access, known as the Rafah Agreement.[91] The Gaza Strip was left under the control of the Palestinian Authority.[92]
Post-2006: Hamas takeoverMain article: Fatah–Hamas conflictIn the Palestinian parliamentary elections held on 25 January 2006, Hamas won a plurality of 42.9% of the total vote and 74 out of 132 total seats (56%).[93][94] When Hamas assumed power the next month, Israel, the United States, the EU, Russia and the UN demanded that Hamas accept all previous agreements, recognize Israel's right to exist, and renounce violence; when Hamas refused,[95] they cut off direct aid to the Palestinian Authority, although some aid money was redirected to humanitarian organizations not affiliated with the government.[96] The resulting political disorder and economic stagnation led to many Palestinians emigrating from the Gaza Strip.[97]Gaza City skyline, 2007In January 2007, fighting erupted between Hamas and Fatah. The deadliest clashes occurred in the northern Gaza Strip. On 30 January 2007, a truce was negotiated between Fatah and Hamas.[98] After a few days, new fighting broke out. On 1 February, Hamas killed 6 people in an ambush on a Gaza convoy which delivered equipment for Abbas' Palestinian Presidential Guard.[99] Fatah fighters stormed a Hamas-affiliated university in the Gaza Strip. Officers from Abbas' presidential guard battled Hamas gunmen guarding the Hamas-led Interior Ministry.[100] In May 2007, new fighting broke out between the factions.[101] Interior Minister Hani Qawasmi, who had been considered a moderate civil servant acceptable to both factions, resigned due to what he termed harmful behavior by both sides.[102]
Fighting spread in the Gaza Strip, with both factions attacking vehicles and facilities of the other side. Following a breakdown in an Egyptian-brokered truce, Israel launched an air strike which destroyed a building used by Hamas. Ongoing violence prompted fear that it could bring the end of the Fatah-Hamas coalition government, and possibly the end of the Palestinian authority.[103] Hamas spokesman Moussa Abu Marzouk blamed the conflict between Hamas and Fatah on Israel, stating that the constant pressure of economic sanctions resulted in the "real explosion."[104] From 2006 to 2007 more than 600 Palestinians were killed in fighting between Hamas and Fatah.[105] 349 Palestinians were killed in fighting between factions in 2007. 160 Palestinians killed each other in June alone.[106]
2007: Hamas takeoverMain article: Battle of Gaza (2007)
Gaza City in 2007Following the victory of Hamas in the 2006 Palestinian legislative election, Hamas and Fatah formed the Palestinian authority national unity government headed by Ismail Haniya. Shortly after, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in the course of the Battle of Gaza (June 2007),[107] seizing government institutions and replacing Fatah and other government officials with its own.[108] By 14 June, Hamas fully controlled the Gaza Strip. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas responded by declaring a state of emergency, dissolving the unity government and forming a new government without Hamas participation. PNA security forces in the West Bank arrested a number of Hamas members.
In late June 2008, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan declared the West Bank-based cabinet formed by Abbas as "the sole legitimate Palestinian government". Egypt moved its embassy from Gaza to the West Bank.[109] Saudi Arabia and Egypt supported reconciliation and a new unity government and pressed Abbas to start talks with Hamas. Abbas had always conditioned this on Hamas returning control of the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority. After the takeover, Israel and Egypt closed their border crossings with Gaza. Palestinian sources reported that European Union monitors fled the Rafah Border Crossing, on the Gaza–Egypt border for fear of being kidnapped or harmed.[110] Arab foreign ministers and Palestinian officials presented a united front against control of the border by Hamas.[111] Meanwhile, Israeli and Egyptian security reports said that Hamas continued smuggling in large quantities of explosives and arms from Egypt through tunnels. Egyptian security forces uncovered 60 tunnels in 2007.[112]
Egyptian border barrier breach
A view of Gaza in January 2009On 23 January 2008, after months of preparation during which the steel reinforcement of the border barrier was weakened,[113] Hamas destroyed several parts of the wall dividing Gaza and Egypt in the town of Rafah. Hundreds of thousands of Gazans crossed the border into Egypt seeking food and supplies. Due to the crisis, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ordered his troops to allow the Palestinians in but to verify that they did not bring weapons back across the border.[114] Egypt arrested and later released several armed Hamas militants in the Sinai who presumably wanted to infiltrate into Israel. At the same time, Israel increased its state of alert along the length of the Israel-Egypt Sinai border, and warned its citizens to leave Sinai "without delay."
In February 2008, 2008 Israel-Gaza conflict intensified, with rockets launched at Israeli cities. Aggression by Hamas led to Israeli military action on 1 March 2008, resulting in over 110 Palestinians being killed according to BBC News, as well as 2 Israeli soldiers. Israeli human rights group B'Tselem estimated that 45 of those killed were not involved in hostilities, and 15 were minors.[115]
2008–2009: Gaza WarMain article: Gaza War (2008–2009)
Buildings damaged during the 2008-2009 Gaza warOn 27 December 2008,[116] Israeli F-16 fighters launched a series of air strikes against targets in Gaza following the breakdown of a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas.[117] Israel began a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip on 3 January 2009.[118] Various sites that Israel claimed were being used as weapons depots were struck from the air : police stations, schools, hospitals, UN warehouses, mosques, various Hamas government buildings and other buildings.[119]
Israel said that the attack was a response to Hamas rocket attacks on southern Israel, which totaled over 3,000 in 2008, and which intensified during the few weeks preceding the operation. Israel advised people near military targets to leave before the attacks. Israeli defense sources said that Defense Minister Ehud Barak instructed the IDF to prepare for the operation six months before it began, using long-term planning and intelligence-gathering.[120]Gaza City in 2012A total of 1,100–1,400[121] Palestinians (295–926 civilians) and 13 Israelis were killed in the 22-day war.[122] The conflict damaged or destroyed tens of thousands of homes,[123][124] 15 of Gaza's 27 hospitals and 43 of its 110 primary health care facilities,[125] 800 water wells,[126] 186 greenhouses,[127] and nearly all of its 10,000 family farms;[128] leaving 50,000 homeless,[129] 400,000–500,000 without running water,[129][130] one million without electricity,[130] and resulting in acute food shortages.[131] The people of Gaza still suffer from the loss of these facilities and homes, especially since they have great challenges to rebuild them.
2014: Gaza WarOn 5 June 2014, Fatah signed a unity agreement with the Hamas political party.[132]
The 2014 Gaza War, also known as Operation Protective Edge, was a military operation launched by Israel on 8 July 2014 in the Gaza Strip. Following the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank by Hamas-affiliated Palestinian militants, the IDF initiated Operation Brother's Keeper, in which some 350 Palestinians, including nearly all of the active Hamas militants in the West Bank, were arrested.[133][134][135] Hamas subsequently fired a greater number of rockets into Israel from Gaza, triggering a seven-week-long conflict between the two sides. It was one of the deadliest outbreaks of open conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in decades. The combination of Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli airstrikes resulted in thousands of deaths, the vast majority of which were Gazan Palestinians.[136]
2018–2019: Great March of ReturnMain article: Great March of Return
UN OCHA map of the Great March of Return protests, 31 May 2018In 2018–2019, a series of protests, also known as the Great March of Return, were held each Friday in the Gaza Strip near the Israel–Gaza barrier from 30 March 2018 until 27 December 2019, during which a total of 223 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces.[137][138] The demonstrators demanded that the Palestinian refugees must be allowed to return to lands they were displaced from in what is now Israel. They protested against Israel's land, air and sea blockade of the Gaza Strip and the United States recognition of Jerusalem as capital of of the demonstrators demonstrated peacefully far from the border fence. Peter Cammack, a fellow with the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, argued that the march indicated a new trend in Palestinian society and Hamas, with a shift away from violence towards non-violent forms of protest.[144] Nevertheless, groups consisting mainly of young men approached the fence and committed acts of violence directed towards the Israeli border.[145][146][147][148][149] Israeli officials said the demonstrations were used by Hamas as cover for launching attacks against Israel.[150]2018 Gaza border protests, Bureij refugee camp in GazaIn late February 2019, a United Nations Human Rights Council's independent commission found that of the 489 cases of Palestinian deaths or injuries analyzed, only two were possibly justified as responses to danger by Israeli security forces. The commission deemed the rest of the cases illegal, and concluded with a recommendation calling on Israel to examine whether war crimes or crimes against humanity had been committed, and if so, to bring those responsible to trial.[151][152]
On 28 February 2019, the Commission said it had "'reasonable grounds' to believe Israeli soldiers may have committed war crimes and shot at journalists, health workers and children during protests in Gaza in 2018." Israel refused to take part in the inquiry and rejected the report.[153]
2021: Israel–Palestine crisisBefore the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis, Gaza had 48% unemployment and half of the population lived in poverty. During the crisis, 66 children died (551 children in the previous conflict). On 13 June 2021, a high level World Bank delegation visited Gaza to witness the damage. Mobilization with UN and EU partners is ongoing to finalize a needs assessment in support of Gaza's reconstruction and recovery.[154]
Another escalation between 5 and 8 August 2022 resulted in property damage and displacement of people as a result of airstrikes.[155][156]
2023–2024: Israel–Hamas warMain articles: Israel–Hamas war, Outline of the Israel–Hamas war, Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip (2023–present), and Proposed Israeli resettlement of the Gaza StripSee also: Gaza humanitarian crisis (2023–present) and Gaza Strip evacuations
Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip on 31 October 2023On 7 October 2023, the paramilitaries in Gaza, led by the Hamas's Al-Qassam Brigades, invaded southwest Israel, targeting Israeli communities and military bases, killing at least 1,300 people and taking at least 236 hostages.[157] On 9 October 2023, Israel declared war on Hamas and imposed a "total blockade" of the Gaza Strip,[158] with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declaring, "There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly."[159][160] Gallant changed his position after pressure from U.S. President Joe offeren, and a deal was made on 19 October for Israel and Egypt to allow aid into Gaza.[161] Gaza is currently undergoing a severe humanitarian crisis.[162] By 13 November 2023, one out of every 200 people in Gaza were killed, becoming one out of every 100 by January 2024.[163][164]
As of 21 December 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 20,000 Palestinians, including over 8,000 children, have been killed.[165] More than 85% of Palestinians in Gaza, or around 1.9 million people, were internally displaced.[166] As of January 2024, Israel's offensive has either damaged or destroyed 70–80% of all buildings in northern Gaza.[167][168]
After the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in 2023, there has been a renewed campaign to return Israeli settlers to Gush Katif,[169] including Hanan Ben Ari singing "We return to Gush Katif" to Israeli on the Gaza beach in 2006
Gaza City in 2018The Gaza Strip is 41 km (25 mi) long, from 6 to 12 km (3.7 to 7.5 mi) wide, and has a total area of 365 km2 (141 sq mi).[27][28] It has a 51 km (32 mi) border with Israel, and an 11 km (7 mi) border with Egypt, near the city of Rafah.[171]
Khan Yunis is located 7 km (4.3 mi) northeast of Rafah, and several towns around Deir el-Balah are located along the coast between it and Gaza City. Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun are located to the north and northeast of Gaza City, respectively. The Gush Katif bloc of Israeli settlements used to exist on the sand dunes adjacent to Rafah and Khan Yunis, along the southwestern edge of the 40 km (25 mi) Mediterranean coastline. Al Deira beach is a popular venue for surfers.[172]
The topography of the Gaza Strip is dominated by three ridges parallel to the coastline, which consist of Pleistocene-Holocene aged calcareous aeolian (wind deposited) sandstones, locally referred to as "kurkar", intercalated with red-coloured fine grained paleosols, referred to as "hamra". The three ridges are separated by wadis, which are filled with alluvial deposits.[173] The terrain is flat or rolling, with dunes near the coast. The highest point is Abu 'Awdah (Joz Abu 'Auda), at 105 m (344 ft) above sea level.
The major river in Gaza Strip is Wadi Gaza, around which the Wadi Gaza Nature Reserve was established, to protect the only coastal wetland in the Strip.[174][175]
ClimateThe Gaza Strip has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh), with warm winters during which practically all the annual rainfall occurs, and dry, hot summers. Despite the dryness, humidity is high throughout the year. Annual rainfall is higher than in any part of Egypt at between 225 mm (9 in) in the south and 400 mm (16 in) in the north, but almost all of this falls between November and February.
Environment issuesEnvironmental problems in Gaza include desertification; salination of fresh water; sewage treatment; water-borne diseases; soil degradation; and depletion and contamination of underground water resources. A United Nations official said in 2024 that "it could take 14 years … to clear debris, including rubble from destroyed buildings" (of the Israel–Hamas war).[176]
GovernanceHamas governmentMain articles: Governance of the Gaza Strip and Hamas government of 2012
Damaged UN school and remmants of the Ministry of Interior in Gaza City, December 2012Since its takeover of Gaza, Hamas has exercised executive authority over the Gaza Strip, and it governs the territory through its own ad hoc executive, legislative, and judicial bodies.[177] The Hamas government of 2012 was the second Palestinian Hamas-dominated government, ruling over the Gaza Strip, since the split of the Palestinian National Authority in 2007. It was announced in early September 2012.[178] The reshuffle of the previous government was approved by Gaza-based Hamas MPs from the Palestinian Legislative Council or parliament.[178] Since the Hamas takeover in 2007, the Gaza Strip has been described as a "de facto one-party state", although it tolerates other political groups, including leftist ones such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.[179][180][181][182]
The legal code Hamas applies in Gaza is based on Ottoman laws, the British Mandate's 1936 legal code, Palestinian Authority law, Sharia law, and Israeli military orders. Hamas maintains a judicial system with civilian and military courts and a public prosecution service.[177][183]
Gaza Strip was ranked 6th least electoral democracy in the Middle East and North Africa according to V-Dem Democracy indices in 2024 with a score of 0.136 out of one.[184]
SecurityThe Gaza Strip's security is mainly handled by Hamas through its military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, internal security service, and civil police force. The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades have an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 operatives.[185]
Other groups and ideologies
A rally in support of Fatah in Gaza City in January 2013Other Palestinian militant factions operate in the Gaza Strip alongside, and sometimes opposed to Hamas. The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine, also known as the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) is the second largest militant faction operating in the Gaza Strip. Its military wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, has an estimated 8,000 fighters.[186][187][188][189]
In June 2013, the Islamic Jihad broke ties with Hamas leaders after Hamas police fatally shot the commander of Islamic Jihad's military wing.[187] The third largest faction is the Popular Resistance Committees. Its military wing is known as the Al-Nasser Salah al-Deen Brigades.
Other factions include the Army of Islam (an Islamist faction of the Doghmush clan), the Nidal Al-Amoudi Battalion (an offshoot of the West Bank-based Fatah-linked al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades), the Abu Ali Mustapha Brigades (armed wing of the PFLP), the Sheikh Omar Hadid Brigade (ISIL offshoot), Humat al-Aqsa, Jaysh al-Ummah, Katibat al-Sheikh al-Emireen, the Mujahideen Brigades, and the Abdul al-Qadir al-Husseini Brigades.[190]
Some Salafi-Jihadis operating in Gaza have been using as part of their name the term ʻArḍ al-Ribat "Land of the Ribat", as a name for Palestine, literally meaning "the land of standing vigilant watch on the frontier", but understood in the context of global jihad, which is fundamentally opposed to local, Palestinian nationalism.[191]
Administrative divisionsThe enclave is divided into five governorates: the North Gaza Governorate, Gaza Governorate, Deir al-Balah Governorate, Khan Yunis Governorate and Rafah Governorate.
