West Bank/Gaza (Occupied Palestinian Territories) Information
Location
The Occupied Palestinian Territories-also
known as Palestine-comprise the West Bank, including East
Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. These territories have remained
under Israeli military occupation since the 1967 Middle
East War. The West Bank, surrounded by Israel on three sides,
refers to the western bank of the Jordan River, which forms
the border between the West Bank, and Jordan to the east.
The Gaza Strip is a narrow strip of land along the Mediterranean
Sea, bordered by Egypt to the south, and Israel on three
sides.
The cities, towns, villages, and refugee camps of the West
Bank and Gaza Strip have been divided into isolated enclaves
by Israeli military checkpoints, fences, settlements, and
closed areas. Palestinian civilians are generally prevented
from traveling between towns in the West Bank and Gaza.
East Jerusalem was effectively annexed by Israel in 1980.
Neither the United States nor the United Nations recognizes
this annexation as legal.
Weather
The West Bank and Gaza have hot summers and mild or temperate
winters. In the heights of the West Bank, where elevation
can reach 1000 meters, summer days can be pleasantly hot
and dry with evenings on the cool side. In the West Bank's
Jordan River Valley and along the shore of the Dead Sea,
which is located below sea level, the weather is hotter
and dryer than in the heights of Jerusalem, Ramallah, Bethlehem,
and Hebron. It is not very unusual for the high areas to
have occasional dustings of snow in winter.
In the Gaza Strip, summers are hot and humid, with mild,
rainy winters. Rain usually does not fall in Palestine between
April and October.
People
Palestine has a population of 3.3 million, of which 2.1
million live in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem)
and 1.2 million in the Gaza Strip. Of the total, almost
1.5 million are refugees, of which over 800,000 live in
27 refugee camps scattered through the country. Palestinians
are Arabs, and predominantly Sunni Muslim, although there
are significant Christian communities of Orthodox and Catholics.
The vast majority of Palestinians in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip, whether refugees or not, are stateless. More
than 50% of Palestine's population is aged 15 or younger,
and the country has the highest birth rate in the region.
The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated areas
in the world.
Most Palestinians in West Bank towns currently live under
recurrent periods of 24-hour military curfew.
Currency
Currencies used in Palestine include the Israeli Shekel
and, to a lesser extent, the Jordanian Dinar and the U.S.
dollar. Egyptian pounds are sometimes used in Gaza. Money
can be changed freely throughout the country.
Economy
The Palestinian economy has been devastated by the violence
of recent years. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau
of Statistics, at the beginning of 2002, 66.5% of Palestinian
households were estimated to be living below the poverty
line, with 84.6% of Gazan households living in poverty.
Adjusted unemployment in the spring of 2002 reached approximately
50%. The economy is on the verge of a total collapse.
Humanitarian Issues
According to the United Nations Special Co-ordinator (UNSCO),
the deepening man-made humanitarian crisis is characterized
by plummeting living conditions, malnutrition, anemia, and
hundreds of thousands of Palestinians made dependent upon
food assistance. Rates of moderate or severe malnutrition
among children and pregnant women in Gaza are on par with
Zimbabwe and Congo. Curfews, closures, and sieges have made
it difficult for local authorities to implement vaccine
programs and monitor vaccine-preventable diseases. According
to UNSCO, the psychosocial consequences of the disaster
will be long-term on a population that lacks work, hope,
and future prospects.
Education Issues
UNICEF reported in October 2002 that more than 200,000
Palestinian schoolchildren are prevented from attending
school by Israel-imposed restrictions. A full 580 schools
have been closed due to Israeli military curfews, closures
and home confinement. West bank universities have also faced
severe disruptions and millions of dollars of damage to
infrastructure during the past two years. Checkpoints prevent
students and faculty from reaching many campuses, and curfews
prevent universities from registering students, delivering
courses, or administering exams.
Suggested Links
www.visit-palestine.com
www.passia.org
www.miftah.org
www.pna.gov.ps
www.un.org/unrwa
www.palestinemonitor.org
www.hdip.org
www.palestinercs.org/
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