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Palestine
Full Name: The Occupied Palestinian Territories
Area: 6165 square kms
Population: Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics estimate for 2007 approx. 4m. Outside the Occupied Territories, there are between 4.5m and 5m Palestinians. The largest number, between 2.5m and 2.8m, live in Jordan.
People: Arab
Language(s): Arabic. English is widely spoken
Religion(s): Muslim (97%), Christian (3%)
Currency: New Israeli Shekel, Jordanian Dinar (West Bank Only)
Major political parties: Fatah, PFLP, DFLP, FIDA, People's Party, Hamas (all except Hamas are members of the PLO); 88 elected member Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC)
President of The Occupied Palestinian Territories : Mahmoud Abbas (also known as Abu Mazen)
Prime Minister: Ismail Haniya
Foreign Minister: Ziad Abu Amr
GEOGRAPHY
The West Bank is an area of 5800 square kms - roughly 130 km long and 40-65 km wide. It is hilly and for the most part rugged terrain, which changes from desert and scrub landscape in the south to more lush vegetation in the north. The West Bank has an average elevation of 750m, but it also comprises Jericho and the shores of the Dead Sea which at 390m below sea level form the lowest point on earth.
The Gaza Strip is an area of 365 square kms – some 45 km long and 5-12 km wide. The region is mostly flat and the soil is sandy.
HISTORY
Please view the POLITICS section below.
POLITICS
Mahmoud Abbas became President on 15 January 2005 after winning the majority of the vote in presidential elections held on 9 January 2005. He replaced Yasser Arafat, who passed away on 11 November 2004. Rawhi Fattouh, then speaker of the PLC, served briefly as interim President.
Palestinian Legislative Council elections were held on 25 January 2006 (the first parliamentary elections since 1996). Hamas won 74 out of the 132 seats. On 29 March 2006 the newly appointed, Hamas-nominated, 24-member Cabinet of the Palestinian National Authority was sworn in.
Following an escalation in intra-Palestinian violence, Hamas and Fatah agreed to form a Palestinian National Unity Government (NUG) on 8 February 2007 in Mecca. The new coalition government was sworn in on 17 March 2007.
The Interim Agreement signed by Israel and the PLO on 28 September 1995 and which followed the Declaration of Principles of 28 September 1995 allowed for the Palestinians to elect a self-rule Legislative Council with executive and legislative powers, to serve for five years and to elect a president. The first elections were held in January 1996.
In 1981 a Civil Administration (an Israeli body) was set up to administer Palestinian civilian affairs in the region. The Civil Administration was to have been disbanded after the inauguration of the Palestinian Legislative Council in 1996 but many features of it remain in place.
Jerusalem
The Declaration of Principles and the Interim Agreement left the issue of Jerusalem to be decided in "permanent status" negotiations between the two parties.
The UK position on Jerusalem
Jerusalem was supposed to be a 'corpus separatum', or international city administered by the UN. But this was never set up as immediately after the UNGA resolution partitioning Palestine, Israel occupied West Jerusalem and Jordan occupied East Jerusalem (including the Old City). We recognised the de facto control of Israel and Jordan, but not sovereignty. In 1967, Israel occupied East Jerusalem, which we continue to consider is under illegal military occupation by Israel. Our Embassy to Israel is in Tel Aviv, not Jerusalem. In East Jerusalem we have a Consulate-General, with a Consul-General who is not accredited to any state: this is an expression of our view that no state has sovereignty over Jerusalem. The UK position was formally expressed in April 1950, when HMG extended simultaneous de jure recognition to both Jordan and Israel. However, the statement withheld recognition of the sovereignty of either Jordan or Israel over the sectors of the city which each then held, within the area of the corpus separatum as stipulated in UN General Assembly Resolution 303 (IV) of 1949. In the British view, no such recognition was possible before a final determination of the status of this area, although HMG did recognise that both Jordan and Israel exercised 'de facto authority' over those parts of the city and area which each held.
In the 1967 war, Israel occupied the whole city, taking possession of the Jordanian (East) sector to add to West Jerusalem, which it already held. The Israeli government immediately extended its civil law to the whole city, simultaneously greatly enlarging the municipal boundaries into the West Bank. This purported annexation of East Jerusalem was reaffirmed in 1980 when Israel enacted its 'Jerusalem Law', formally declaring East and West Jerusalem together, 'whole and united', to be 'the capital of Israel'.
The UK rejects these Israeli measures to change the status of Jerusalem. The UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 478 of 1980 in response to the Israeli annexation, declaring it to be a violation of international law; the British Government has reiterated and amplified this position many times since. HMG's formal position is based on the 1950 statement: it recognises that Israel exercises de facto authority in West Jerusalem and, from 1950 to 1967, recognised that Jordan exercised de facto authority in East Jerusalem. Since the war of 1967, HMG has regarded Israel as being in military occupation of East Jerusalem, and in this connection subject to the rules of law applicable to such an occupation, in particular the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949. HMG also holds that the provisions of Security Council Resolution 242 on the withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the 1967 war applies to East Jerusalem. The Venice Declaration and subsequent statements (both by the UK alone and with EU partners) have made clear that no unilateral attempts to change the status of Jerusalem are valid. The UK believes that the city's status has yet to be determined, and maintains that it should be settled in an overall agreement between the parties concerned, but considers that the city should not again be divided.
The British Government supports the right of the Palestinian people to establish a sovereign and independent Palestinian state and looks forward to early fulfilment of this right, provided there is a concomitant recognition of Israel's right as a state, and the right of its citizens to live in peace with security.
ECONOMY
As a result of Israeli restrictions imposed both within the West Bank and Gaza Strip and on Palestinian external economic relations since the start of the Intifada in September 2000, the economy has been fragmented. Significant damage has been done to infrastructure, and economic activity and incomes have contracted very sharply. Levels of poverty have increased dramatically, and much of the population is now dependent on food aid.
Basic Economic Facts
GDP: US\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\$3.4bn (2005)
GDP per head: US\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\$1,452
Exchange rate: No national currency. The most commonly used currency is the New Israeli shekel
Major Industries: Small family businesses producing construction materials, textiles and metal goods
Major trading partners: Israel, Jordan
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