Legality of Hamas ruleAfter Hamas' June 2007 takeover, it ousted Fatah-linked officials from positions of power and authority (such as government positions, security services, universities, newspapers, etc.) and strove to enforce law by progressively removing guns from the hands of peripheral militias, clans, and criminal groups, and gaining control of supply tunnels. According to Amnesty International, under Hamas rule, newspapers were closed down and journalists were harassed.[192] Fatah demonstrations were forofferden or suppressed, as in the case of a large demonstration on the anniversary of Yasser Arafat's death, which resulted in the deaths of seven people, after protesters hurled stones at Hamas security forces.[193]
Hamas and other militant groups continued to fire Qassam rockets across the border into Israel. According to Israel, between the Hamas takeover and the end of January 2008, 697 rockets and 822 mortar bombs were fired at Israeli towns.[194] In response, Israel targeted Qassam launchers and military targets and declared the Gaza Strip a hostile entity. In January 2008, Israel curtailed travel from Gaza, the entry of goods, and cut fuel supplies, resulting in power shortages. This brought charges that Israel was inflicting collective punishment on the Gaza population, leading to international condemnation. Despite multiple reports from within the Strip that food and other essentials were in short supply,[195] Israel said that Gaza had enough food and energy supplies for weeks.[196]
The Israeli government uses economic means to pressure Hamas. Among other things, it caused Israeli commercial enterprises like banks and fuel companies to stop doing business with the Gaza Strip. The role of private corporations in the relationship between Israel and the Gaza Strip is an issue that has not been extensively studied.[197]
StatusDue to both the Israeli blockade and Hamas's authoritarian policies and actions, U.S. political organization Freedom House ranks Gaza as "not free".[177]A watchtower on the border between Rafah and EgyptIsraeli occupationDespite the 2005 Israeli disengagement from Gaza,[21] the United Nations, international human rights organisations, and the majority of governments and legal commentators consider the territory to be still occupied by Israel, supported by additional restrictions placed on Gaza by Egypt.[198][199][200][201] Israel maintains direct external control over Gaza and indirect control over life within Gaza: it controls Gaza's air and maritime space, as well as six of Gaza's seven land crossings. It reserves the right to enter Gaza at will with its military and maintains a no-go buffer zone within the Gaza territory. Gaza is dependent on Israel for water, electricity, telecommunications, and other utilities.[21] The extensive Israeli buffer zone within the Strip renders much land off-limits to Gaza's inhabitants.[202] The system of control imposed by Israel was described in the fall 2012 edition of International Security as an "indirect occupation".[203] The European Union (EU) considers Gaza to be occupied.[204]
The international community regards all of the Palestinian territories including Gaza as occupied.[205] Human Rights Watch has declared at the UN Human Rights Council that it views Israel as a de facto occupying power in the Gaza Strip, even though Israel has no military or other presence, because the Oslo Accords authorize Israel to control the airspace and the territorial sea.[198][199][200]
In his statement on the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict, Richard Falk, United Nations Special Rapporteur wrote that international humanitarian law applied to Israel "in regard to the obligations of an Occupying Power and in the requirements of the laws of war."[206] Amnesty International, the World Health Organization, Oxfam, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United Nations, the United Nations General Assembly, the UN Fact Finding Mission to Gaza, international human rights organizations, US government websites, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and a significant number of legal commentators (Geoffrey Aronson, Meron Benvenisti, Claude Bruderlein, Sari Bashi, Kenneth Mann, Shane Darcy, John Reynolds, Yoram Dinstein, John Dugard, Marc S. Kaliser, Mustafa Mari, and Iain Scobbie) maintain that Israel's extensive direct external control over Gaza, and indirect control over the lives of its internal population mean that Gaza remained occupied.[207][208][209] In spite of Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, the Hamas government in Gaza considers Gaza as occupied territory.[210]
Israel states that it does not exercise effective control or authority over any land or institutions in the Gaza Strip and thus the Gaza Strip is no longer subject to the former military occupation.[211][212] Foreign Affairs Minister of Israel Tzipi Livni stated in January 2008: "Israel got out of Gaza. It dismantled its settlements there. No Israeli soldiers were left there after the disengagement."[213] On 30 January 2008, the Supreme Court of Israel ruled that the Gaza Strip was not occupied by Israel in a decision on a petition against Israeli restrictions against the Gaza Strip which argued that it remained occupied. The Supreme Court ruled that Israel has not exercised effective control over the Gaza Strip since 2005, and accordingly, it was no longer occupied.[214]
Israel's claim that the exercise of effective control or authority determines occupation in international law is based on previous court rulings. At the Nuremberg trials, it was established that "occupation indicates the exercise of governmental authority to the exclusion of the established government".[215] Similarly, according to the Hague Convention, "territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostile army".[216] In 2015, The European Court of Human Rights concluded that occupation required "the presence of foreign troops, which are in a position to exercise effective control without the consent of the sovereign." The court added in the context of current occupation that "according to widespread expert opinion, physical presence of foreign troops is a sine qua non requirement of occupation, that is, occupation is not conceivable without “boots on the ground”, therefore forces exercising naval or air control through a naval or air blockade do not suffice."[217]
In a legal analysis Hanne Cuyckens agrees with the Israeli position that Gaza is no longer occupied - "Gaza is not technically occupied, given that there is no longer any effective control in the sense of Article 42 of the Hague Regulations. ... Even though the majority argues that the Gaza Strip is still occupied, the effective control test at the core of the law of occupation is no longer met and hence Gaza is no longer occupied." She disagrees that Israel cannot therefore be held responsible for the situation in Gaza because: "Nonetheless, Israel continues to exercise an important level of control over the Gaza Strip and its population, making it difficult to accept that it would no longer have any obligations with regard to the Strip. ... the absence of occupation does not mean the absence of accountability. This responsibility is however not founded on the law of occupation but on general international humanitarian law, potentially complemented by international human rights law".[218] Yuval Shany also argues that Israel is probably not an occupying power in Gaza under international law, writing that "it is difficult to continue and regard Israel as the occupying power in Gaza under the traditional law of occupation".[219]Gaza Strip with Israeli-controlled borders and limited fishing zone, as of December 2012Avi Bell argues that the Gaza Strip is not occupied as the Israeli blockade does not constitute effective control, citing several international legal precedents that the occupier must be in direct control with forces on the ground and have direct control over the civilian population superior to that of the established government. He argues that Israeli control over Gaza does not meet these standards.[220] Likewise, Alex Stein claimed in 2014 that Israel did not occupy Gaza and its only obligation was to minimize harm to the civilian population during military operations.[221]
Characterization as open-air prisonSeveral rights groups have characterized the situation in Gaza as an "open-air prison",[222][23] including the United Nations,[223] Human Rights Watch,[224] and the Norwegian Refugee Council.[225] This characterization was often cited by a number of human rights activists, politicians, and media news outlets reporting on the Gaza-Israel conflict and the wider Palestinian-Israeli conflict.[226][227][228][229][230][231] Former British Prime Minister David Cameron,[232] US Senator Bernie Sanders,[233] Israeli journalist Gideon Levy,[234] and Israeli historian Ilan Pappe have endorsed this characterization as well.[235]
In 2022, Human Rights Watch issued a report on the situation in the Gaza Strip, which it called an "open-air prison" due to the blockade and held Israel responsible as the occupying power, and to a lesser degree Egypt, which has restricted movement of Palestinians through its border.[224] The report highlighted how this blockade has led to humanitarian crises, namely shortages of essential supplies, limited access to healthcare, and high levels of poverty and unemployment among the Palestinian population in Gaza.[224] It claimed that Israel has formed a formal policy of separation between Gaza and the West Bank, despite both forming parts of the Palestinian territories.[224] The Israeli blockade on Gaza has restricted the freedom of movement of Gaza Palestinians to both the West Bank and the outside world; in particular, Palestinian professionals were most impacted by these restrictions, as applying for travel permit takes several weeks.[224]
The Norwegian Refugee Council report issued in 2018 called the territory "the world's largest open-air prison", highlighting in it several figures, including lack of access to clean water, to reliable electrical supply, to health care, food and employment opportunities.[225] It lamented the fact that a majority of Palestinian children in Gaza suffer from psychological trauma, and a portion of which suffer from stunted growth.[225]
StatehoodSome Israeli analysts have argued that the Gaza Strip can be considered a de facto state, even if not internationally recognized as such. Israeli Major General Giora Eiland, who headed Israel's National Security Council, has argued that after the disengagement and Hamas takeover, the Gaza Strip became a de facto state for all intents and purposes, writing that "It has clear borders, an effective government, an independent foreign policy and an army. These are the exact characteristics of a state."[236]
Yagil Levy, a professor of Political Sociology and Public Policy at the Open University of Israel, wrote in a Haaretz column that "Gaza is a state in every respect, at least as social scientists understand the term. It has a central government with an army that's subordinate to it and that protects a population living in a defined territory. Nevertheless, Gaza is a castrated state. Israel and Egypt control its borders. The Palestinian Authority pays for the salaries of some of its civil servants. And the army doesn't have a monopoly on armed force, because there are independent militias operating alongside it."[237]
Moshe Arens, a former Israeli diplomat who served as Foreign Minister and Defense Minister, likewise wrote that Gaza is a state as "it has a government, an army, a police force and courts that dispense justice of sorts."[238] In November 2018, Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked asserted that Gaza is an independent state, stating that Palestinians "already have a state" in Gaza.[239]
Geoffrey Aronson has likewise argued that the Gaza Strip can be considered a proto-state with some aspects of sovereignty, writing that "a proto-state already exists in the Gaza Strip, with objective attributes of sovereignty the Ramallah-based Mahmoud Abbas can only dream about. Gaza is a single, contiguous territory with de facto borders, recognised, if not always respected, by friend and foe alike. There are no permanently stationed foreign occupiers and, most importantly, no civilian Israeli settlements."[240] Writing in Newsweek, journalist Marc Schulman referred to Gaza as "an impoverished proto-state that lives off aid."[241]
Control over airspace
Beit Hanoun region of Gaza in August 2014, after Israeli bombardmentsAs agreed between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the Oslo Accords, Israel has exclusive control over the airspace. Contrarily to the Oslo Accords, however, Israel interferes with Gaza's radio and TV transmissions, and Israel prevents the Palestinians from operating a seaport or airport.[242] The Accords permitted Palestinians to construct an airport, which was duly built and opened in 1998. Israel destroyed Gaza's only airport in 2001 and again in 2002, during the Second Intifada.[243][244]
The Israeli army makes use of drones, which can launch precise missiles. They are equipped with high-resolution cameras and other sensors. The missile fired from a drone has its own cameras that allow the operator to observe the target from the moment of firing. After a missile has been launched, the drone operator can remotely divert it elsewhere. Drone operators can view objects on the ground in detail during both day and night.[245] Israeli drones routinely patrol over Gaza, and engage in missile strikes which reportedly kill more civilians than militants; the drones also produce a buzzing noise audible from the ground which Palestinians in Gaza refer to as zanana.[246][247]: 6 
Buffer zonePart of the territory is depopulated because of the imposition of buffer zones on both the Israeli and Egyptian borders.[248][249][250]
Initially, Israel imposed a 50-meter buffer zone in Gaza.[251] In 2000, it was expanded to 150 meters.[249] Following the 2005 Israeli disengagement from Gaza, an undefined buffer zone was maintained, including a no-fishing zone along the coast. The ultimate effect of the enforcement of the no-fishing zone was that the fishing industry in Gaza "virtually ceased."[252]
In 2009/2010, Israel expanded the buffer zone to 300 meters.[253][251][254] The Israeli military stated that this buffer zone extended to 300 meters from the security fence, although UN bodies and other organizations operating in the region reported that the area extended at least a kilometer from the security fence before 2012. The buffer zone before the implementation of the ceasefire that followed the 2012 clashes accounted to 14% of the whole territory of the Strip and contained 30-55% of its total arable land. A 2012 UN report estimated that 75,000 metric tons of potential produce were lost per year as a result of the buffer zone, amounting to US$50.2 million per year.[255] The IDMC estimated in 2014 that 12% of the population of Gaza was directly affected by the land and sea restrictions due to the buffer zone.[256] [248][251]
On 25 February 2013, pursuant to a November 2012 ceasefire, Israel declared a buffer zone of 100 meters on land and 6 nautical miles offshore. In the following month, the zone was changed to 300 meters and 3 nautical miles. The 1994 Gaza Jericho Agreement allows 20 nautical miles, and the 2002 Bertini Commitment allows 12 nautical miles.[253][249]
In August 2015, the IDF confirmed a buffer zone of 300 meters for residents and 100 meters for farmers, but without explaining how to distinguish between the two.[257] As of 2015, on a third of Gaza's agricultural land, residents risk Israeli attacks. According to PCHR, Israeli attacks take place up to approximately 1.5 km (0.9 mi) from the border, making 17% of Gaza's total territory a risk zone.[249]
Israel says the buffer zone is needed to protect Israeli communities just over the border from sniper fire and rocket attacks. In the 18 months until November 2010, one Thai farm worker in Israel was killed by a rocket fired from Gaza. In 2010, according to IDF figures, 180 rockets and mortars had been fired into Israel by militants. In 6 months, 11 Palestinians civilians, including four children, had been killed by Israeli fire and at least 70 Palestinian civilians were injured in the same period, including at least 49 who were working collecting rubble and scrap metal.[248]
A buffer zone was also created on the Egyptian side of the Gaza–Egypt border. In 2014, scores of homes in Rafah were destroyed for the buffer zone.[258] According to Amnesty International, more than 800 homes were destroyed and more than 1,000 families evicted.[259] Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed with the destruction of smuggling tunnels by flooding them, and then punishing the owners of the houses that contained entrances to the tunnels, including demolishing their houses, arguing that the tunnels had produced 1,800 millionaires, and were used for smuggling weapons, drugs, cash, and equipment for forging documents.[259]
Gaza blockadeMain article: Blockade of the Gaza StripIsrael and Egypt maintain a blockade of the Gaza Strip in response to security concerns, such as the smuggling of weapons into Gaza. Israel has also stated that the blockade serves as "economic warfare".[36] The Israeli human rights organization Gisha reports that the blockade undermines basic living conditions and human rights in Gaza.[260] The Red Cross has reported that the blockade harms the economy and causes a shortage of basic medicines and equipment such as painkillers and x-ray film.[261]
Israel describes the blockade as necessary to prevent the smuggling of weapons into Gaza. Israel maintains that the blockade is legal and necessary to limit Palestinian rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip on its cities and to prevent Hamas from obtaining other weapons,[262][263][264] although the legality of the blockade has been challenged by multiple human rights organizations.[265][266]
According to director of the Shin Bet, Hamas and Islamic Jihad had smuggled in over "5,000 rockets with ranges up to 40 km (25 mi)." Some of the rockets could reach as far as the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area.[267]Tent camp, April 2009, after Operation Cast LeadFacing mounting international pressure, Egypt lessened the restrictions starting in June 2010, when the Rafah border crossing from Egypt to Gaza was partially opened by Egypt. Egypt's foreign ministry said that the crossing would remain open mainly for people, but not for supplies.[268]
Israel also eased restrictions in June 2010 as a result of international pressure following the Gaza flotilla raid after which food shortages decreased.[269] The World Bank reported in 2012 that access to Gaza remained highly restricted and exports to the West Bank and Israel from Gaza are prohibited.[270] This ban on exports was not lifted until 2014.[271]
In January and February 2011, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) assessed measures taken to ease the blockade[272] and concluded that they were helpful but not sufficient to improve the lives of the local inhabitants.[272] UNOCHA called on Israel to reduce restrictions on exports and the import of construction materials, and to lift the general ban on movement between Gaza and the West Bank via Israel.[272] According to The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the blockade resulted in a loss of over $17 million in exports in 2006 from 2005 (roughly 3% of all Palestinian exports).[273] After Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak resigned on 28 May 2011, Egypt permanently opened its border with Gaza to students, medical patients, and foreign passport holders.[272][274] Following the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état, Egypt's military has destroyed most of the 1,200 tunnels which are used for smuggling food, weapons, and other goods to Gaza.[275] After the August 2013 Rabaa Massacre in Egypt, the border crossing was closed 'indefinitely.'[276]
While the import of food is restricted through the Gaza blockade, the Israeli military destroys agricultural crops by spraying toxic chemicals over the Gazan lands, using aircraft flying over the border zone. According to the IDF, the spraying is intended "to prevent the concealment of IED's [Improvised Explosive Devices], and to disrupt and prevent the use of the area for destructive purposes."[277] Gaza's agricultural research and development station was destroyed in 2014 and again in January 2016, while import of new equipment is obstructed.[278]
Movement of people
Rafah Border Crossing in 2012Because of the Israeli–Egyptian blockade, the population is not free to leave or enter the Gaza Strip. Only in exceptional cases are people allowed to pass through the Erez Crossing or the Rafah Border Crossing.[253][279][280][281] In 2015, a Gazan woman was not allowed to travel through Israel to Jordan on her way to her own wedding. The Israeli authorities found she did not meet the criteria for travel, namely only in exceptional humanitarian cases.[282]
Under the long-term blockade, the Gaza Strip is often described as a "prison-camp or open air prison for its collective denizens". The comparison is done by observers, ranging from Roger Cohen and Lawrence Weschler to NGOs, such as B'tselem, and politicians and diplomats, such as David Cameron, Noam Chomsky, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, David Shoebridge and Sir John In 2014 French President François Hollande called for the demilitarization of Gaza and a lifting of the blockade, saying "Gaza must neither be an open prison nor a military base."[291]
An anonymous Israeli analyst has called it "Israel's Alcatraz".[292] While Lauren Booth,[293][294] Philip Slater,[295] Giorgio Agamben[296] compare it to a concentration camp. For Robert S. Wistrich,[297] and Philip Mendes,[298] such analogies are designed to offend Jews, while Philip Seib dismisses the comparison as absurd, and claims that it arises from sources like Al Jazeera and Arab leaders.[299]
Israel restricts movement of Palestinian residents between the West Bank and Gaza. Israel has implemented a policy of allowing Palestinian movement from the West Bank to Gaza, but making it quite difficult for Gaza residents to move to the West Bank. Israel typically refuses to allow Gaza residents to leave for the West Bank, even when the Gaza resident is originally a West Bank resident. The Israeli human-rights organization Gisha has helped Gaza residents who had moved from the West Bank to Gaza return to the West Bank arguing that extremely pressing personal circumstances provide humanitarian grounds for relief.[300]
EconomySee also: Economy of the Gaza Strip, Economy of the State of Palestine, and Blockade of the Gaza Strip
Backyard industryDuring the course of the Israeli occupation, Gaza's economy has gone from a state of under-development with a deep dependency on Israel and strong ties to the West Bank, to a now isolated economy, deprived of the capacity to produce and innovate and subject to the damage of ongoing Israeli military attacks. Gaza's economy is characterized by high levels of unemployment and impoverishment, with over 75% of the population dependent on humanitarian aid. Political economist Sara Roy, the leading authority on the economy of the Gaza Strip, describes the 2005 Israeli disengagement from Gaza as a turning point in Israeli policy, where previously Israel sought to control and dominate the economy of the Strip to serve its own interests, current policies seek to disable the economy, with the political goal of reducing the demands of the population for national, political and economic rights into a humanitarian problem.[36]
The economy of the Gaza Strip is severely hampered by Egypt and Israel's almost total blockade, and has one of the world's highest population densities,[30][31] limited land access, strict internal and external security controls, the effects of Israeli military operations, and restrictions on labor and trade access across the border. A 2015 UN report estimated that 72% of the population suffers from food insecurity.[301] Per capita income was estimated at US$3,100 in 2009, a position of 164th in the world.[302] A UN report in 2022 estimated Gaza Strip's unemployment rate to be 45% and 65% of the population under poverty, living standards went down by 27% compared to 2006 and 80% of the population depends on international aid for survival.[303]
Access to essential needs, such as water, is limited, with only 10-25% of households having access to running water on a daily basis, typically for only a few hours a day. Out of "dire necessity", 75-90% of the population relies on unsafe water from unregulated vendors. Accordingly, 26% of disease in Gaza is water related and a 48% prevalence of nitrate poisoning in children. The water shortage in Gaza is a result of Israeli policies and control of aquifers, withholding from Gaza enough water to meet Gaza's needs many times over.[36]
The EU described the Gaza economy in 2013 as follows: "Since Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007 and following the closure imposed by Israel, the situation in the Strip has been one of chronic need, de-development and donor dependency, despite a temporary relaxation on restrictions in movement of people and goods following a flotilla raid in 2010. The closure has effectively cut off access for exports to traditional markets in Israel, transfers to the West Bank and has severely restricted imports. Exports are now down to 2% of 2007 levels."[204]
According to Sara Roy, one senior IDF officer told an UNWRA official in 2015 that Israel's policy towards Gaza consisted of: "No development, no prosperity, no humanitarian crisis."[304]
Israeli policies following Israeli military occupation
Israeli soldiers check Palestinian men in Gaza in 1969In 1984, former deputy mayor of Jerusalem, Meron Benvenisti, described Israeli policy in the occupied territories as motivated primarily by the notion that Palestinian claims to economic and political rights are illegitimate. He wrote that the economic policies stifle Palestinian economic development with the primary goal of prohibiting the establishment of a Palestinian state.[305]
