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Palestinian Territory Country Guide

Explore Palestinian Territory in Asia

Palestinian Territory with the capital city East Jerusalem is located in Asia (Middle East, west of Jordan). It covers some 5,970 square kilometres (slightly smaller than Delaware) with 3,800,000 citizens.

Interactive map of Palestinian Territory

The topography includes mostly rugged dissected upland, some vegetation in west, but barren in east. The average density of population is approximately 637 per km². The notable climate conditions in Palestinian Territory can be described as temperate with temperature and precipitation vary with altitude, warm to hot summers, cool to mild winters. Possible natural disasters include droughts.

To reach someone in Palestinian Territory dial +970 prior to a number. There are 360,400 installed telephones. And there are 2,405,000 registered mobile phones. The cellular networks commonly support frequencies of MHz. Websites registered in this country end with the top level domain ".ps". If you want to bring electric equipment on your trip (e.g. laptop power supply), note the local power outlet of .

About the flag and history of Palestinian Territory

Palestinian Territory Flag Icon

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From the early 16th century through 1917, the area now known as the West Bank fell under Ottoman rule. Following World War I, the Allied powers (France, UK, Russia) allocated the area to the British Mandate of Palestine. After World War II, the UN passed a resolution to establish two states within the Mandate, and designated a territory including what is now known as the West Bank as part of the proposed Arab state. Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War the area was captured by Transjordan (later renamed Jordan). Jordan annexed the West Bank in 1950. In June 1967, Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War. With the exception of East Jerusalem and the former Israeli-Jordanian border zone, the West Bank has remained under Israeli military control. Under a series of agreements signed between 1994 and 1999, Israel transferred to the Palestinian Authority (PA) security and civilian responsibility for many Palestinian-populated areas of the West Bank as well as the Gaza Strip. Negotiations to determine the permanent status of the West Bank and Gaza Strip stalled after the outbreak of an intifada in mid- 2000. In early 2003, the "Quartet" of the US, EU, UN, and Russia, presented a roadmap to a final peace settlement by 2005, calling for two states - Israel and a democratic Palestine. Following Palestinian leader Yasir ARAFAT's death in late 2004 and the subsequent election of Mahmud ABBAS (head of the Fatah political party) as the PA president, Israel and the PA agreed to move the peace process forward. Israel in late 2005 unilaterally withdrew all of its settlers and soldiers and dismantled its military facilities in the Gaza Strip and redeployed its military from several West Bank settlements, but continues to control maritime, airspace, and other access. In early 2006, the Islamic Resistance Movement, HAMAS, won the Palestinian Legislative Council election and took control of the PA government. Attempts to form a unity government failed, and violent clashes between Fatah and HAMAS supporters ensued, culminating in HAMAS's violent seizure of all military and governmental institutions in the Gaza Strip. Fatah and HAMAS in early 2011 agreed to reunify the Gaza Strip and West Bank, but the factions have struggled to implement details on governance and security. The status quo remains with HAMAS in control of the Gaza Strip and the PA governing the West Bank. Since the collapse of direct talks between the Israelis and Palestinians in late 2010, President ABBAS has reaffirmed that he will not resume negotiations until Israel halts all settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

National administrative regions of Palestinian Territory



Geography Quick-Facts

SummaryContinent: Asia
Neighbours: Jordan, Israel
Capital: East Jerusalem
Size5,970 square kilometers (km² or sqkm) or 2,305 square miles (mi² or sqmi)
slightly smaller than Delaware
Population3,800,000
CurrencyName Shekel, Currency Code:ILS
Country Top Level Domain (cTLD).ps
Telephone Country Prefix+970
Mobile Phone Connections2,405,000
Landline Phone Connections360,400

Country Position in World Rankings

Information about single country attributes and how these compare against the rest of the world. The information below is compiled with data from 2013. As such, it may differ a bit to the Information above in the text (which is from 2010).

Geography

Value nameValueWorld Rank
Area5,860 (sq km)172

People and Society

Value nameValueWorld Rank
Population2,676,740 141
Population growth rate2.03 (%)50
Birth rate23.81 (births/1,000 population)65
Death rate3.53 (deaths/1,000 population)212
Maternal mortality rate64.00 (deaths/100,000 live births)94
Infant mortality rate13.98 (deaths/1,000 live births)120
Life expectancy at birth75.46 (years)92
Total fertility rate2.91 (children born/woman)64
Children under the age of 5 years underweight2.20 (%)115
Unemployment, youth ages 15-2438.80 (%)12

Economy

Value nameValueWorld Rank
GDP (purchasing power parity)8,022,000,000 156
GDP - real growth rate5.70 (%)49
GDP - per capita (PPP)2,900 177
Labor force745,600 151
Unemployment rate23.00 (%)170
Taxes and other revenues31.60 (% of GDP)85
Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-)-16.60 (% of GDP)215
Inflation rate (consumer prices)3.50 (%)94
Commercial bank prime lending rate6.79 (%)131
Stock of narrow money132,800,000 182
Stock of broad money6,674,000,000 118
Stock of domestic credit914,900,000 161
Market value of publicly traded shares2,450,000,000 95
Current account balance-2,100,000,000 138
Exports666,100,000 167
Imports4,319,000,000 135
Debt - external1,040,000,000 157

Energy

Value nameValueWorld Rank
Electricity - production470,000,000 (kWh)163
Electricity - consumption4,420,000,000 (kWh)120
Electricity - imports550,000,000 (kWh)75
Electricity - installed generating capacity140,000 (kW)160
Electricity - from fossil fuels100.00 (% of total installed capacity)44
Refined petroleum products - consumption29,310 (bbl/day)117
Refined petroleum products - exports2 (bbl/day)124
Refined petroleum products - imports15,420 (bbl/day)119
Carbon dioxide emissions from consumption of energy3,382,000 (Mt)136

Communications

Value nameValueWorld Rank
Telephones - main lines in use337,000 112
Telephones - mobile cellular2,405,000 132
Internet users1,379,000 88

Transportation

Value nameValueWorld Rank
Airports2 208
Roadways5,147 (km)153

Data based on CIA facts book 2010 & 2013, wikipedia, national statistical offices and their census releases

List of current world heritage sites

NameSince
Birthplace of Jesus: Church of the Nativity and the Pilgrimage Route, Bethlehem
The inscribed property is situated 10 km south of Jerusalem on the site identified by Christian tradition as the birthplace of Jesus since the 2nd century. A church was first completed there in ad 339 and the edifice that replaced it after a fire in ...
2012
Palestine: Land of Olives and Vines – Cultural Landscape of Southern Jerusalem, Battir
This site is located a few kilometres south-west of Jerusalem, in the Central Highlands between Nablus and Hebron. The Battir hill landscape comprises a series of farmed valleys, known as widian, with characteristic stone terraces, some of which are ...
2014