Sara Roy describes Israeli policies in Gaza as policies of "de-development," which are specifically designed to destroy an economy and ensure that there can be no economic base to support local, independent development and growth. Roy explains that the framework for Israeli policy established between 1967 and 1973 would not change, even with the limited self-rule introduced by the Oslo Accords in the 1990s, but would grow dramatically more draconian in the early 2000s.[306]
Israeli economic policies in Gaza tied long-term development directly to conditions and interests in Israel rather than to productive domestic structural reform and development. With reduced access to its own resources (largely deprived of them as a result of Israel policies[307]), Gaza's economy grew increasingly dependent on external sources of income. Israeli policies under the authority of the military government exacerbated dependence while externalizing (or reorienting) the economy towards Israeli priorities. This reorientation of the economy included shifting the labor force away from developing domestic agriculture and industry towards labor-intensive subcontracting jobs supporting Israeli industry in addition to unskilled labor jobs in Israel itself. Notably, the Israeli government barred Palestinians of Gaza from taking white-collar roles in public services (with the exception of services such as street cleaning).[308][309] In 1992, 70% of Gaza's labor force worked in Israel, 90% of Gaza's imports came through Israel, and 80% of its exports went through Israel.[310]
Israeli efforts to expand employment within Gaza were largely through relief works, which, as a purely income-generating project, does not contribute to development.[311] The Israeli military government's expenditure on industry in the Gaza Strip between 1984 and 1986 was 0.3% of the total budget, with the development of industry receiving no investment at all.[312][313] Despite the worsening living conditions in Gaza, the Israeli government continued to invest minimally throughout the military government's rule. The Gaza budget did not impose any financial burden on Israeli taxpayers, despite statements from Israeli officials that limited investment was due to financial constraints. From the 1970s and throughout the duration of the Israeli military government's authority, income tax deductions from Palestinians in Gaza exceeded Israeli expenditure, resulting in a net transfer of money from Gaza into Israel.[314] Throughout its authority, the Israeli military government maintained a budget with little to no capital investment in Gaza. Additionally, the fiscal system resulted in a net outflow of domestic resources from the Palestinian economy.[310]Map of the Gaza Strip in March 1999. The major settlement blocs were the blue-shaded regions of this map.The result was the continuous transfer of local resources out of Gaza's economy and the increased vulnerability of the economy to external conditions such as Israeli market needs, but most vividly seen by the impacts of the current Israeli blockade and Israel's destructive military campaigns in Gaza. The economy's extreme dependence on Israel during this period is highlighted by the fact that by 1987, 60% of Gaza's GNP came from external payments, primarily through employment in Israel. Israeli policies also undercut any potential competition from Gazan products through generous subsidies to Israeli agriculture. Further, Israel banned exports to all Western markets, and enterprises that might compete with Israeli counterparts suffered as a result of the military authority's regulation. For example, permits from military authorities (which could take five years or longer to acquire) were required in order to plant new citrus trees or replace old ones, and farmers were prohibited from clearing their own land without permission. In addition, military authorities constrained fishing areas to prevent any threat of competition with Israeli products. Even juice and vegetable processing factories (which could make productive use of crop surpluses) were prohibited by the Israeli government until 1992.[315] As Sara Roy describes, Gazan "[e]conomic activity is determined by state policies, not market dynamics."[316]
Policies of the Israeli military authorities in Gaza also restricted and undermined institutions that could support and plan for productive investment and economic development. Permission was required, for example, for the development of any new programs and for personnel change. Permission was also required to hold a meeting of three or more people. From the start of the occupation until 1994, municipalities did not have authority over, for example, water and electricity allocation, public markets, public health, and transportation. Decision-making and the initiation of new projects required the approval of the military governor. Even under the Oslo agreement, Israel maintains authority over zoning and land use. Further, municipal governments had no authority to generate revenue. Specifically, they could not introduce taxes or fees without approval from Israeli authorities. Accordingly, municipalities and local institutions often relied on donations from external sources, although access to the funds was often denied even after they had been deposited in Israeli banks. At the start of the occupation, the military government closed all Arab banks in the occupied territories. Branches of Israeli banks were allowed to transfer funds and provide services for importing and exporting businesses. Further, no banks were allowed to supply long-term credit, which seriously limited the potential for economic development.[317]IndustriesGaza Strip industries are generally small family businesses that produce textiles, soap, olive-wood carvings, and mother-of-pearl souvenirs. The main agricultural products are olives, citrus, vegetables, Halal beef, and dairy products. Primary exports are citrus and cut flowers, while primary imports are food, consumer goods, and construction materials. The main trade partners of the Gaza Strip are Israel and Egypt.[302]
Natural resourcesMain article: Natural gas in the Gaza StripNatural resources of Gaza include arable land—about a third of the Strip is irrigated. Recently, natural gas was discovered. The Gaza Strip is largely dependent on water from Wadi Gaza, which also supplies Israel.[318] Most of water comes from groundwater wells (90% in 2021). Its quality is low and most of it is unfit for human consumption. The remainder is produced by water desalination plants or bought from Israel's Mekorot (6% of all water in 2021).[319] According to Human Rights Watch, international humanitarian law requires Israel, as the occupying power in Gaza, to ensure that the basic needs of the civilian population are provided for.[320]
Gaza's marine gas reserves extend 32 kilometres from the Gaza Strip's coastline[321] and were calculated at 35 BCM.[322]
SocietyDemographicsMain article: Demographics of the State of Palestine
Palestinian girls in Jabalia in 2009In 2010, approximately 1.6 million people lived in the Gaza Strip,[302] almost 1.0 million of them were UN-registered refugees.[323] The majority descend from refugees who were driven from or left their homes during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The Strip's population has continued to increase since that time, mainly due to a total fertility rate which peaked at 8.3 children per woman in 1991. This fell to 4.4 children per woman in 2013 which was still among the highest worldwide.[302][324]
In a ranking by total fertility rate, this places Gaza 34th of 224 regions.[302][324] This leads to the Gaza Strip having an unusually high proportion of children in the population, with 43.5% of the population being 14 or younger and a median age in 2014 of 18, compared to a world average of 28, and 30 in Israel. The only countries with a lower median age are countries in Africa such as Uganda where it was 15.[324]
Religion
View of the Great Mosque of Gaza, the oldest mosque in Gaza dating to the 7th century CE, which was destroyed by Israeli airstrikes during the 2023 Hamas–Israel warSunni Muslims make up 99.8 percent of the population in the Gaza Strip, with an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 (0.2 percent) Arab Christians.[325][302]
Gaza Strip Religions (2012 est.)[326]Islam  98%Christianity  1%Other  1%See also: Islamism in the Gaza StripFrom 1987 to 1991, during the First Intifada, Hamas campaigned for the wearing of the hijab head-cover. In the course of this campaign, women who chose not to wear the hijab were verbally and physically harassed by Hamas activists, leading to hijabs being worn "just to avoid problems on the streets".[327]
Since Hamas took over in 2007, attempts have been made by Islamist activists to impose "Islamic dress" and to require women to wear the hijab.[328][329] The government's "Islamic Endowment Ministry" has deployed Virtue Committee members to warn citizens of the "dangers of immodest dress, card playing and dating".[330] However, there are no government laws imposing dress and other moral standards, and the Hamas education ministry reversed one effort to impose Islamic dress on students.[328] There has also been successful resistance[by whom?] to attempts by local Hamas officials to impose Islamic dress on women.[331]
According to Human Rights Watch, the Hamas-controlled government stepped up its efforts to "Islamize" Gaza in 2010, efforts it says included the "repression of civil society" and "severe violations of personal freedom."[332]
Palestinian researcher Khaled Al-Hroub has criticized what he called the "Taliban-like steps" Hamas has taken: "The Islamization that has been forced upon the Gaza Strip—the suppression of social, cultural, and press freedoms that do not suit Hamas's view[s]—is an egregious deed that must be opposed. It is the reenactment, under a religious guise, of the experience of [other] totalitarian regimes and dictatorships."[333] Hamas officials denied having any plans to impose Islamic law. One legislator stated that "[w]hat you are seeing are incidents, not policy" and that "we believe in persuasion".[330]
Violence against Christians has been recorded. The owner of a Christian bookshop was abducted and murdered[334] and in February 2008, the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) library in Gaza City was bombed.[335] At least eighteen people were killed when Israel bombed the Church of Saint Porphyrius, which is the oldest in Gaza, on 19 October 2023.[336]
In addition to Hamas, a Salafist movement began to appear about 2005 in Gaza, characterized by "a strict lifestyle based on that of the earliest followers of Islam".[337] As of 2015, there are estimated to be only "hundreds or perhaps a few thousand" Salafists in Gaza.[337]
EducationSee also: List of universities and colleges in the State of Palestine and List of countries by literacy rate
Schoolgirls in Gaza City lining up for class, 2009
University College of Applied Sciences, the largest college in GazaPalestine had a reported 97% literacy rate (96% for females, 99% for males) in 2019 and youth literacy rate (ages 15-24) of 88% in 2020 (94% for females, 82% for males).[35] According to UNRWA figures, there are 640 schools in Gaza: 383 government schools, 221 UNRWA schools and 36 private schools, serving a total of 441,452 students.[338]
In 2010, Al Zahara, a private school in central Gaza introduced a special program for mental development based on math computations. The program was created in Malaysia in 1993, according to the school principal, Majed al-Bari.[339]
In June 2011, some Gazans, upset that UNRWA did not rebuild their homes that were lost in the Second Intifada, blocked UNRWA from performing its services and shut down UNRWA's summer camps. Gaza residents closed UNRWA's emergency department, social services office and ration stores.[340]
In 2012, there were five universities in the Gaza Strip and eight new schools were under construction.[341] By 2018, nine universities were open.
The Community College of Applied Science and Technology (CCAST) was established in 1998 in Gaza City. In 2003, the college moved into its new campus and established the Gaza Polytechnic Institute (GPI) in 2006 in southern Gaza. In 2007, the college received accreditation to award BA degrees as the University College of Applied Sciences (UCAS). In 2010, the college had a student population of 6,000, in eight departments offering over 40 majors.[342]
Health
The Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital and the IUG Faculty of Medicine buildingsIn Gaza, there are hospitals and additional healthcare facilities. Because of the high number of young people the mortality rate is one of the lowest in the world, at 0.315% per year.[343] The infant mortality rate is ranked 105th highest out of 224 countries and territories, at 16.55 deaths per 1,000 births.[344] The Gaza Strip places 24th out of 135 countries according to Human Poverty Index. According to the World Health Organization, in 2022 the average life expectancy for males was 72.5 years and 75 years for females, about the same as Egypt, Lebanon or Jordan, but lower than in Israel.[345]
A study carried out by Johns Hopkins University (U.S.) and Al-Quds University (in Abu Dis) for CARE International in late 2002 revealed very high levels of dietary deficiency among the Palestinian population. The study found that 17.5% of children aged 6–59 months suffered from chronic malnutrition. 53% of women of reproductive age and 44% of children were found to be anemic. Insecurity in obtaining sufficient food as of 2016 affects roughly 70% of Gaza households, as the number of people requiring assistance from UN agencies has risen from 72,000 in 2000, to 800,000 in 2014.[346]Photos of healthcare workers in Gaza killed during the Israel–Hamas war, 25 November 2023After the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip health conditions in Gaza Strip faced new challenges. World Health Organization (WHO) expressed its concerns about the consequences of the Palestinian internal political fragmentation; the socioeconomic decline; military actions; and the physical, psychological and economic isolation on the health of the population in Gaza.[347] In a 2012 study of the occupied territories, the WHO reported that roughly 50% of the young children and infants under two years old and 39.1% of pregnant women receiving antenatal services care in Gaza suffer from iron-deficiency anemia. The organization also observed chronic malnutrition in children under five "is not improving and may be deteriorating."[348]
According to Palestinian leaders in the Gaza Strip, the majority of medical aid delivered are "past their expiration date." Mounir el-Barash, the director of donations in Gaza's health department, claims 30% of aid sent to Gaza is used.[349][failed verification]
Gazans who desire medical care in Israeli hospitals must apply for a medical visa permit. In 2007, State of Israel granted 7,176 permits and denied 1,627.[350][351]
In 2012, two hospitals funded by Turkey and Saudi Arabia were under construction.[352]
As a result of fighting in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war, many of Gaza's hospitals have sustained serious damage.[353]
Culture and sports
Gaza amusement park
Gaza Summer Games 2010, a children's event organized by the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees UNRWAFine artsThe Gaza Strip has been home to a significant branch of the contemporary Palestinian art movement since the mid-20th century. Notable artists include painters Ismail Ashour, Shafiq Redwan, Bashir Senwar, Majed Shalla, Fayez Sersawi, Abdul Rahman al Muzayan and Ismail Shammout, and media artists Taysir Batniji (who lives in France) and Laila al Shawa (who lives in London). An emerging generation of artists is also active in nonprofit art organizations such as Windows From Gaza and Eltiqa Group, which regularly host exhibitions and events open to the public.[354]
HikayeHikaye is an important aspect of Palestinian women's oral culture and was inscribed by UNESCO to its list of intangible cultural heritage in 2008.[355] In 1989 some written version of these stories were recorded from Gaza and published alongside many others, in the volume Speak Bird, Speak Again.[356]
ArchaeologyThe Gaza Museum of Archaeology was established by Jawdat N. Khoudary in 2008.[357] The Al Qarara Cultural Museum in Khan Yunis was destroyed in an explosion as a result of an Israeli attack in October 2023.[358][359]
AthleticsIn 2010, Gaza inaugurated its first Olympic-size swimming pool at the As-Sadaka club. The opening ceremony was held by the Islamic Society.[360] The swimming team of as-Sadaka holds several gold and silver medals from Palestinian swimming competitions.[361]
Transport
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A damaged part of the Yasser Arafat International Airport, 2002From 1920 to 1948, the Gaza Strip hosted sections of the Palestine Railways, connecting the region with Egypt.
Due to the on-going blockade of Gaza, any external travel from Gaza requires cooperation from either Egypt or Israel.
Salah al-Din Road, also known as the Salah ad-Deen Highway, is the main highway of the Gaza Strip. It extends over 45 km (28 mi), spanning the entire length of the territory from the Rafah Crossing in the south to the Erez Crossing in the north. Prior to Israel's establishment, the road provided linkage between Egypt and Lebanon.[362]
The Port of Gaza has been an important and active port since antiquity. Despite plans under the Oslo Peace Accords to expand the port, it has been under a blockade since Hamas was elected as a majority party in the 2006 elections. Both the Israeli Navy and Egypt enforce the blockade, which limits many aspects of life in Gaza. According to Human Rights Watch, it particularly limits the movement of people and commerce, with exports being most affected. The improvement and rebuilding of infrastructure is also negatively impacted by these sanctions.[363] Plans to expand the port were halted after the outbreak of the al-Aqsa Intifada.
The Yasser Arafat International Airport opened in November 1998 after the signing of the Oslo II Accord and the Wye River Memorandum. It was forced to close after Israel deconstruction in October 2000. Its radar station and control tower were destroyed by Israel Defense Forces aircraft in 2001 during the al-Aqsa Intifada. Bulldozers razed the runway in January 2002.[243][244] The only remaining runway in the Strip, at the Gush Katif Airport, fell into disuse following Israeli disengagement. The airspace over Gaza may be restricted by the Israeli Air Force as the Oslo Accords authorized.
Land border crossingsSee also: Blockade of the Gaza Strip § Border crossingsThere are just a few land border crossings between the Strip on one side, and Israel and Egypt on the other, of which not all are open as of 2023. Land border crossings with Israel include: Kerem Shalom Crossing, Erez Crossing or Beit Hanoun Crossing, and the Nitzana Border Crossing.[364] While the land border crossings with Egypt include: Rafah Crossing, and the Salah al-Din Gate.[364][365]
Television and radioIn 2004, most Gaza households had a radio and a TV (70%+), and approximately 20% had a personal computer. People living in Gaza have access to FTA satellite programs, broadcast TV from the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation, the Israel Broadcasting Authority, and the Second Israeli Broadcasting Authority.[366]
Archaeological sites and historical buildingsSee also: Category:Archaeological sites in the Gaza StripAl-Shati refugee camp digs, including Graeco-Roman port city of Anthedon. Iron Age rampart, Persian (Achaemenid)-period houses, Hellenistic emporium, Byzantine cemetery.[367]Bureij mosaic, Byzantine periodChurch of Saint Porphyrius, with Crusader-period elementsGaza synagogue (508 CE), at Maiuma. Mosaic of David playing the lyre now in Inn of the Good Samaritan Museum.Great Mosque of Gaza, Mamluk period with both older and more recent elementsMaiuma: Remains of Maiuma in Port of Gaza, Rimal district. See Gaza synagogue.Monastery of Seridus known from Byzantine-period sources. Proposed identification with remains in Deir e-Nuse(i)rat.[368]Mukheitim site in Jabaliya: fifth-century Byzantine monastic church, mosaic floor restored in 2022[369]Qasr al-Basha, Mamluk-period palaceSaint Hilarion Monastery: see Tell Umm el-'AmrTell el-Ajjul, Bronze Age tellTell es-Sakan, site of two Early Bronze Age settlements including a port on now silted-up arm of Wadi Ghazzeh. Bulldozed in 2017.Tell Umm el-'Amr, archaeological site in Nuseirat refugee camp. Byzantine-period monastic remains, including Saint Hilarion Monastery.Archaeology collectionsAl Mat'haf Museum in Al Mat'haf Hotel. Bronze Age to 20th-century artifacts.
The Palestinian territories are the two regions of the former British Mandate for Palestine that have been occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967, namely the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has referred to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as "the Occupied Palestinian Territory", and this term was used as the legal definition by the ICJ in its advisory opinion of July 2004.[7][8] The term occupied Palestinian territory was used by the United Nations and other international organizations between October 1999[9] and December 2012 to refer to areas controlled by the Palestinian National Authority, but from 2012, when Palestine was admitted as one of its non-member observer states, the United Nations started using exclusively the name State of Palestine.[10][11][12][13] The European Union (EU) also uses the term "occupied Palestinian territory".[14][15] The government of Israel and its supporters use the label "disputed territories" instead.[16]
The Gaza Strip and the West Bank had been occupied by Egypt and Jordan, respectively, since the 1948 Arab–Israeli War until the Six-Day War of 1967. Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1967 and has since maintained control. In 1980, Israel officially absorbed East Jerusalem and proclaimed the whole of the city to be its capital. The inclusion, though never formally amounting to legal annexation, was condemned internationally[17] and declared "null and void" by the United Nations Security Council.[18][need quotation to verify] The Palestinian National Authority, the United Nations,[19] the international legal and humanitarian bodies[20][21] and the international community[22][23] regard East Jerusalem as part of the West Bank, and consequently a part of the Palestinian territories. The Palestinian National Authority never exercised sovereignty over the area, although it housed its offices in Orient House and several other buildings as an assertion of its sovereign interests.[24][25] Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem has not been recognized by the International community, on the grounds that the unilateral annexation of territory occupied during war contravenes the Fourth Geneva Convention.[26][27] The cost of the occupation for Israel over four decades (1967–2007) is estimated to amount to $50 billion.[28] The World Bank estimates the annual cost in 2013 to the Palestinian economy of Israeli occupation at $3.4 billion.[29]
In 1988, with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) intention to declare a Palestinian State, Jordan renounced all territorial claims to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.[30] In 1993, following the Oslo Accords, parts of the territories politically 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). The Oslo Accords established access to the sea for Gaza within 20 nautical miles from the shore. In the context of the Gaza–Israel conflict, the Berlin Commitment of 2002 reduced this to 12 miles (19 km). In October 2006, Israel imposed a 6-mile limit, and at the conclusion of the 2008–2009 Gaza War restricted access to a 3-nautical-mile limit, beyond which a no-go zone exists. As a result, in 2012 more than 3,000 Palestinian fishermen were denied access to 85% of the maritime areas agreed to in 1995.[31] The majority of the Dead Sea area is off-limits to Palestinian use, and Palestinians are denied access to its coastline.[32]
Israel disengaged from the Gaza Strip in 2005. The Hamas takeover of Gaza in 2007 divided the Palestinian territories politically. Abbas's Fatah largely ruled the West Bank and was recognized internationally as the official Palestinian (National) Authority.[33] In 2009, the UN considered the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to still be occupied by Israel.[11]
On 29 November 2012, UNGA 67/19 reaffirmed "the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to independence in their State of Palestine on the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967" and decided "to accord to Palestine non-member observer State status in the United Nations". The next month, a UN legal memorandum recognized Palestine's preference of the name "State of Palestine" with Mahmoud Abbas as its current leader.[34] It was noted that there was no legal impediment to using the designation 'Palestine' to refer to the geographical area of the Palestinian territory. It was also explained that there was also no bar to the continued use of the term "Occupied Palestinian Territory including East Jerusalem" or such other terminology as might customarily be used by the UN General Assembly.[35] The ISO adopted the name change in 2013.[36] The UN Security Council continues to treat Palestine as a non-sovereign entity,[37] preventing its admission to the UN General Assembly as a full member state.[38] Israeli governments have maintained that the area involved is within territorial dispute.[39][40][better source needed] The extent of the territories, while subject to future negotiations, have frequently been revendicated by the Palestinian (National) Authority as the Green Line. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, 135 UN Member Nations have recognized the State of Palestine. It has not been recognized by Israel and most Western nations, including the United States.
In 2014, Fatah and Hamas agreed to hold elections and form a compromise Unity Government.[41] The government survived the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict,[42] but dissolved on 17 June 2015 after President Abbas said it was unable to operate in the Gaza Strip.
Part of a series Higher CommitteeDepopulated villagesAll-Palestine Protectorate GovernmentFedayeen militiasPLONational Authority (PNA)(political parties)CurrentFatahHamasPFLPIslamic JihadPolitics of the Palestinian National Authority EnclavesGovernoratesCitiesGaza Strip governance (Hamas) Governorates of the Gaza StripNational Council (PNC)Legislative Council (PLC)FlagLawPalestineWest BankGaza StripEast JerusalemReligion / religious of the PatriarchsChurch of the Holy SepulchreChurch of the NativityDome of the RockGreat Mosque of GazaJoseph's TombLot's TombNabi SamwilRachel's TombCultureArtCinemaCostume and embroideryCuisineDabke of PalestiniansvteNameSee also: History of Palestine and Timeline of the name PalestineThe United Nations, the European Union, International Committee of the Red Cross, and the government of the United Kingdom, have used for many years[when?] the terms the "Occupied Palestinian Territory" or "Occupied Palestinian Territories".[43][44][45]
The phrase "occupied Palestine" has been used by Palestinians to mean Israel although Professor Julie Peteet also says that this usage diminished with the advent of the peace process and PLO recognition of Israel.[46] A parallel exists in the aspirations of David Ben-Gurion,[47] Menachem Begin,[48] to establish Jewish sovereignty over all of Greater Israel in trust for the Jewish people.[49][50]
BoundariesSee also: Borders of IsraelMap comparing the borders of the 1947 partition plan and the armistice of 1949.Boundaries defined in the 1947 UN Partition Plan for Palestine:
Area assigned for a Jewish state Area assigned for an Arab state Planned Corpus separatum with the intention that Jerusalem would be neither Jewish nor ArabArmistice Demarcation Lines of 1949 (Green Line):
Israeli controlled territory from 1949 Egyptian and Jordanian controlled territory from 1948 until 1967The Palestinian territories consist of two distinct areas: the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. Although the boundaries are commonly referred to as the "1967 borders", they are historically the armistice lines under the 1949 Armistice Agreements, which brought an end to the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and are commonly referred to as the Green Line. The 1949 armistice lines were expressly declared to be armistice lines, and not international borders. Some Palestinian negotiators have claimed a return to those lines as the borders of a future Palestinian state, while Hamas does not recognize the State of Israel at all.[51] The Arab League has supported these boundaries as the borders of the future State of Palestine in the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative.
The eastern limit of the West Bank is the border with Jordan. The Israel–Jordan peace treaty defined that border as the international border, and Jordan renounced all claims to territory west of it. The border segment between Jordan and the West Bank was left undefined pending a definitive agreement on the status of the territory.[51]
The southern limit of the Gaza Strip is the border with Egypt. Egypt renounced all claims to land north of the international border, including the Gaza Strip, in the Egypt–Israel peace treaty. The Palestinians were not parties to either agreement.
The Gaza Strip is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea. The natural geographic boundary of the West Bank, as the name implies, is the Jordan River. To the Territories belong the territorial waters of the Gaza Strip and the part of the Dead Sea between the West Bank and the Jordan border-line (see adjacent CIA map),[1] which are also completely controlled by Israel.
Palestinian stateMain article: State of PalestineSee also: United Nations General Assembly resolution 67/19The Palestinian territories are part of the area intended by the United Nations to become the territory of the future State of Palestine.[52] Originally, a larger area was allotted to the planned Palestinian state in Resolution 181 of 29 November 1947, but the Arabs rejected it and in the 1948 Palestine war, the Israeli army conquered major parts of it. While in the Partition Plan about 45% of historic Palestine was destined for the Arabic state, the Palestinian territories constitute only some 23%.[53] The last figure is including all space occupied by Israeli settlements, walls, and roads.
In the UN, nearly all countries voted in favour of Resolution 58/292 of 17 May 2004; namely, that the boundaries of a future Palestinian state should be based on the pre-1967 borders, which correspond with the Green Line. The Resolution affirmed, in connection with the Palestinian right to self-determination and to sovereignty, that the independent State of Palestine should be based on the pre-1967 borders.[52] In Resolution 43/177 of 15 December 1988, the declaration of independence of the State of Palestine was acknowledged by the UN General Assembly,[54] but it was not admitted as a member state. In the same resolution, their sovereignty over the Occupied Palestinian Territory was recognized.
On 29 November 2012, the UN General Assembly passed United Nations General Assembly resolution 67/19 changing Palestine's observer status at the UN from "entity" to "non-member state" by a vote of 138 to 9, with 41 abstentions.[55][56]
East JerusalemMain article: East JerusalemSee also: Status of Jerusalem
2018 United Nations OCHA map of the area, showing Israeli occupation arrangementsImmediately after the Six-Day War of June 1967, Israel effectively annexed East Jerusalem, an area comprising the much smaller prior Jordanian municipality of east Jerusalem and a surrounding area of the West Bank, as far as Kalandia to the north and Har Homa to the south. Israeli law, jurisdiction and administration were applied to this area, which was also made part of the Israeli Jerusalem municipality in its entirety. East Jerusalem residents became Israeli residents with blue Israeli ID cards. In 1980, the Knesset elevated the issue of the unity of Jerusalem to constitutional status by enacting Basic Law: Jerusalem the Capital of Israel, an act which was condemned by much of the world community, the few, mainly Latin American, embassies maintained in west Jerusalem promptly moving to Tel Aviv. Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem lacks international recognition by any country. Seven UNSC resolutions, including United Nations Security Council Resolution 478 declared it "null and void" and required that it be rescinded, stating that it was a violation of international law (the Fourth Geneva Convention). The United Nations never explicitly recognized Jerusalem as part of either Israel or Palestine, as Resolution 181 (1947) was never revoked. In Resolution 181, Jerusalem was intended to become a corpus separatum under international regime. Most countries do not recognize either West Jerusalem or Jerusalem as Israel's capital.[57][58][59]
Palestinians regard East Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestinian state. East Jerusalem is generally recognized as part of the Palestinian Territories. In UN resolutions concerning Israel, East Jerusalem is routinely referred to as a part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.[52]
According to the Israeli Supreme Court, the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits unilateral annexation of occupied territory, does not[dubious – discuss] apply to East Jerusalem, as there was no[dubious – discuss] "legitimate sovereign"[citation needed] recognised by Israel and its allies previously exercising control over the territory. In Israel, there has always been large support for retaining all of Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty, although opinions differ regarding the large number of outlying Palestinian villages and neighbourhoods annexed to Jerusalem beyond "core" East Jerusalem (the Old City, Sheikh Jarrah and the large post-1967 Jewish neighborhoods such as Ramot, Ramat Eshkol, French Hill and Gilo).
A few times, there were Israeli or U.S. proposals to divide East Jerusalem between Israel and the Palestinians. In the 1995 Beilin–Abu Mazen agreement, Israeli negotiators proposed Palestinian sovereignty over some Arab neighborhoods within an expanded Jerusalem that would include annexed Israeli neighborhoods and major settlement blocs. In 2000, U.S. president Bill Clinton offered a similar proposal in his Clinton Parameters. In more recent years, the Israeli position has strongly been favourable to keeping all of Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty.
Gaza StripMain article: Gaza StripIn 2005, Israel pulled all its remaining forces out of the Gaza Strip and dismantled its settlements. Nevertheless, according to the international community, the Gaza Strip is still considered to be occupied by Israel.[11] Israel has denied that it occupies the Gaza Strip, but two of the three border sectors of the Gaza Strip, together with the coast and airspace, are controlled by Israel (the third border sector near Rafah is controlled by Egypt).[60][61] The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 stated in 2007:
Israel remains an occupying Power in respect of Gaza. Arguments that Israel ceased its occupation of Gaza in 2005 following the evacuation of its settlements and the withdrawal of its troops take no account of the fact that Israel retains effective control over Gaza by means of its control over Gaza's external borders, airspace, territorial waters, population registry, tax revenues and governmental functions. The effectiveness of this control is emphasized by regular military incursions and rocket attacks.[62]
GovernancePolitics of Palestine
Officeholders whose status is disputed are shown in italicsArab League Member state of the Arab League
GovernmentNational symbolsLegislative CouncilElectionsAdministrative divisionsForeign relationsflag Palestine portalOther countriesvteSee also: Palestinian National Authority and Governance of the Gaza StripThe political status of the territories has been the subject of negotiations between Israel and the PLO and of numerous statements and resolutions by the United Nations. (See List of United Nations resolutions concerning Israel.) Since 1994, the autonomous Palestinian National Authority has exercised various degrees of control in large parts of the territories, as a result of the Declaration of Principles contained in the Oslo Accords. The United States government considers the West Bank and Gaza as a single entity for political, economic, legal and other purposes.[63]
The State Department and other U.S. government agencies, such as USAID West Bank and Gaza,[64] have been tasked with projects in the areas of democracy, governance, resources, and infrastructure. Part of the USAID mission is to provide flexible and discrete support for implementation of the Quartet Road Map.[65] The Road Map is an internationally backed plan that calls for the progressive development of a viable Palestinian State in the West Bank and Gaza. Participating states provide assistance through direct contributions or through the Palestinian State account established by the World Bank.[66]Gaza City in 2007.Hamas won a majority of seats in elections for the Palestinian Parliament in 2006 and formed a government in Ramallah for the entire PA largely shunned by the United States and Israel. The Fatah movement continued to dominate the PA security forces in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In 2007, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip by force, executing PA officers and removing its officials, many of whom, such as Muhammad Dahlan, escaped the Gaza Strip with their families.[67][68]
Mahmoud Abbas promptly deposed the Hamas-dominated PA government, and two rival administrations were created, a Fatah-controlled one in the West Bank, with which Israel, the US and the EU resumed business, and a Hamas-controlled one in the Gaza Strip which was largely shunned by the world community. After Hamas intensified rocket and mortar fire on Israeli civilian centers from the Gaza Strip, the United States and Israel instituted a military and economic blockade of the Gaza Strip.[67][68] When that failed to topple the new government, a covert operation was launched to eliminate Hamas by force.[69][70][71] The covert initiative was exposed when confidential State Department documents were accidentally leaked by the U.S. envoy. The talking points delivered to the Fatah leadership said:
Hamas should be given a clear choice, with a clear deadline: they either accept a new government that meets the Quartet principles, or they reject it. The consequences of Hamas' decision should also be clear: If Hamas does not agree within the prescribed time, you should make clear your intention to declare a state of emergency and form an emergency government explicitly committed to that platform.[72]
Since the Battle of Gaza (2007), the administration of the territories has been contested by two rival factions of the Palestinian National Authority, with Hamas controlling the Gaza Strip and Fatah continuing to administer the West Bank. Both groups claim legitimacy over leadership of the Palestinian territories. Most countries with an interest in the issues, including most of the Arab countries, recognize the administration of Mahmoud Abbas as the legitimate government over both Palestinian Territories.[who?]
During Operation Cast Lead the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1860 (2009), which said that the Gaza Strip constitutes an integral part of the territory occupied in 1967 that will be a part of the Palestinian state.[73]
On 15 December 2011, Iceland recognized Palestine as an independent and sovereign state within the pre-1967 Six-Day War borders; Össur Skarphéðinsson, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iceland, and Dr. Riad Malki, the Foreign Minister of Palestine, formally confirmed the establishment of full diplomatic relations between Iceland and Palestine.[74]
The 2014 Fatah–Hamas Gaza Agreement provided for elections and the formation of a compromise unity government.[41] The 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict intervened, however the unity government survived. In August, Palestinian leaders said they would apply to the United Nations Security Council for the establishment of a timetable for ending the Israeli occupation in the West Bank. The application would be made on 15 September 2014, following an Arab League meeting on 5 September at which support for the move would be requested. Unless a timetable was established, the Palestinian leadership said it would apply to the International Criminal Court where it would hold Israel responsible for its actions not only in the West Bank, but in the Gaza Strip.[42]
Political status and sovereigntySee also: International law and the Arab–Israeli conflict and Status of territories occupied by Israel in 1967
Gaza Strip with Israeli-controlled borders and limited fishing zone, as of December 2012
Map of the West Bank, May 2021, showing Palestinian (green) and Israeli control.The international community regards the Palestinian territories, meaning the West Bank including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, as territories occupied by Israel. Israel has withdrawn its military forces from the Gaza strip, but it continues to be designated the occupying power in the Gaza Strip by the United Nations, the United States and various human rights organizations.[75] The final status of the Palestinian Territories as an independent state is supported by the countries that form the Quartet's "Road map for peace". The government of Israel has also accepted the road map but with 14 reservations.[76]
A transfer of powers and responsibilities for the Gaza Strip and Jericho took place pursuant to the Israel–PLO 4 May 1994 Cairo Agreement on the Gaza Strip and the Jericho Area. In other areas of the West Bank, transfer of powers took place pursuant to the Israel–PLO 28 September 1995 Interim Agreement, the Israel–PLO 15 January 1997 Protocol Concerning the Redeployment in Hebron, the Israel–PLO 23 October 1998 Wye River Memorandum, and the 4 September 1999 Sharm el-Sheikh Agreement.
The DOP provides that Israel will retain responsibility during the transitional period for external security and for internal security and public order of Israeli settlements and citizens. Direct negotiations to determine the permanent status of Gaza and the West Bank had begun in September 1999 after a three-year hiatus, but have been derailed by the al-Aqsa Intifada that began in September 2000.
In 2003, the Israeli government issued a plan for total withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and part of the northern West Bank by late 2005. This became known as the Disengagement Plan. The Palestinian Authority welcomed this plan, but declared that until final status, it would still consider the Gaza Strip under Israeli occupation. Many Israelis opposed the plan, and tensions were very high in Israel before and after the Disengagement Plan was approved by the Israeli Knesset on 16 February 2005.
In August 2005, the Israel Defense Forces and Israeli police forcibly removed all settlers from the Gaza Strip. Israel completed the disengagement on 12 September 2005. Presently, most of the West Bank is administered by Israel though 42% of it is under varying degrees of autonomous rule by the Fatah-run Palestinian Authority. The Gaza Strip is currently under the control of Hamas.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an independent international treaty organisation with its own legislative assembly. Many of the member states recognise the State of Palestine. The Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki presented the ICC prosecutor with documentary evidence which shows that 67 states in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe have legally recognised the State of Palestine.[77]
In January 2010, King Abdullah of Jordan, after a meeting with the Israeli president Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum in Davos, 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. If rule over the territory was to be transferred to the kingdom, it would only "replace Israeli military rule with Jordanian military rule... and the Palestinians want their own state".[78]
On Thursday, 29 November 2012, In a 138–9 vote (with 41 abstaining) General Assembly resolution 67/19 passed, upgrading Palestine to "non-member observer state" status in the United Nations.[79][80] The new status equates Palestine's with that of the Holy See. The change in status was described by The Independent as "de facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine".[81] The vote was a historic benchmark for the partially recognised State of Palestine and its citizens, whilst it was a diplomatic setback for Israel and the United States. Status as an observer state in the UN will allow the State of Palestine to join treaties and specialised UN agencies, including the International Civil Aviation Organisation,[82] the International Criminal Court, and other organisations for recognised sovereign nations. It shall permit Palestine to claim legal rights over its territorial waters and air space as a sovereign state recognised by the UN, and allow the Palestinian people the right to sue for control of their claimed territory in the International Court of Justice and to bring war-crimes charges against Israel in the International Criminal Court.[83]Israeli soldiers in Awarta, West Bank in 2011Customary international law, including the International Court of Justice's interpretation of the Fourth Geneva Convention in their July 2004 ruling, has been widely interpreted as prohibiting Israel from building settlements, due to its clauses prohibiting the transfer of a civilian population into an occupied territory.[84] This was reaffirmed 5 December 2001, at the Conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention. The participating High Contracting Parties called upon Israel "to fully and effectively respect the Fourth Geneva Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and to refrain from perpetrating any violation of the Convention. They reaffirm the illegality of the settlements in the said territories and of the extension thereof."[85]
Article 47 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits any change of status in occupied territory concluded through negotiations between the occupying power and local authorities under occupation. This finding also suggests that Israel may be in violation of the Rome Statute (one of the primary legal instruments of the International Criminal Court), Article 8, section (2)(b)(viii): "The transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory" see:.[86]
Given that United Nations General Assembly resolution 67/19 upgraded Palestine to non-member observer state status in November 2012, representatives of Palestine may now be able to take members of the Israeli government to the International Criminal Court under violations of the Rome Statute. On 31 January 2012, 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, increasing credibility of any Palestinianin attempt to do so.[87][88][89]
The UN has, after granting Palestine observer state status, permitted Palestine to title its representative office to the UN as 'The Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations',[90] seen by many as a reflexion of the UN's de facto recognition of the State of Palestine's sovereignty,[79] and Palestine has started to re-title its name accordingly on postal stamps, official documents and passports.[80][91] The Palestinian authorities have also instructed its diplomats to officially represent 'The State of Palestine', as opposed to the 'Palestine National Authority'.[80] Additionally, on 17 December 2012, UN Chief of Protocol Yeocheol Yoon decided that 'the designation of "State of Palestine" shall be used by the Secretariat in all official United Nations documents'.[92]Israeli West Bank barrier in BethlehemCritics point out that implementation of the Oslo Accords has not improved conditions for the population under occupation.[93] In 2009, the UN considered the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to still be occupied by Israel.[11] Israel's policies and actions in its ongoing occupation of the Palestinian territories have drawn accusations that it is committing the crime of apartheid.[94]
Israel contends that the settlements are not illegal as the West Bank is considered a "disputed territory" under international law. United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 recognized Israel's rights to "safe and secure borders", which has been interpreted by the Israeli government as meaning that Israel had a right to West Bank territory for secure borders. The San Remo Conference, binding under international law, further envisioned the West Bank as being part of a sovereign Jewish state, and arguably encourages, rather than prohibits Jewish settlement in the area. Furthermore, according to the Israeli government, many of the settlements were established on the sites of former Jewish communities that had existed there prior to 1947 on land that was legitimately bought, and ethnically cleansed by Arab forces. Israel views the territory as being the subject of legitimate diplomatic dispute and negotiation under international law.[95][96][better source needed]
East Jerusalem, captured in 1967, was unilaterally annexed by Israel. The UN Security Council Resolution 478 condemned the annexation as "a violation of international law". This annexation has not been recognized by other nations, although the United States Congress declared its intention to recognize the annexation (a proposal that has been condemned by other states and organizations). Because of the question of Jerusalem's status, most states base their diplomatic missions there and treat Tel Aviv as the capital,[97][better source needed] though the United States[98] and Guatemala[99] both have embassies in the Jerusalem. Israel asserts that these territories are not currently claimed by any other state and that Israel has the right to control them.The destroyed Palestinian Legislative Council building in Gaza City, Gaza–Israel conflict, September 2009Israel's position has not been accepted by most countries and international bodies, and the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip are referred to as occupied territories (with Israel as the occupying power) by most international legal and political bodies,[100] the rest of the Arab bloc, the UK,[101] including the EU, the United States (before President Trump),[102][103] both the General Assembly and Security Council of the United Nations,[100] the International Court of Justice, the Conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention,[104] and the Israeli Supreme Court (in a decision regarding the Israeli West Bank barrier).
Former U.S. President George W. Bush stated, during his presidency, that he did not expect Israel to return entirely to pre-1967 borders, due to "new realities on the ground."[105]
Both US President Bill Clinton and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, who played notable roles in attempts at mediation, noted the need for some territorial and diplomatic compromise on this issue, based on the validity of some of the claims of both sides.[106][107] One compromise offered by Clinton would have allowed Israel to keep some settlements in the West Bank, especially those in large blocks near the pre-1967 borders of Israel. In return, Palestinians would have received concessions of land in other parts of the country.[108] The United Nations did not declare any change in the status of the territories as of the creation of the Palestinian National Authority between 1993 and 2000, although a 1999 U.N. document[100] implied that the chance for a change in that status was slim at that period.
During the period between the 1993 Oslo Accords and the Second Intifada beginning in 2000, Israeli officials asserted that the term "occupation" did not accurately reflect the state of affairs in the territories. During this time, the Palestinian population in large parts of the territories had a large degree of autonomy and only limited exposure to the IDF except when seeking to move between different areas. Following the events of the Second Intifada, and in particular, Operation Defensive Shield, most territories, including Palestinian cities (Area A), came back under effective Israeli military control, making the discussion along those lines largely moot.
In the summer of 2005, Israel implemented its unilateral disengagement plan; about 8,500 Israeli citizens living in the Gaza Strip were forcibly removed from the territory, along with citizens from 4 settlements in the northern West Bank; some were compensated with alternative homes and a sum of money. The Israel Defense Forces vacated Gaza in 2005, but invaded it again in 2006 in response to rocket attacks and the abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit by Hamas.
In January 2010, King Abdullah of Jordan, after a meeting with the Israeli president Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum in Davos, 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. If rule over the territory was to be transferred to the kingdom, it would only "replace Israeli military rule with Jordanian military rule... and the Palestinians want their own state."[109]
In December 2010, Brazil recognized Palestine as a state with its 1967 borders. This move was later followed by Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, Bolivia and Ecuador. This action was later criticized by Israel and the United States, who labelled it article: Palestinian peopleSee also: Demographics of the State of PalestinePalestiniansThe Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) estimated Palestinians at mid year 2009 as 10.7 million persons as follows: 3.9 million in the Palestinian Territory (36.6%), 1.2 million (11.5%) in Israel; 5.0 million in Arab countries (46.2%), 0.6 million in foreign countries (5.7%).[111]
According to The Guardian (2008), the Palestinian territories have one of the fastest growing populations in the world, with numbers surging 30% in the past decade (2008). There were 3.76 million Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, up from 2.89 million ten years earlier.[112]
According to the U.S. Census, population growth from 1990 to 2008 in Gaza and the West Bank was 106%, from 1.9 million (1990) to 3.9 million persons.[113]
According to the UN (2010), the Palestinian population was 4.4 million.[114] According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) population density in 2009 was 654 capita/km2, of which 433 capita/km2 in the West Bank including Jerusalem and 4,073 capita/km2 in Gaza Strip.[115] In mid-2009, the share of population less than 15 years was 41.9% and above 65 years 3%.[115]
Population (mid year)[116][117][118]Year West Bank Gaza Total1970 0.69 0.34 1.031980 0.90 0.46 1.361990 1.25 0.65 1.902000 1.98 1.13 3.112004 2.20 1.30 3.502008 2.41 1.5 3.912010 2.52 1.60 4.12Source: U.S. Census Bureau2006 2.5 1.5 4.02009 2.48 1.45 3.94Source: Palestinian Central Bureau of StatisticsRegion PopulationWest Bank 2,568,555[119]East Jerusalem 192,800[120]Gaza Strip 1,657,155[121]Name Population(2007)[122] Area (km2) Density[123]West Bank 2,369,700 5,671 417.86Gaza Strip 1,416,539 360 3934.83Total 3,786,239 6,031 627.80ReligionThe overwhelming majority of Palestinians are Muslims. Almost the entire Palestinian Muslim population is Sunni, although few dozen converts to Ahmadiyya Islam resides in West Bank.[124] According to Palestinian constitution, article 4: "Islam is the official religion of Palestine. Respect for the sanctity of all other divine religions shall be maintained".[125]
Christians constitute about 1–2% of population of Palestinian territories.[126] The Christian population of Gaza is estimated at 3,000.[127] There are about 370 Samaritans in West Bank village of Kiryat Luza on Mount Gerizim who hold both Palestinian and Israeli citizenship.[128] The number of Jewish settlers in West Bank is estimated at 341,000 as of the end of 2012 and over 200,000 in East Jerusalem.[129]
LanguageArabic is the official language in the State of Palestine.[130] Palestinian Arabic is the vernacular. Hebrew and English are widely spoken. 16.1% of the population are Israeli settlers who mostly speak Hebrew as their native language, and Hebrew is a second or third language to many Palestinians.[131][132]
Israeli settlers
Settler population, 1972–2007: yellow=East Jerusalem; blue= rest of West Bank[133][134]In the 1970s, Israel's methods for seizing Palestinian land to establish settlements included requisitioning for ostensibly military purposes and spraying of land with poison.[135]
The PCBS estimated that about 564,000 Israeli settlers lived in the West Bank in 2012. Some 203,000 of them were settled in East Jerusalem (Area J1 of the Jerusalem Governorate) and 346,000 in the remaining West Bank.[5]
Consistent with its policy of Jerusalem as a united and indivisible capital of Israel, Israel does not publish exact figures of the number of settlers in East Jerusalem. Rather the figures of Israelis in Judea and Samaria District are given. Independently from the political composition of its subsequent governments, the number of settlers in the West Bank has grown rapidly and in a relatively straight line since 1967 (see graphics). The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics counted about 341,000 settlers end 2012 in the Judea and Samaria District, which does not include Jerusalem.[136]
Administrative divisionsThe Constitution of the League of Arab States says the existence and independence of Palestine cannot be questioned de jure even though the outward signs of this independence have remained veiled as a result of force majeure.[137] The League supervised the Egyptian trusteeship of the Palestinian government in Gaza after the termination of the British Mandate and secured assurances from Jordan that the 1950 Act of Union was "without prejudice to the final settlement".[138][139]
By the 1988 declaration, the PNC empowered its central council to form a government-in-exile when appropriate, and called upon its executive committee to perform the duties of the government-in-exile until its establishment.[140]
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 on 17 May 1994. On 28 September 1995, 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. In December 1995, the PLO also assumed responsibility for civil administration in 17 areas in Hebron.[141] While the PLO assumed these responsibilities as a result of Oslo, a new temporary interim administrative body was set up as a result of the Accords to carry out these functions on the ground: the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).
An analysis outlining the relationship between the PLO, the PNA (PA), Palestine and Israel in light of the interim arrangements set out in the Oslo Accords begins by stating that, "Palestine may best be described as a transitional association between the PA and the PLO." It goes on to explain that this transitional association accords the PA responsibility for local government and the PLO responsibility for representation of the Palestinian people in the international arena, while prohibiting it from concluding international agreements that affect the status of the occupied territories. This situation is said to be accepted by the Palestinian population insofar as it is viewed as a temporary arrangement.[142]
Since the Battle of Gaza (2007), 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. Each sees itself as the administrator of all Palestinian Territories and does not acknowledge the other one as the official government of the territories. The Palestinian Territories have therefore de facto split into two entities.Governorates of the Palestinian National AuthorityGovernoratesMain article: Governorates of the Palestinian National AuthorityAfter the signing of the Oslo Accords, the Palestinian territories were divided 16 governorates under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian National Authority. Since 2007 there are two governments claiming to be the legitimate government of the Palestinian National Authority, one based in the West Bank and one based in the Gaza Strip.
West Bank AreasMain article: West Bank Areas in the Oslo II AccordHebrew roadside sign in red.Israeli signpost warning Israeli citizens that entry into Area 'A' is forofferden, life-endangering, and constitutes a criminal offenseThe Oslo II Accord created three temporary distinct administrative divisions in the Palestinian territories, the Areas A, B and C, until a final status accord would be established. The areas are not contiguous, but rather fragmented depending on the different population areas as well as Israeli military requirements.
Area A (full civil and security control by the Palestinian Authority): circa 3% of the West Bank, exclusive East-Jerusalem (first phase, 1995).[143][144] In 2011: 18%.[145][146] This area includes all Palestinian cities and their surrounding areas, with no Israeli settlements. Entry into this area is forofferden to all Israeli citizens. The Israel Defense Forces occasionally enters the area to conduct raids to arrest suspected militants.Area B (Palestinian civil control and joint Israeli–Palestinian security control): circa 25% (first phase, 1995).[143][144] In 2011: 21%.[145][146] Includes areas of many Palestinian towns and villages and areas, with no Israeli settlements.Area C (full Israeli civil and security control, except over Palestinian civilians): circa 72% (first phase, 1995).[143][144] In 2011: 61%.[145][146] These areas include all Israeli settlements (cities, towns, and villages), nearby land, most roadways that connected the settlements (and which Israelis are now restricted to) as well as strategic areas described as "security zones."[145] There were 1,000 Israeli settlers living in Area C in 1972. By 1993, their population had increased to 110,000. As of 2012 they number more than 300,000 – as against 150,000 Palestinians, the majority of whom are Bedouin and fellahin.[147]HistorySee also: History of Palestine, History of the Gaza Strip, and History of the Palestinian peoplePart of a series on theHistory of Palestine
PrehistoryAncient historyClassical periodIslamic ruleModern eravteIn 1922, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire that ruled Greater Syria for four centuries (1517–1917), the British Mandate for Palestine was established. Large-scale Jewish immigration from abroad, mainly from Eastern Europe took place during the British Mandate, though Jewish immigration started during the Ottoman period.[148][149] The future of Palestine was hotly disputed between Arabs and Jews. In 1947, the total Jewish ownership of land in Palestine was 1,850,000 dunams or 1,850 square kilometres (714 sq mi), which is 7.04% of the total land of Palestine.[citation needed] Public property or "crown lands", the bulk of which was in the Negev, belonging to the government of Palestine may have made up as much as 70% of the total land; with the Arabs, Christians and others owning the rest.[citation needed]
The 1947 United Nations Partition Plan proposed a division of Mandate Palestine between an Arab and a Jewish state, with Jerusalem and the surrounding area to be a corpus separatum under a special international regime. The regions allotted to the proposed Arab state included what became the Gaza Strip, and almost all of what became the West Bank, as well as other areas.
The Partition Plan was passed by the UN General Assembly in November 1947. The Partition Plan was accepted by the Jewish leadership, but rejected by the Arab leaders. The Arab League threatened to take military measures to prevent the partition of Palestine and to ensure the national rights of the Palestinian Arab population. One day before the expiration of the British Mandate for Palestine, on 14 May 1948, 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 Arab countries declared war on the newly formed State of Israel heralding the start of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.[citation needed] Arab countries announced "an intervention in Palestine to restore law and order", heralding the start of the 1948 Palestine War.[150][non-primary source needed]
After the 1947–1949 Palestine war, the 1949 Armistice Agreements established the separation lines between the combatants, leaving Israel in control of some of the areas designated for the Arab state under the Partition Plan, Transjordan in control of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Egypt in control of the Gaza Strip and Syria in control of the Himmah Area.
In 1950, Jordan annexed the West Bank. Only the United Kingdom formally recognized the annexation of the West Bank, excluding the case of East Jerusalem which was de facto recognized.[151] In the Gaza Strip the Arab League formed the All-Palestine Government, which operated under Egypt occupation.
Article 24 of the Palestinian National Covenant of 1964, which established the Palestine Liberation Organization,[152] stated: "This Organization does not exercise any territorial sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, on the Gaza Strip or in the Himmah Area" (i.e. the areas of the former Mandate Palestine controlled by Jordan, Egypt and Syria, respectively).
Israel captured both territories in the 1967 Six-Day War, as well as other territory belonging to Egypt and Syria. Since then, these territories have been designated Israeli-occupied territories. Immediately after the war, on 19 June 1967, 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. At the Khartoum Summit in September, the Arab parties responded to this overture by declaring "no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel and no negotiations with Israel."[153]
UN Security Council Resolution 242 introduced the "Land for Peace" formula for normalizing relations between Israel and its neighbors. This formula was used when Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in 1979 in exchange for a peace treaty. While that treaty mentioned a "linkage" between Israeli–Egyptian peace and Palestinian autonomy, the formerly Egyptian-occupied territory in Gaza was excluded from the agreement, and remained under Israeli control.
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. The Palestinian Authority carried civil responsibility in some rural areas, as well as security responsibility in the major cities of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Although the five-year interim period expired in 1999, the final status agreement has yet to be concluded despite attempts such as the 2000 Camp David Summit, the Taba summit, and the unofficial Geneva Accords.
Modern evolution of Palestinevte
1916–1922 various proposals: Three proposals for the post World War I administration of Palestine. The red line is the "International Administration" proposed in the 1916 Sykes–Picot Agreement, the dashed blue line is the 1919 Zionist Organization proposal at the Paris Peace Conference, and the thin blue line refers to the final borders of the 1923–48 Mandatory Palestine.
1937 British proposal: The first official proposal for partition, published in 1937 by the Peel Commission. An ongoing British Mandate was proposed to keep "the sanctity of Jerusalem and Bethlehem", in the form of an enclave from Jerusalem to Jaffa, including Lydda and Ramle.
1947 UN proposal: Proposal per the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine (UN General Assembly Resolution 181 (II), 1947), prior to the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The proposal included a Corpus Separatum for Jerusalem, extraterritorial crossroads between the non-contiguous areas, and Jaffa as an Arab exclave.
1947 Jewish private land ownership: Jewish-owned lands in Mandatory Palestine as of 1947 in blue, constituting 7.4% of the total land area, of which more than half was held by the JNF and PICA. White is either public land or Palestinian-Arab-owned lands including related religious trusts.
1949 armistice lines: The Jordanian-annexed West Bank (light green) and Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip (dark green), after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, showing 1949 armistice lines.
1967 territorial changes: During the Six-Day War, Israel captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights, together with the Sinai Peninsula (later traded for peace after the Yom Kippur War). In 1980–81 Israel annexed East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. Neither Israel's annexation nor the PLO claim over East Jerusalem gained international recognition.
1995 Oslo II Accord: Under the Oslo Accords, the Palestinian National Authority was created to provide a Palestinian interim self-government in the West Bank and the interior of the Gaza Strip. Its second phase envisioned "Palestinian enclaves".
2005–present: After the Israeli disengagement from Gaza and clashes between the two main Palestinian parties following the Hamas electoral victory, two separate executive governments took control in the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza.
Ethnic majority by settlement (present): The map indicates the ethnic majority of settlements (cities, villages and other communities).See alsoflag Palestine portalflag Israel portalOutline of the State of PalestineHistory of Palestinian journalismCoordinator of Government Activities in the TerritoriesEconomy of the State of PalestineHealthcare in the State of PalestineJudea and Samaria AreaLegality of the Israeli occupation of PalestinePalestinian Environmental NGOs NetworkRacism in the State of PalestineTourism in the State of PalestineWater, Sanitation and Hygiene Monitoring ProgramWater supply and sanitation in the State of Palestine
The West Bank (Arabic: الضفة الغربية, romanized: aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; Hebrew: הַגָּדָה הַמַּעֲרָבִית, romanized: HaGadáh HaMaʽarávit), so called due to its location relative to the Jordan River, is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip). A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the Levant region of West Asia,[5] it is bordered by Jordan and the Dead Sea to the east and by Israel (via the Green Line) to the south, west, and north.[6] The territory has been under Israeli occupation since 1967.
The territory first emerged in the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War as a region occupied and subsequently annexed by Jordan. Jordan ruled the territory until the 1967 Six-Day War, when it was occupied by Israel. Since then, Israel has administered the West Bank as the Judea and Samaria Area, expanding its claim into East Jerusalem in 1980. The mid-1990s Oslo Accords split the West Bank into three regional levels of Palestinian sovereignty, via the Palestinian National Authority (PNA): Area A (PNA), Area B (PNA and Israel), and Area C (Israel, comprising 60% of the West Bank). The PNA exercises total or partial civil administration over 165 Palestinian enclaves across the three areas.
The West Bank remains central to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The Palestinians consider it the heart of their envisioned state, along with the Gaza Strip. Right-wing and religious Israelis see it as their ancestral homeland, with numerous biblical sites. There is a push among some Israelis for partial or complete annexation of this land. Additionally, it is home to a rising number of Israeli settlers.[7] Area C contains 230 Israeli settlements into which Israeli law is applied and under the Oslo Accords was supposed to be mostly transferred to the PNA by 1997, but this did not occur.[8] The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be illegal under international law.[9][10][11][12] Citing the 1980 law in which Israel claimed Jerusalem as its capital, the 1994 Israel–Jordan peace treaty, and the Oslo Accords, a 2004 advisory ruling by the International Court of Justice concluded that the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, remain Israeli-occupied territory.[13]
The West Bank has a land area of about 5,640 square kilometres (2,180 square miles). It has an estimated population of 2,747,943 Palestinians, and over 670,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, of which approximately 220,000 live in East Jerusalem.
EtymologyWest Bank
City of Bethlehem, West BankThe name West Bank is a translation of the Arabic term aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah, which designates the territory situated on the western side of the Jordan River that was occupied in 1948 and annexed in 1950 by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. This annexation was widely considered to be illegal, and was recognized only by Iraq, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom.[14]
CisjordanVariations on the neo-Latin name Cisiordania (lit. 'on this side of the River Jordan') are the usual names for the territory in Romance languages, e.g. Spanish: Cisjordania, Portuguese: Cisjordânia, French: Cisjordanie, Italian: Cisgiordania, and Romanian: Cisiordania, and in some others, e.g. Basque: Zisjordania, Breton: Sisjordania, Hungarian: Ciszjordánia, Guarani: Sihorytáña, and Esperanto: Cisjordanio.[15] The name West Bank, however, has become the standard usage for this geopolitical entity in English and some of the other Germanic languages since its inception following the 1948 Jordanian capture.
The analogous Transjordan (lit. 'over the River Jordan') was historically used to designate the region now roughly comprising the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which lies to the east of the Jordan River.
HistorySee also: History of the ancient Levant, History of Palestine, Samaria § History, and Judea § HistoryPart of a series on theHistory of Palestine
PrehistoryAncient historyClassical periodIslamic ruleModern eravtePart of a series on theHistory of IsraelThe Western Wall, JerusalemEarly historyAncient Israel and JudahSecond Temple periodLate Antiquity and Middle AgesModern historyBy topicRelatedflag Israel portalvteFrom 1517 to 1917, the area now known as the West Bank was under Turkish rule, as part of Ottoman Syria.The Cave of the Patriarchs is one of the most famous holy sites in the region.At the 1920 San Remo conference, the victorious Allies of World War I allocated the area to the British Mandate of Palestine (1920–1948). The San Remo Resolution, adopted on 25 April 1920, incorporated the Balfour Declaration of 1917. It and Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations were the basic documents upon which the British Mandate of Palestine was constructed. The United Kingdom proclaimed Abdullah I as emir of the Emirate of Transjordan on 11 April 1921. He declared it an independent Hashemite kingdom on 25 May 1946.
Under the United Nations in 1947, it was designated as part of a proposed Arab state by the Partition Plan for Palestine. UN Resolution 181 recommended the splitting of the British Mandate into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an internationally administered enclave of Jerusalem.[16] A broader region of the modern-day West Bank was assigned to the Arab state. The resolution designated the territory described as "the hill country of Samaria and Judea",[17] the area now known as the "West Bank", as part of the proposed Arab state. Following the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, this area was captured by Transjordan.[18]
Jordanian West BankFurther information: Jordanian annexation of the West Bank, King Hussein's federation plan, Islamization of Jerusalem, and Palestinians in Jordan
King Hussein flying over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem when it was under Jordanian control, 1965During the 1948 war, Israel occupied parts of what was designated in the UN partition plan as "Palestine". The 1949 Armistice Agreements defined the interim boundary between Israel and Jordan, essentially reflecting the battlefield after the war.[19] Following the December 1948 Jericho Conference, Transjordan annexed the area west of the Jordan River in 1950, naming it "West Bank" or "Cisjordan", and designated the area east of the river as "East Bank" or "Transjordan". Jordan, as it was now known, ruled over the West Bank from 1948 until 1967. Jordan's annexation was never formally recognized by the international community, with the exception of the United Kingdom and Iraq.[20][21][22] King Abdullah of Jordan was crowned King of Jerusalem by the Coptic Bishop on 15 November 1948.[23] Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, were granted Jordanian citizenship and half of the Jordanian Parliament seats, thus enjoying equal opportunities in all sectors of the state.[24][25]
Many refugees continued to live in camps and relied on UNRWA assistance for sustenance. Palestinian refugees constituted more than a third of the kingdom's population of 1.5 million. The last Jordanian elections in which West Bank residents voted in were those of April 1967. Their parliamentary representatives continued in office until 1988, when West Bank seats were abolished. Palestinians enjoyed equal opportunities in all sectors of the state without discrimination.[25] Agriculture remained the primary activity of the territory. The West Bank, despite its smaller area, contained half of Jordan's agricultural land.[26]
In 1966, 43% of the labor force of 55,000 worked in agriculture, and 2,300 km2 were under cultivation. In 1965, 15,000 workers were employed in industry, producing 7% of the GNP. This number fell after the 1967 war and was not surpassed until 1983.[26] The tourism industry played an important role. 26 branches of 8 Arab banks were present. The Jordanian dinar became legal tender and remains so until today.[citation needed] 80% of Jordan's fruit-growing land and 40% of its vegetables lay in the West Bank. With the onset of the occupation, the area could no longer produce export earnings.[27]
On the eve of occupation, the West Bank accounted for 40% of Jordanian GNP, between 34% and 40% of its agricultural output and almost half of its manpower, though only a third of Jordanian investment was allocated to it and mainly to the private housing construction sector.[28] Even though its per-capita product was 10 times greater than that of the West Bank, the Israeli economy on the eve of occupation had experienced two years (1966-1967) of a sharp recession.[29]
Immediately after the occupation, from 1967 to 1974, the economy boomed. In 1967, the Palestinian economy had a gross domestic product of $1,349 per capita for a million people.[29] The West Bank's population was 585,500,[c] of whom 18% were refugees, and was growing annually by 2%. West Bank growth, compared to Gaza (3%), had lagged, due to the effect of mass emigration of West Bankers seeking employment in Jordan.[31] As agriculture gave way to industrial development in Israel, in the West Bank the former still generated 37% of domestic product, and industry a mere 13%.[32]
The growth rate of the West Bank economy in the period of the Jordanian rule of the West Bank, before Israeli occupation, had ticked along at an annual rate of 6-8%. This rate of growth was indispensable if the post-war West Bank were to achieve economic self-reliance.
Israeli Military Governorate and Civil AdministrationMain articles: Israeli Military Governorate and Israeli Civil AdministrationIn June 1967, the West Bank and East Jerusalem were captured by Israel as a result of the Six-Day War. With the exception of East Jerusalem and the former Israeli–Jordanian no man's land, the West Bank was not annexed by Israel. It remained under Israeli military control until 1982.
The 1974 Arab League summit resolution at Rabat designated the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people". Jordan did not officially relinquish its claim to the area until 1988,[33] when it severed all administrative and legal ties with the West Bank and eventually stripped West Bank Palestinians of Jordanian citizenship.[34]
In 1982, as a result of the Egypt–Israel peace treaty, the direct military rule was transformed into a semi-civil authority, operating directly under the Israeli Ministry of Defense, taking control of civil matters of Palestinians from the IDF to civil servants in the Ministry of Defense. The Israeli settlements were administered as Judea and Samaria Area, directly by Israel.
Since the 1993 Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority officially controls a geographically non-contiguous territory comprising approximately 11% of the West Bank, known as Area A, which remains subject to Israeli incursions. Area B, approximately 28%, is subject to joint Israeli-Palestinian military and Palestinian civil control. Area C, approximately 61%, is under full Israeli control. Though 164 nations refer to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as "Occupied Palestinian Territory",[35][36] the state of Israel quotes the UN that only territories captured in war from "an established and recognized sovereign" are considered occupied territories.[37]
After the 2007 split between Fatah and Hamas, the West Bank areas under Palestinian control are an exclusive part of the Palestinian Authority. The Gaza Strip is ruled by Hamas.
Early economic impactThe Jordanians neglected to invest much in the area during their time governing the area, although there was some investment in the immediate vicinity of Jerusalem.
Soon after the 1967 war, Yigal Allon produced the Allon Plan, which would have annexed a strip along the Jordan River valley and excluded areas closer to the pre-1967 border, which had a high density of Palestinians. Moshe Dayan proposed a plan which Gershom Gorenberg likens to a "photo negative of Allon's."[d] The Allon plan evolved over a period of time to include more territory. The final draft dating from 1970 would have annexed about half of the West Bank.[39] Israel had no overall approach for integrating the West Bank.[e]
The early occupation set severe limits on public investment and comprehensive development programmes in the territories. British and Arab commercial banks operating in the West Bank were closed down soon after Israel assumed power there. Bank Leumi then opened nine branches, without successfully replacing the earlier system. Farmers could get loans, but Palestinian businessmen avoided taking out loans from them, since they charged 9% compared to 5% interest in Jordan.[41][42] By June 1967, only a third of West Bank land had been registered under Jordan's Settlement of Disputes over Land and Water Law. In 1968, Israel moved to cancel the possibility of registering one's title with the Jordanian Land Register.[43]
Ian Lustick states that Israel "virtually prevented" Palestinian investment in local industry and agriculture.[44] At the same time, Israel encouraged Arab labour to enter into Israel's economy, and regarded them as a new, expanded and protected market for Israeli exports. Limited export of Palestinian goods to Israel was allowed.[45] Expropriation of prime agricultural land in an economy where two thirds of the workforce had farmed is believed to account for the flight of labourers to work in Israel.[46]
As much as 40% of the workforce commuted to Israel on a daily basis finding only poorly paid menial employment.[47] Remittances from labourers earning a wage in Israel were the major factor in Palestinian economic growth during the 1969–73 boom years.[48] The migration of workers from the territories had a negative impact on local industry, by creating an internal labour scarcity in the West Bank and consequent pressure for higher wages there.[49] The contrast between the quality of their lives and Israelis' growing prosperity stoked resentment.[47]
Attempting to impose governmental authority, Israel established a licensing system according to which no industrial plant could be built without obtaining a prior Israeli permit. With Military Order No. 393 (14 June 1970), the local commander was given the power and authority to block any construction if, in his evaluation, the building might pose a danger to Israel's security. The overall effect was to obstruct manufacturing development and subordinate any local industrial activity to the exigencies of Israel's economy, or to block the creation of industries that might compete with Israel's. For example, entrepreneurs were denied a permit for a cement factory in Hebron. In order to protect Israeli farmers, melon production was forofferden, imports of grapes and dates were banned, and limits were set to how many cucumbers and tomatoes could be produced.[50] Israeli milk producers exerted pressure on the Ministry for Industry and Trade to stop the establishment of a competitive dairy in Ramallah.[51]
The sum effect after two decades was that 15% of all Palestinian firms in the West Bank and Gaza employing over eight people, and 32% with seven or less, were prohibited from selling their products in Israel.[52] Israeli protectionist policies distorted wider trade relations to the point that, by 1996, 90% of all West Bank imports came from Israel, with consumers paying more than they would for comparable products had they been able to exercise commercial autonomy.[53]
Legal statusMain article: Israeli occupation of the West BankSee also: Judea and Samaria Area and List of Israeli settlementsMap comparing the borders of the 1947 partition plan and the armistice of 1949.Boundaries defined in the 1947 UN Partition Plan for Palestine:
Area assigned for a Jewish state Area assigned for an Arab state Planned Corpus separatum with the intention that Jerusalem would be neither Jewish nor ArabArmistice Demarcation Lines of 1949 (Green Line):
Israeli controlled territory from 1949 Egyptian and Jordanian controlled territory from 1948 until 1967From 1517 to 1917 the West Bank was part of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey, successor state to the Ottoman Empire, renounced its territorial claims in 1923, signing the Treaty of Lausanne, and the area now called the West Bank became an integral part of the British Mandate for Palestine. During the Mandate period Britain had no right of sovereignty, which was held by the people under the mandate.[54] Nevertheless, Britain, as custodians of the land, implemented the land tenure laws in Palestine, which it had inherited from the Ottoman Turks (as defined in the Ottoman Land Code of 1858), applying these laws to both Arab and Jewish legal tenants or otherwise.[55] In 1947 the UN General Assembly recommended that the area that became the West Bank become part of a future Arab state, but this proposal was opposed by the Arab states at the time. In 1948, Jordan occupied the West Bank and annexed it in 1950.[20]
In 1967, Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan in the Six-Day War. UN Security Council Resolution 242 followed, calling for withdrawal (return to the 1949 armistice lines) from territories occupied in the conflict in exchange for peace and mutual recognition. Since 1979, the United Nations Security Council,[56] the United Nations General Assembly,[35] the United States,[57] the EU,[58] the International Court of Justice,[59] and the International Committee of the Red Cross[36] refer to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as occupied Palestinian territory or the occupied territories. General Assembly resolution 58/292 (17 May 2004) affirmed that the Palestinian people have the right to sovereignty over the area.[60]
The International Court of Justice and the Supreme Court of Israel have ruled that the status of the West Bank is that of military occupation.[61] In its 2004 advisory opinion the International Court of Justice concluded that:
The territories situated between the Green Line and the former eastern boundary of Palestine under the Mandate were occupied by Israel in 1967 during the armed conflict between Israel and Jordan. Under customary international law, the Court observes, these were therefore occupied territories in which Israel had the status of occupying Power. Subsequent events in these territories have done nothing to alter this situation. The Court concludes that all these territories (including East Jerusalem) remain occupied territories and that Israel has continued to have the status of occupying Power.[61][62]
In the same vein the Israeli Supreme Court stated in the 2004 Beit Sourik case that:
The general point of departure of all parties – which is also our point of departure – is that Israel holds the area in belligerent occupation (occupatio bellica)......The authority of the military commander flows from the provisions of public international law regarding belligerent occupation. These rules are established principally in the Regulations Concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land, The Hague, 18 October 1907 [hereinafter – the Hague Regulations]. These regulations reflect customary international law. The military commander's authority is also anchored in IV Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War 1949.[61][63]
The executive branch of the Israeli government, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has defined the West Bank as "disputed" instead of "occupied" territory, whose status can only be determined through negotiations. The Ministry argues that the West Bank was not captured in war because it was not under the legitimate sovereignty of any state prior to the Six-Day War (when it was occupied by Israel).[37]
The International Court of Justice ruling of 9 July 2004, however, found that the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is territory held by Israel under military occupation, regardless of its status prior to it coming under Israeli occupation, and that the Fourth Geneva convention applies de jure.[64] The international community regards the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) as territories occupied by Israel.[65]
International law (Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention) prohibits "transfers of the population of an occupying power to occupied territories", incurring a responsibility on the part of Israel's government to not settle Israeli citizens in the West Bank.[66]
As of February 2020, 134 (69.4%) of the 193 member states of the United Nations have recognised the State of Palestine[67] within the Palestinian territories, which are recognized by Israel to constitute a single territorial unit,[68][69] and of which the West Bank is the core of the would-be state.[70]City of Jericho, West BankPolitical statusMain article: Status of territories occupied by Israel in 1967
U.S. President George Bush and Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, 2008The future status of the West Bank, together with the Gaza Strip on the Mediterranean shore, has been the subject of negotiation between the Palestinians and Israelis, although the 2002 Road Map for Peace, proposed by the "Quartet" comprising the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations, envisions an independent Palestinian state in these territories living side by side with Israel (see also proposals for a Palestinian state). However, the "Road Map" states that in the first phase, Palestinians must end all attacks on Israel, whereas Israel must dismantle all outposts.
The Palestinian Authority believes that the West Bank ought to be a part of their sovereign nation, and that the presence of Israeli military control is a violation of their right to Palestinian Authority rule. The United Nations calls the West Bank and Gaza Strip Israeli-occupied territories. The United States State Department also refers to the territories as occupied.[71][72][73]
In 2005 the United States ambassador to Israel, Daniel C. Kurtzer, expressed U.S. support "for the retention by Israel of major Israeli population centres [in the West Bank] as an outcome of negotiations",[74] reflecting President Bush's statement a year earlier that a permanent peace treaty would have to reflect "demographic realities" on the West Bank.[75] In May 2011 US President Barack Obama officially stated US support for a future Palestinian state based on borders prior to the 1967 War, allowing for land swaps where they are mutually agreeable between the two sides. Obama was the first US president to formally support the policy, but he stated that it had been one long held by the US in its Middle East negotiations.[76][77]
In December 2016, a resolution was adopted by United Nations Security Council that condemned Israel's settlement activity as a "flagrant violation" of international law with "no legal validity". It demands that Israel stop such activity and fulfill its obligations as an occupying power under the Fourth Geneva Convention.[78][79] The United States abstained from the vote.[80][79]
In 2020, President Donald Trump unveiled a peace plan, radically different from previous peace plans. The plan failed to gain support.[81][82]
West Bank was ranked 10th most electoral democracy in the Middle East and North Africa according to V-Dem Democracy indices in 2024 with a score of 0.254 out of one.[83]
Public opinionPalestinian public opinion opposes Israeli military and settler presence on the West Bank as a violation of their right to statehood and sovereignty.[84] Israeli opinion is split into a number of views:
Complete or partial withdrawal from the West Bank in hopes of peaceful coexistence in separate states (sometimes called the "land for peace" position); (In a 2003 poll, 76% of Israelis supported a peace agreement based on that principle).[85]Maintenance of a military presence in the West Bank to reduce Palestinian terrorism by deterrence or by armed intervention, while relinquishing some degree of political control;Annexation of the West Bank while considering the Palestinian population with Palestinian Authority citizenship with Israeli residence permit as per the Elon Peace Plan;Annexation of the West Bank and assimilation of the Palestinian population to fully fledged Israeli citizens;Transfer of the East Jerusalem Palestinian population (a 2002 poll at the height of the Al-Aqsa intifada found 46% of Israelis favoring Palestinian transfer of Jerusalem residents).[86]Geography
View of the Judaean Mountains from RamallahThe West Bank has an area of 5,628 or 5,640 square kilometres (2,173 or 2,178 square miles), which comprises 21.2% of former Mandatory Palestine (excluding Jordan)[87] and has generally rugged mountainous terrain. The total length of the land boundaries of the region are 404 km (251 mi).[6] The terrain is mostly rugged dissected upland, some vegetation in the west, but somewhat barren in the east. The elevation span between the shoreline of the Dead Sea at −408 m to the highest point at Mount Nabi Yunis, at 1,030 m (3,379 ft) above sea level.[88] The West Bank is landlocked; its highlands are the main recharge area for Israel's coastal aquifers.[6]
The West Bank has 220 km2 (85 sq mi) of water area, consisting of the northwestern quarter of the Dead Sea.
There are few natural resources in the area except the highly arable land, which comprises 27% of the land area of the region. It is mostly used as permanent pastures (32% of arable land) and seasonal agricultural uses (40%).[6] Forests and woodland comprise just 1%, with no permanent crops.[6]
ClimateThe climate in the West Bank is mostly Mediterranean, slightly cooler at elevated areas compared with the shoreline, west to the area. In the east, the West Bank includes the Judean Desert and the shoreline of the Dead Sea – both with dry and hot climate.
In the most highly elevated areas in the northwest, annual rainfall is more than 27 inches (685 mm). This declines in the southwest and southeast to less than 4 inches (100 mm). Hilly terrains are used for sheep grazing and cultivating olives, cereals and fruits. The Jordan River valley is also cultivated for various fruits and vegetables.[89]
Political geographyMain article: West Bank Areas in the Oslo II AccordOverview of administration and sovereignty in Israel, the Palestinian territories and the Golan HeightsThis box: viewtalkeditArea Administered by Recognition of governing authority Sovereignty claimed by Recognition of claimGaza Strip Palestinian National Authority (de jure) Controlled by Hamas (de facto) Witnesses to the Oslo II Accord State of Palestine 144 UN member statesWest Bank Palestinian enclaves (Areas A and B) Palestinian National Authority and Israeli militaryArea C Israeli enclave law (Israeli settlements) and Israeli military (Palestinians under Israeli occupation)East Jerusalem Israeli administration Honduras, Guatemala, Nauru, and the United States China, RussiaWest Jerusalem Russia, Czech Republic, Honduras, Guatemala, Nauru, and the United States United Nations as an international city along with East Jerusalem Various UN member states and the European Union; joint sovereignty also widely supportedGolan Heights United States Syria All UN member states except the United StatesIsrael (Green Line border) 165 UN member states Israel 165 UN member states
Palestinian enclavesMain articles: Palestinian enclaves and Palestinian National Authority
A map of West Bank settlements and closures in January 2006: Yellow = Palestinian urban centers. Light pink = closed military areas or settlement boundary areas or areas isolated by the Israeli West Bank barrier; dark pink = settlements, outposts or military bases. The black line = route of the BarrierThe 1993 Oslo Accords declared the final status of the West Bank to be subject to a forthcoming settlement between Israel and the Palestinian leadership. Following these interim accords, Israel withdrew its military rule from some parts of the West Bank, which was divided into three Areas:
Area Security Civil Admin % of WBland % of WBPalestiniansA Palestinian Palestinian 18% 55%B Israeli Palestinian 21% 41%C Israeli Israeli 61% 4%[90]Area A, 2.7%,[of what?] full civil control of the Palestinian Authority, comprises Palestinian towns, and some rural areas away from Israeli settlements in the north (between Jenin, Nablus, Tubas, and Tulkarm), the south (around Hebron), and one in the center south of Salfit.[91] Area B, 25.2%,[of what?] adds other populated rural areas, many closer to the center of the West Bank. Area C contains all the Israeli settlements (excluding settlements in East Jerusalem), roads used to access the settlements, buffer zones (near settlements, roads, strategic areas, and Israel), and almost all of the Jordan Valley and the Judean Desert.
Areas A and B are themselves divided among 227 separate areas (199 of which are smaller than 2 km2 (1 sq mi)) that are separated from one another by Israeli-controlled Area C. [92] Areas A, B, and C cross the 11 governorates used as administrative divisions by the Palestinian National Authority, Israel, and the IDF and named after major cities. The mainly open areas of Area C, which contains all of the basic resources of arable and building land, water springs, quarries and sites of touristic value needed to develop a viable Palestinian state,[93] were to be handed over to the Palestinians by 1999 under the Oslo Accords as part of a final status agreement. This agreement was never achieved.[94]
According to B'tselem, while the vast majority of the Palestinian population lives in areas A and B, the vacant land available for construction in dozens of villages and towns across the West Bank is situated on the margins of the communities and defined as area C.[95] Less than 1% of area C is designated for use by Palestinians, who are also unable to legally build in their own existing villages in area C due to Israeli authorities' restrictions,[96][97]
An assessment by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in 2007 found that approximately 40% of the West Bank was taken up by Israeli infrastructure. The infrastructure, consisting of settlements, the barrier, military bases and closed military areas, Israeli declared nature reserves and the roads that accompany them is off-limits or tightly controlled to Palestinians.[98]
In June 2011, the Independent Commission for Human Rights published a report that found that Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip were subjected in 2010 to an "almost systematic campaign" of human rights abuse by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, as well as by Israeli authorities, with the security forces of the PA and Hamas being responsible for torture, arrests and arbitrary detentions.[99]
Area annexed by IsraelMain article: East Jerusalem
Greater Jerusalem, May 2006. CIA remote sensing map showing areas considered settlements, plus refugee camps, fences, walls, etc.Through the Jerusalem Law, Israel extended its administrative control over East Jerusalem. This has often been interpreted as tantamount to an official annexation, though Ian Lustick, in reviewing the legal status of Israeli measures, has argued that no such annexation ever took place. The Palestinian residents have legal permanent residency status.[100][101] Rejecting the Jerusalem Law, the UN Security Council passed UN Security Council Resolution 478, declaring that the law was "null and void". Although permanent residents are permitted, if they wish, to receive Israeli citizenship if they meet certain conditions including swearing allegiance to the State and renouncing any other citizenship, most Palestinians did not apply for Israeli citizenship for political reasons.[102] There are various possible reasons as to why the West Bank had not been annexed to Israel after its capture in 1967.[103] The government of Israel has not formally confirmed an official reason; however, historians and analysts have established a variety of such, most of them demographic. Among those most commonly cited have been:
Reluctance to award its citizenship to an overwhelming number of a potentially hostile population whose allies were sworn to the destruction of Israel.[104][105]To ultimately exchange land for peace with neighbouring states[104][105]Fear that the population of ethnic Arabs, including Israeli citizens of Palestinian ethnicity, would outnumber the Jewish Israelis west of the Jordan River.[103][104]The disputed legality of annexation under the Fourth Geneva Convention[106]The importance of demographic concerns to some significant figures in Israel's leadership was illustrated when Avraham Burg, a former Knesset Speaker and former chair of the Jewish Agency for Israel, wrote in The Guardian in September 2003,
"Between the Jordan and the Mediterranean there is no longer a clear Jewish majority. And so, fellow citizens, it is not possible to keep the whole thing without paying a price. We cannot keep a Palestinian majority under an Israeli boot and at the same time think ourselves the only democracy in the Middle East. There cannot be democracy without equal rights for all who live here, Arab as well as Jew. We cannot keep the territories and preserve a Jewish majority in the world's only Jewish state – not by means that are humane and moral and Jewish."[107]Area C and Israeli settlementsMain articles: Area C (West Bank) and International law and Israeli settlements
Map of Israeli settlements and Area C (magenta and blue), 2020As of 2022, there are over 450,000 Israeli settlers living in 132 Israeli settlements in the West Bank excluding East Jerusalem, with an additional 220,000 Jewish settlers residing in 12 settlements in East Jerusalem.[108][109][failed verification] In addition, there are over 140 Israeli outposts in the West Bank that are not recognized and are therefore illegal even under Israeli law, but which have nevertheless been provided with infrastructure, water, sewage, and other services by the authorities. They are colloquially known as "illegal outposts."[110]
As a result of the application of Israeli law in the settlements ("Enclave law"), large portions of Israeli civil law are applied to Israeli settlements and to Israelis living in the Israeli-occupied territories.[111]
The international consensus is that all Israeli settlements on the West Bank are illegal under international law.[112][113][114][115] In particular, the European Union as a whole[116] considers all settlements to be illegal. Significant portions of the Israeli public similarly oppose the continuing presence of Jewish Israelis in the West Bank and have supported the 2005 settlement relocation.[117] The majority of legal scholars also hold the settlements to violate international law,[10] however individuals including Julius Stone,[118][119] and Eugene Rostow[120] have argued that they are legal under international law.[121]
Immediately after the 1967 war, Theodor Meron, legal counselor of Israel's Foreign Ministry, advised Israeli ministers in a "top secret" memo that any policy of building settlements across occupied territories violated international law and would "contravene the explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention".[122][123][124] Fifty years later, citing decades of legal scholarship on the subject, Meron reiterated his legal opinion regarding the illegality of Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories.[125]
The UN Security Council has issued several non-binding resolutions addressing the issue of the settlements. Typical of these is UN Security Council resolution 446 which states that the "practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity", and it calls on Israel "as the occupying Power, to aoffere scrupulously by the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention".[126]
The Conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention held in Geneva on 5 December 2001 called upon "the Occupying Power to fully and effectively respect the Fourth Geneva Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and to refrain from perpetrating any violation of the Convention." The High Contracting Parties reaffirmed "the illegality of the settlements in the said territories and of the extension thereof."[127]
On 30 December 2007, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert issued an order requiring approval by both the Israeli Prime Minister and Israeli Defense Minister of all settlement activities (including planning) in the West Bank.[128] The change had little effect with settlements continuing to expand, and new ones being established. On 31 August 2014, Israel announced it was appropriating 400 hectares of land in the West Bank to eventually house 1,000 Israel families. The appropriation was described as the largest in more than 30 years.[129] According to reports on Israel Radio, the development is a response to the 2014 kidnapping and murder of Israeli teenagers.[129]
Palestinian outposts
A Palestinian demonstration against the demolition of the village SusyaThe Haaretz newspaper published an article in December 2005 about demolition of "Palestinian outposts" in Bil'in.[130] The demolitions sparked a political debate as according to PeaceNow it was a double standard ("After what happened today in Bil'in, there is no reason that the state should defend its decision to continue the construction" credited to Michael Sfard).
In January 2012, the European Union approved the "Area C and Palestinian state building" report. The report said Palestinian presence in Area C has been continuously undermined by Israel and that state building efforts in Area C of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the EU were of "utmost importance in order to support the creation of a contiguous and viable Palestinian state". The EU will support various projects to "support the Palestinian people and help maintain their presence".[131][132]
In May 2012, a petition[133] was filed to the Israeli Supreme Court about the legality of more 15[133] Palestinian outposts and Palestinian building in "Area C". The cases were filed by Regavim.[134][135]
The petition was one of 30 different petitions with the common ground of illegal land takeover and illegal construction and use of natural resources. Some of the petitions (27) had been set for trials[136] and the majority received a verdict.
Ynet News stated on 11 January 2013 that a group of 200 Palestinians with unknown number of foreign activists created an outpost named Bab al-Shams ("Gate of the Sun"), contains 50 tents[137]
Ynet News stated on 18 January 2013 that Palestinian activists built an outpost on a disputed area in Beit Iksa, where Israel plans to construct part of the separation fence in the Jerusalem vicinity while the Palestinians claim that the area belongs to the residents of Beit Iksa. named Bab al-Krama[138]
West Bank barrierMain article: Israeli West Bank barrier
West Bank barrier ("Separation Wall")
Qalandiya Checkpoint between Ramallah and JerusalemThe Israeli West Bank barrier is a physical barrier ordered for construction by the Israeli Government, consisting of a network of fences with vehicle-barrier trenches. Israel began building the barrier on June 23, 2002,[139] two years into the Second Intifada.[140] It is surrounded by an on average 60 m (197 ft) wide exclusion area (90%) and up to 8 m (26 ft) high concrete walls (10%), although in most areas the wall is not nearly that high.[141] It is located mainly within the West Bank, partly along the 1949 Armistice line, or "Green Line" between the West Bank and Israel. The length of the barrier as approved by the Israeli government is 708 km (440 mi) long.[142] As of 2020, approximately 454 km (282 mi) have been constructed (64%).[142][143] The space between the barrier and the green line is a closed military zone known as the Seam Zone, cutting off 9% of the West Bank and encompassing dozens of villages and tens of thousands of Palestinians.[144][145][146]
The barrier generally runs along or near the 1949 Jordanian-Israeli armistice/Green Line, but diverges in many places to include on the Israeli side several of the highly populated areas of Jewish settlements in the West Bank such as East Jerusalem, Ariel, Gush Etzion, Immanuel, Karnei Shomron, Givat Ze'ev, Oranit, and Maale Adumim.
Supporters of the barrier stated it was necessary for protecting Israeli civilians from Palestinian attacks, which increased significantly during the Al-Aqsa Intifada;[147][148] it has helped reduce incidents of terrorism by 90% from 2002 to 2005; over a 96% reduction in terror attacks in the six years ending in 2007,[149] though Israel's State Comptroller has acknowledged that most of the suicide bombers crossed into Israel through existing checkpoints.[150] Its supporters state that the onus is now on the Palestinian Authority to fight terrorism.[151]
Opponents state the barrier is an illegal attempt to annex Palestinian land under the guise of security,[152] violates international law,[153] has the intent or effect to pre-empt final status negotiations,[154] and severely restricts Palestinian livelihoods, particularly limiting their freedom of movement within and from the West Bank thereby undermining their economy.[155]
Palestinian governoratesMain article: Governorates of Palestine
Northern GovernoratesAfter the signing of the Oslo Accords, the West Bank was divided into 11 governorates under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian National Authority. Since 2007 there are two governments claiming to be the legitimate government of the Palestinian National Authority, one based in the West Bank and one based in the Gaza Strip.
Governorate Population[156] Area (km2)[156]Jenin Governorate 311,231 583Tubas Governorate 64,719 372Tulkarm Governorate 182,053 239Nablus Governorate 380,961 592Qalqilya Governorate 110,800 164Salfit Governorate 70,727 191Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate 348,110 844Jericho Governorate 52,154 608Jerusalem Governorate(including Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem with Israeli citizenship) 419,108 344Bethlehem Governorate 216,114 644Hebron Governorate 706,508 1,060Total 2,862,485 5,671Israeli administrative districtsSee also: Judea and Samaria AreaThe West Bank is further divided into 8 administrative regions: Menashe (Jenin area), HaBik'a (Jordan Valley), Shomron (Shechem area, known in Arabic as Nablus), Efrayim (Tulkarm area), Binyamin (Ramallah/al-Bireh area), Maccabim (Maccabim area), Etzion (Bethlehem area) and Yehuda (Hebron area).
Crossing points to Jordan and EgyptAllenby Bridge, or 'King Hussein Bridge', is the main port for the Palestinian in the West Bank to cross the Jordanian borders. This crossing point is controlled by Israel since 1967. It was inaugurated on 11 December 2011 under the military order "175" entitled 'An order concerning transition station'. Later, Order '446’ was issued which annexed the Damia Bridge crossing point to the Allenby Bridge as a commercial crossing point only. Goods were exported to Jordan, while the import was banned for security purposes.[157]
In 1993, the Palestinian National Authority, according to Oslo Accord assigned by PLO and the Israeli government, became a partial supervisor over the Rafah Border Crossing to Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Authority was responsible for issuing passports to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israel remained the major responsible party for this crossing point. According to the agreement, Israel has the right to independently inspect luggage and to maintain security. In addition, it can prevent anyone from using the crossing.[157][158]
EconomyMain article: Economy of the Palestinian territoriesAs of the early-21st century, the economy of the Palestinian territories is chronically depressed, with unemployment rates constantly over 20% since 2000. The unemployment rate was 19% in the West Bank in first half of 2013.[159]
Consequences of occupationEconomic consequencesAccording to a 2013 World Bank report, Israeli restrictions hinder Palestinian economic development in Area C of the West Bank.[160] A 2013 World Bank report calculates that, if the Interim Agreement was respected and restrictions lifted, a few key industries alone would produce US$2.2 billion per annum more (or 23% of 2011 Palestinian GDP) and reduce by some US$800 million (50%) the Palestinian Authority's deficit; the employment would increase by 35%.[161]
Water supplyMain article: Water supply and sanitation in the State of PalestineAmnesty International has criticized the way that the Israeli state is dealing with the regional water resources:
Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) do not have access to adequate, safe water supplies ... Discriminatory Israeli policies in the OPT are the root cause of the striking disparity in access to water between Palestinians and Israelis ... The inequality is even more pronounced between Palestinian communities and unlawful Israeli settlements, established in the OPT in violation of international law. Swimming pools, well-watered lawns and large irrigated farms in Israeli settlements in the OPT stand in stark contrast next to Palestinian villages whose inhabitants struggle even to meet their essential domestic water needs. In parts of the West Bank, Israeli settlers use up to 20 times more water per capita than neighbouring Palestinian communities, who survive on barely 20 litres of water per capita a day—the minimum amount recommended by the WHO for emergency situations response.[162]
Israeli settlers in the West Bank have seized dozens of wells from Palestinians. The wells are privately owned by Palestinians and the settlers forcibly took them, gave them Hebrew names and, with the assistance of the Israeli military, prevent Arab people, including the wells' owners, from using the wells and the pools the wells feed.[163]
Israeli garbage disposalIsrael ratified the international Basel Convention treaty on Israel on 14 December 1994, according to which, any transfer of waste must be performed with an awareness of the dangers posed to the disempowered occupied people. It foroffers the creation among them of "environmental sacrifice zones."[164] Israel, it is argued, uses the West Bank as a "sacrifice" zone by placing 15 waste treatment plants, which are there under less stringent rules that those required in Israel because a different legal system[which?] has been organized regarding hazardous materials that can be noxious to local people and the environment. The military authorities do not make public the details of these operations. These materials include sewage sludge, infectious medical waste, used oils, solvents, metals, electronic waste and batteries.[165]
In 2007 it was estimated that 38% (35 mcm a year) of all wastewater flowing into the West Bank derived from settlements and Jerusalem.[166] Of the 121 settlements surveyed, 81 had wastewater treatment plant, much of it inadequate or subject to breakdown, with much sewage flowing into lowland streams and terrain where Palestinian villages are located. Only 4 of 53 indictments for waste pollution were made over the years from 2000 to 2008,[clarification needed] whereas in Israel the laws are strictly applied and, in 2006 alone, 230 enforcements for the same abuse were enforced.[167] At the same time 90–95% of Palestinian wastewater was not treated, with only 1 of 4 Israeli plants built in the 1970s to that purpose functioning, and the neglect to improve the infrastructure is attributed to Israeli budgetary problems.[168]
After the Oslo Accords, the global community earmarked $250,000,000 for West Bank wastewater infrastructure. Israel at times insisted its approval was conditional on linking the grid to Israeli settlements, which neither the donors nor Palestinians accepted. Most of the infrastructure was subsequently destroyed by IDF military operations.[169] The PA raised funds from Germany for 15 plants, but only managed to build one, at al-Bireh, within Area B, though even there Israel insisted the plant process waste from the settlement of Psagot, though refusing to pay fees for the treatment.[168] Palestinian town Salfit has been deeply affected by sewage overflow channelled past the town from the settlement of Ariel.[170][171]
Unlike the data available for sewage treatment within Israel, the Israeli Water Commission refuses to provide public reports on 15 million cubic metres of sewage flowing from Israeli settlements in the West Bank. It claims 75% is treated adequately but independent Israeli studies (2000) suggest that only 6% met Israeli treatment standards, while 48% was either not treated adequastely or discharged raw. Since then some improvements have been implemented.[172]
The landfill near Al-Jiftlik in the Jericho Governorate, built on absentee Palestinian property without planning or an environment impact analysis, is for the exclusive use of waste, 1,000 tons per day, produced by Israeli settlements and cities within Israel.[173] Palestinians are restricted to 3 landfills, and permits for more have been denied unless the sites can be used to dump settlement garbage. Even if a permit is given without this agreement, settler waste under military escort is still dumped there.[173]
Israel has been accused of engaging in 'warfare ecology' in the West Bank.[174] In response to local opposition in Israel to waste treatment plants and the high cost of meeting stringent environment laws in that country. It has been argued that Israel had used the area of the West Bank as a 'sacrifice zone' where its waste can be dumped." [f]
Many waste treatment facilities in the West Bank were built for processing waste generated inside Israeli sovereign territory, according to B'Tselem, Israel's leading human rights organization for monitoring the West Bank.[176][177][178]
The Israel government requires no reporting by these West Bank facilities of the amount of waste they process or the risks they pose to the local population, and applies less rigorous regulatory standards to these facilities than it does to solid waste treatment facilities in Israel.[citation needed] B'Tselem has said that "any transfer of waste to the West Bank is a breach of international law which Israel is dutybound to uphold" because according to international law "an occupied territory or its resources may not be used for the benefit of the occupying power's own needs."[178][179][180] Experts have also warned that some of these facilities are garbage dumps that endanger the purity of the mountain aquifer, which is one of the largest sources of water in the region.[179]
Palestinian water and sewageMain article: Water supply and sanitation in the State of PalestineIn 1995, the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) was established by a presidential decree. One year later, its functions, objectives and responsibilities were defined through a by-law, giving the PWA the mandate to manage water resources and execute the water policy.[181]
About 90% of the Palestinians in the Territories had access to improved sanitation in 2008.[182] Cesspits were used by 39% of households, while access to the sewer network increased to 55% in 2011, up from 39% in 1999.[183] In the West Bank, only 13,000 out of 85,000 m3 of wastewater were treated in five municipal wastewater treatment plants in Hebron, Jenin, Ramallah, Tulkarem and Al-Bireh.[184] The Al Bireh plant was constructed in 2000 with funding by the German aid agency KfW.[185] According to the World Bank report, the other four plants perform poorly concerning efficiency and quality.[186]
Resource extractionBased on the number of quarries per km2 in Areas A and B, it is calculated that, were Israel to lift restrictions, a further 275 quarries could be opened in Area C. The World Bank estimates that Israel's virtual ban on issuing Palestinians permits for quarries there costs the Palestinian economy at least US$241 million per year.[187] In international law drawing on the Hague Conventions (Article 55), it is established that an occupying power may reap some value from the resources of the country occupied but not deplete its assets, and that the usufruct must benefit the people under occupation. The Oslo Accords agreed to hand over mining rights to the Palestinian Authority. Israel licenses eleven settlement quarries in the West Bank and they sell 94% of their material to Israel, which arguably constitutes "depletion" and pays royalties to its West Bank military government and settlement municipalities.[173]
Thus the German cement firm quarrying at Nahal Raba paid out €430,000 ($479,000) in taxes to the Samaria Regional Council in 2014 alone.[173] The Israeli High Court rejected a petition that such quarrying was a violation by stating that after four decades Israeli law must adapt to "the realities on the ground". The state did undertake not to open more quarries.[188]
A Human Rights Watch report contrasts the difference between a Palestinian-owned quarry company in Beit Fajar and that of a European one working on what Israeli considers its state land. The European company obtained a concession and license to harvest stone, whereas Israel refuses permits for most of the roughly 40 Beit Fajar quarries, or nearly any other Palestinian-owned quarry in the West Bank under Israeli administration.[173]
Israel had denied Palestinians permits to process minerals in that area of the West Bank.[187] The products of the Israeli cosmetics firm Ahava, established in 1988, were developed in laboratories at the West Bank Dead Sea settlements of Mitzpe Shalem and Kalya. 60% of their production is sold in the EU market.[189] In 2018 The UN, stating that the violations were both "pervasive and devastating" to the local Palestinian population, identified some 206 companies which do business with Israeli settlements in the West Bank.[190]
Roughly 73 percent of global bromine production comes from Israeli and Jordanian exploitation of the Dead Sea. The potential incremental value that could accrue to the Palestinian economy from the production and sales of potash, bromine and magnesium has been conservatively estimated at US$918 million per annum, or 9 percent of GDP.[191][192] The lost earnings from not being allowed to process Dead Sea minerals such as potash, and for making bromide-based flame retardants, based on calculations of comparable use by Israel and Jordan, suggest a figure of $642 million.[193]
Loss of cultural propertyAlbert Glock argued that Israel is responsible for the disappearance of significant parts of the Palestinian cultural patrimony, by confiscating Arab cultural resources. In 1967 it appropriated the Palestine Archaeological Museum[g] and its library in East Jerusalem.[h] Often these losses are personal, as when homes are ransacked and looted of their valuables. The journalist Hamdi Faraj, jailed for endangering public order, had his 500-volume library confiscated, including copies of the Bible and Qur'an and, when he applied for their restitution, was told all the books had been accidentally burnt.[196] The Israeli occupation has wrought a profound change in Palestinian identity, which clings to a sense of a "paradise lost" before the changes brought out by the 1967 conquest.[197][i]
TourismMain article: Tourism in the State of PalestineThe Palestinian territories contain several of the most significant sites for Muslims, Christians and Jews, and are endowed with a world-class heritage highly attractive to tourists and pilgrims.[199] The West Bank Palestinians themselves have difficulties in accessing the territory for recreation.
Based on 1967 figures, the Palestinian Dead Sea Coastline is roughly 40 km in length, of which 15% (6 kilometres) could lend itself to the same tourist infrastructure developed by Jordan and Israel in their respective areas. Were Israel to permit a parallel development of this Palestinian sector, the World Bank estimates that 2,900 jobs would be added, allowing the Palestinian economy a potential value-added input of something like $126 million annually.[200] It is also the only maritime recreational outlet for West Bankers, but according to an Acri complaint to the Israeli Supreme Court in 2008 Palestinians are often barred or turned away from the beaches at their only access point, the Beit Ha'arava checkpoint on Route 90. Acri claimed the ban responds to fears by settlers who operate tourist concessions in this West Bank area that they will lose Jewish customers if there are too many West Bank Palestinians on the beaches.[j]
The key Palestinian towns in the West Bank for tourism are East Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Jericho. All access points are controlled by Israel and the road system, checkpoints and obstacles in place for visitors desiring to visit Palestinian towns leaves their hotels half-empty.[202] From 92 to 94 cents in every dollar of the tourist trade goes to Israel.[203] The general itineraries under Israeli management focus predominantly on Jewish history. Obstacles placed in the way of Palestinian-managed tourism down to 1995 included withholding licenses from tour guides, and hotels, for construction or renovation, and control of airports and highways, enabling Israel to develop a virtual monopoly on tourism.[203]
DemographicsMain article: Demographics of the State of Palestine
Palestinian girl in NablusIn December 2007, an official census conducted by the Palestinian Authority found that the Palestinian Arab population of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, was 2,345,000.[6][204] However, the World Bank and American-Israeli Demographic Research Group identified a 32% discrepancy between first-grade enrollment statistics documented by the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS)' 2007 projections,[205] with questions also raised about the PCBS' growth assumptions for the period 1997–2003.[206] The Israeli Civil Administration put the number of Palestinians in the West Bank at 2,657,029 as of May 2012.[207][208]Jewish children in Tal Menashe.In 2014, there were 389,250 Israeli settlers living in the West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem,[209] as well as around 375,000 living in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem. There are also small ethnic groups, such as the Samaritans living in and around Nablus, numbering in the hundreds.[210]
As of October 2007, around 23,000 Palestinians in the West Bank worked in Israel every day, while another 9,200 worked in Israeli settlements. In addition, around 10,000 Palestinian traders from the West Bank were allowed to travel every day into Israel.[211] By 2014, 92,000 Palestinians worked in Israel legally or illegally, twice as many as in 2010.[212]
In 2008, approximately 30% of Palestinians or 754,263 persons living in the West Bank were refugees or descendants of refugees from villages and towns located in what became Israel during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, according to UNRWA statistics.[213][214][215] A 2011 EU report titled "Area C and Palestinian State Building" reported that before the Israeli occupation in 1967, between 200,000 and 320,000 Palestinians used to live in the Jordan Valley, 90% which is in Area C, but demolition of Palestinian homes and prevention of new buildings has seen the number drop to 56,000, 70% of which live in Area A, in Jericho.[216][217][218] In a similar period, the Jewish population in Area C has grown from 1,200 to 310,000.[216]
Major population centers
Settlement of Ariel
Residential neighborhood of RamallahSignificant population centersCenter PopulationEast Jerusalem 542,400[219]Hebron (al-Khalil) 163,146[220]Nablus 136,132[220]Jenin 90,004[220]Tulkarm 51,300[220]Yattah 48,672[220]Modi'in Illit 48,600[221]Qalqilyah 41,739[220]Al-Bireh 38,202[220]Beitar Illit 37,600[221]Ma'ale Adummim 33,259[221]Ramallah 27,460[220]Bethlehem 25,266[220]Jericho 18,346[220]Ariel 17,700[221]The most densely populated part of the region is a mountainous spine, running north–south, where the cities of Jerusalem, Nablus, Ramallah, al-Bireh, Jenin, Bethlehem, Hebron and Yattah are located as well as the Israeli settlements of Ariel, Ma'ale Adumim and Beitar Illit. Ramallah, although relatively mid in population compared to other major cities as Hebron, Nablus and Jenin, serves as an economic and political center for the Palestinians. Near Ramallah the new city of Rawabi is under construction.[222][223] Jenin in the extreme north and is the capital of north of the West Bank and is on the southern edge of the Jezreel Valley. Modi'in Illit, Qalqilyah and Tulkarm are in the low foothills adjacent to the Israeli Coastal Plain, and Jericho and Tubas are situated in the Jordan Valley, north of the Dead Sea.
ReligionMain article: Palestinians § ReligionThe population of the West Bank is 80–85% Muslim (mostly Sunni) and 12–14% Jewish. The remainder are Christian (mostly Greek Orthodox) and others.[6]
Transportation and communicationsRoad system
A road in the West BankMain article: Palestinian freedom of movement § Restriction of movement in the West BankIn 2010, the West Bank and Gaza Strip together had 4,686 km (2,912 mi) of roadways.[6]
It has been said that for "Jewish settlers, roads connect; for Palestinians, they separate."[224] Between 1994 and 1997, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) built 290 km (180 mi) of bypass roads in the territories, on appropriated land because they ran close to Palestinian villages.[225] The given aim was said to be to afford protection to settlers from Palestinian sniping, bombing, and drive-by shootings.[226] For TAU emeritus professor of geography Elisha Efrat, they ignored the historical topography, road systems and environmental characteristics of the West Bank, and simply formed an apartheid network of "octopus arms which hold a grip on Palestinian population centres".[k]
A large number of embankments, concrete slabs and barriers impeded movement on primary and secondary roads. The result was to cantonize and fragment Palestinian townships, and cause endless obstacles to Palestinians going to work, schools, markets and relatives.[l] Ramallah was cut off from all of its feeder villages in 2000.[227]
Though prohibited by law, confiscation of Palestinian identity cards at checkpoints is a daily occurrence. At best drivers must wait for several hours for them to be returned, when, as can happen, the IDs themselves are lost as soldiers change shifts, in which case Palestinians are directed to some regional office the next day, and more checkpoints to get there.[225] Even before the Al Aqsa Intifada, UNFPA estimated that 20% of pregnant West Bank women were unable to access prenatal care because of the difficulties and delays caused by crossing checkpoints, and dozens were forced to deliver their children on the roadside.[228]
Constant uncertainty and the inability to plan are the results for Palestinians of the Israeli military rules governing their movements. The World Bank noted that additional costs arising from longer travelling caused by restrictions on movement through three major routes in the West Bank alone ran to (2013) USD 185 million a year, adding that other, earlier calculations (2007) suggest restrictions on the Palestinian labour market cost the West Bank approximately US$229 million per annum. It concluded that such imposed restrictions had a major negative impact on the local economy, hindering stability and growth.[229] In 2007, official Israeli statistics indicated that there were 180,000 Palestinians on Israel's secret travel ban list. 561 roadblocks and checkpoints were in place (October), the number of Palestinians licensed to drive private cars was 46,166 and the annual cost of permits was $454.[230]
These checkpoints, together with the separation wall and the restricted networks restructure the West Bank into "land cells", freezing the flow of normal everyday Palestinian lives.[231] Israel sets up flying checkpoints without notice. In 2017, 2,941 flying checkpoints were set up along West Bank roads, around 327 a month. There were 476 unstaffed physical obstacles, (dirt mounds, concrete blocks, gates and fenced sections) on roads. Of the gates erected at village entrances, 59 were always closed.[232]
The checkpoint system did not ease up after the Oslo Accords, but was strengthened after them, which has been interpreted as suggesting their function is to assert control over Palestinians, and as a sign of an unwillingness to yield ground in the West Bank.[233] According to PA Health Ministry statistics relating to the period from 2000 to 2006, of 68 Palestinian women who gave birth to their children while held up at checkpoints, 35 miscarried and 5 died while delivering their child there.[234] Machsom Watch accumulated over a mere five years (2001–2006) some 10,000 eyewitness reports and testimonies regarding the difficulties faced by Palestinians trying to negotiate West Bank checkpoints.[235]
Transportation infrastructure is particularly problematic as Palestinian use of roads in Area C is highly restricted, and travel times can be inordinate; the Palestinian Authority has also been unable to develop roads, airports or railways in or through Area C,[236] while many other roads were restricted only to public transportation and to Palestinians who have special permits from Israeli authorities.[237][238][239]
At certain times, Israel maintained more than 600 checkpoints or roadblocks in the region.[240] Movement restrictions on main roads between cities were still (as of 2005) blamed for poverty and economic depression in the West Bank.[241] Underpasses and bridges, 28 of which have been constructed and 16 of which are planned, link Palestinian areas separated from each other by Israeli settlements and bypass roads"[242]A checkpoint before entering Jericho, 2005Israeli restrictions were tightened in 2007.[243]
Route 4370, which has a concrete wall dividing the two sides, one designated for Israeli vehicles, the other for Palestinian. The wall is designed to allow Palestinians to pass north–south through Israeli-held land and facilitate the building of additional Jewish settlements in the Jerusalem neighborhood.[244]
RailAs of February 2012, a plan for 475-kilometer rail network, establishing 11 new rail lines in West Bank, was confirmed by Israeli Transportation Ministry. The West Bank network would include one line running through Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah, Jerusalem, Ma'aleh Adumim, Bethlehem and Hebron. Another would provide service along the Jordanian border from Eilat to the Dead Sea, Jericho and Beit She'an and from there toward Haifa in the west and in also in a northeasterly direction. The proposed scheme also calls for shorter routes, such as between Nablus and Tul Karm in the West Bank, and from Ramallah to the Allenby Bridge crossing into Jordan.[245]
AirportsThe only airport in the West Bank is the Atarot Airport near Ramallah, but it has been closed since 2001.
TelecomMain article: Communications in the State of PalestineThe Palestinian Paltel telecommunication companies provide communication services such as landline, cellular network and Internet in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Dialling code +970 is used in the West Bank and all over the Palestinian territories. Until 2007, the Palestinian mobile market was monopolized by Jawwal. A new mobile operator for the territories launched in 2009 under the name of Wataniya Telecom. The number of Internet users increased from 35,000 in 2000 to 356,000 in 2010.[246]
Radio and televisionThe Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation broadcasts from an AM station in Ramallah on 675 kHz; numerous local privately owned stations are also in operation. Most Palestinian households have a radio and TV, and satellite dishes for receiving international coverage are widespread. Recently, PalTel announced and has begun implementing an initiative to provide ADSL broadband internet service to all households and businesses.
Israel's cable television company HOT, satellite television provider (DBS) Yes, AM and FM radio broadcast stations and public television broadcast stations all operate. Broadband internet service by Bezeq's ADSL and by the cable company is available as well. The Al-Aqsa Voice broadcasts from Dabas Mall in Tulkarem at 106.7 FM. The Al-Aqsa TV station shares these offices.
Education
Palestinian students at Birzeit University in 2016Seven universities are operating in the West Bank:
Bethlehem University, a Roman Catholic institution of the Lasallian tradition partially funded by the Vatican,[247] opened its doors in 1973.[248]In 1975, Birzeit College (located in the town of Bir Zeit north of Ramallah) became Birzeit University after adding third- and fourth-year college-level programs.[249]An-Najah College in Nablus likewise became An-Najah National University in 1977.[250]Hebron University was established as College of Shari'a in 1971 and became Hebron University in 1980.[251]Al-Quds University was founded in 1995, unifying several colleges and faculties in and around East Jerusalem.[252]In 2000, the Arab American University – the only private university in the West Bank – was founded outside of Zababdeh, with the purpose of providing courses according to the American system of education.[253]Ariel University is located in the Israeli settlement of Ariel and was granted full university status on 17 July 2012.[254] It was established in 1982.Most universities in the West Bank have politically active student bodies, and elections of student council officers are normally along party affiliations. Although the establishment of the universities was initially allowed by the Israeli authorities, some were sporadically ordered closed by the Israeli Civil Administration during the 1970s and 1980s to prevent political activities and violence against the IDF. Some universities remained closed by military order for extended periods during years immediately preceding and following the first Palestinian Intifada, but have largely remained open since the signing of the Oslo Accords despite the advent of the Al-Aqsa Intifada (Second Intifada) in 2000.
The founding of Palestinian universities has greatly increased education levels among the population in the West Bank. According to a Birzeit University study, the percentage of Palestinians choosing local universities as opposed to foreign institutions has been steadily increasing; as of 1997, 41% of Palestinians with bachelor's degrees had obtained them from Palestinian institutions.[255] According to UNESCO, Palestinians are one of the most highly educated groups in the Middle East "despite often difficult circumstances".[256] The literacy rate among Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) is 94.6% for 2009.[257]
The United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) was a military and peacekeeping operation established by the United Nations General Assembly to secure an end to the Suez Crisis of 1956 through the establishment of international peacekeepers on the border between Egypt and Israel. Approved by resolution 1001 (ES-I) of 7 November 1956, UNEF was developed in large measure as a result of efforts by UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld and a proposal from Canadian Minister of External Affairs Lester B. Pearson, who would later win the Nobel Peace Prize for it. The General Assembly had approved a plan submitted by the Secretary-General which envisaged the deployment of UNEF on both sides of the armistice line; Egypt accepted receiving the UN forces, but Israel refused it.[1] In May 1967, Egypt asked that UNEF leave Egypt; as the troops started to evacuate over the next days, Israel invaded Egypt on 6 June 1967, initiating the Six-Day War and causing the death of one Brazilian Sergeant and 14 Indian peacekeepers – 17 other members of UNEF were also injured.[2] The last member of UNEF left Egypt on 17 June.[2]
The UN General Assembly later established a Second United Nations Emergency Force in 1973 in response to the Yom Kippur War.[3]
History
F/L Lynn Garrison crew with UNEF DHC-3 Otter, Sinai, 1962
UNEF DHC-4 Caribou at El Arish, 1962
Swedish peacekeepers evacuating their position at Hill 88 during the Six-Day WarThe first UN military force of its kind, UNEF's mission was to:
... enter Egyptian territory with the consent of the Egyptian Government, in order to help maintain quiet during and after the withdrawal of non-Egyptian forces and to secure compliance with the other terms established in the resolution ... to cover an area extending roughly from the Suez Canal to the Armistice Demarcation Lines established in the Armistice Agreement between Egypt and Israel.UNEF was formed under the authority of the General Assembly and was subject to the national sovereignty clause, Article 2, Paragraph 7, of the U.N. Charter. An agreement between the Egyptian government and the Secretary-General, The Good Faith Accords, or Good Faith Aide-Memoire,[4] placed the UNEF force in Egypt with the consent of the Egyptian government.[5]
Since the operative UN resolutions were not passed under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, the planned deployment of a military forces had to be approved by Egypt and Israel. Israel's Prime Minister refused to restore the 1949 armistice lines and stated that under no circumstances would Israel agree to the stationing of UN forces on its territory or in any area it occupied.[6][7] After multilateral negotiations with Egypt, ten countries offered to contribute to a force on the Egyptian side of the armistice line: Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, India, Indonesia, Norway, Sweden, and Yugoslavia. Support was also provided by United States, Italy, and Switzerland. The first forces arrived in Cairo on 15 November, and UNEF was at its full force of 6,000 by February 1957. The force was fully deployed in designated areas around the canal, in the Sinai and Gaza when Israel withdrew its last forces from Rafah on 8 March 1957. The UN Secretary-General sought to station UNEF forces on the Israeli side of the 1949 armistice lines, but this was rejected by Israel.[8]
The mission was directed to be accomplished in four phases:
In November and December 1956, the force facilitated the orderly transition in the Suez Canal area when British and French forces left.From December 1956 to March 1957, the force facilitated the separation of Israeli and Egyptian forces and the Israeli evacuation from all areas captured during the war, except Gaza and Sharm-el-Sheik.In March 1957, the force facilitated the departure of Israeli forces from Gaza and Sharm-el-Sheik.Deployment along the borders for purposes of observation. This phase ended in May 1967.Due to financial constraints and changing needs, the force shrank through the years to 3,378 by May 1967.
On 16 May 1969, the Egyptian government ordered all United Nations forces – at the time, composed mostly of military contingents from Brazil, Canada, and India, with a smaller Swedish contingent – out of Sinai.[9] Secretary-General U Thant tried to redeploy UNEF to areas on the Israeli side of the border, in order to maintain a buffer, but this was rejected by Israel.[10]
By 31 May, the Canadian contingent had already been completely evacuated by air, with the Brazilian, Indian and Swedish contingents still preparing for evacuation, when Israel invaded Egypt on 5 June 1967, starting the Six-Day War.[2] In different episodes, Israeli forces attacked a UNEF convoy, camps in which UNEF personnel were concentrated and the UNEF headquarters in Gaza.[2] In these episodes, one Brazilian peacekeeper and 14 Indian officials were killed by Israeli forces, with an additional seventeen wounded in both contingents.[2]
The last United Nations peacekeeper left the region on 17 June.[2]
Force Commanders
UNEF postage stampStationed in Gaza City.
Nov. 1956 – Dec. 1959 Lieutenant-General E. L. M. Burns (Canada)Dec. 1959 – Jan. 1964 Lieutenant-General P. S. Gyani (India)Jan. 1964 – Aug. 1964 Major-General Carlos F. Paiva Chaves (Brazil)Aug. 1964 – Jan. 1965 Colonel Lazar Mušicki (Yugoslavia) (Acting)Jan. 1965 – Jan. 1966 Major-General Syseno Sarmento (Brazil)Jan. 1966 – June 1967 Major-General Indar Jit Rikhye (India)Contributing countriesContributors of military personnel were: Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, India, Indonesia, Norway, Sweden, and Yugoslavia.
See alsoCanadian peacekeepingMultinational Force and Observers, a somewhat similar, but smaller force instituted to ensure enforcement of the Egyptian–Israeli Peace TreatySecond United Nations Emergency ForceUnited Nations Security Council Resolution 340United Nations Truce Supervision Organization
n July 1956, Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal Company over the protest of France and the United Kingdom. On 13 October, the Security Council adopted a resolution setting forth certain principles for the operation of the Canal. Consultations on the implementation of those principles were under way when new hostilities broke out in the area.
On 29 October 1956, Israeli forces launched an attack on Egypt and occupied Sinai and the Gaza Strip. A few days later British and French troops landed in the Suez Canal Zone. The Security Council discussed the matter on 31 October, but no decision could be adopted, owing to the vetoes of France and the United Kingdom. Under the "Uniting for Peace" resolution, the matter was then referred to the General Assembly, which met in emergency special session from 1 to 10 November. The Assembly called for a ceasefire and the withdrawal of all foreign forces from occupied territories. It also established the first United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) to secure and supervise the cessation of hostilities. Following the dispatch of the Emergency Force to the area, the French and British forces left the Suez Canal Zone by 22 December 1956. The withdrawal of the Israeli forces was completed by 8 March 1957.
The creation of UNEF, the first United Nations peacekeeping force, represented a significant innovation within the United Nations. It was not a peace-enforcement operation, as envisaged in Article 42 of the United Nations Charter, but a peacekeeping operation to be carried out with the consent and the cooperation of the parties to the conflict. It was armed, but the units were to use their weapons only in self-defence and even then with utmost restraint. Its main functions were to supervise the withdrawal of the three occupying forces and, after the withdrawal was completed, to act as a buffer between the Egyptian and Israeli forces and to provide impartial supervision of the ceasefire. In the event, UNEF, stationed entirely on Egyptian territory with the consent of the Government, patrolled the Egypt-Israel armistice demarcation line and the international frontier to the south of the Gaza Strip and brought relative quiet to a long-troubled area. The Canal, blocked as a result of the conflict, was cleared by the United Nations. UNEF I was withdrawn in May-June 1967 at the request of the Egyptian Government, which informed the Secretary-General that it would no longer consent to the stationing of the Force on Egyptian territory and in Gaza.
In 1957, the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) was deployed to the Gaza Strip to oversee the truce border with Egypt and the international border in Sinai. The UN General Assembly sent the peacekeeping force, which reached its full strength of 6,000 soldiers by February 1957, to facilitate the transition when British and French forces left the Suez Canal area in November and December 1956. UNEF was fully deployed in Gaza when Israel withdrew its last forces from Rafah on March 8, 1957, and Egyptian administration returned to the area. Related Items:

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