Country Information

The population of the West Bank (W) and Gaza Strip (G) is approximately 3.3 million (2002 estimate) including hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers. The population is predominantly Palestinian Arab. Residents are mostly Sunni Muslim (W-75%, G-98.7%); Jewish (W-17%, G-.6%); Christians and others (W-8%, G-.7%).

Political and Economic Environment
Following World War II, the British withdrew their mandate from Palestine, and the UN partitioned the area into Arab and Jewish states, an arrangement rejected by the Arabs. After a series of wars, Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, and East Jerusalem in 1967. In December 1987, a collective Palestinian popular uprising erupted against Israel in the West Bank and Gaza areas. This period of violence is known as the Intifada, or "shaking off."

A process of reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians began with the Madrid Conference in 1991, was followed by the 1993 Oslo Peace Process. However, settlement expansion, continued occupation, and resistance to these conditions stalled the Oslo process. In September 1995, Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization signed the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Palestinian residents of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem chose their first popularly elected government in 1996 that included President Yasir Arafat. In 1997, the Wye River Memorandum was signed, and in 1999 direct negotiations to determine the permanent status of Gaza and West Bank began again. Discussions were derailed as a second Intifada broke out in September 2000 when Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount.

Notable peace initiatives were launched in 2003. In April of 2003, the "Road Map", a plan pieced together by diplomats from the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, was greeted with cautious optimism. The Peace plan quickly lost ground due to renewed violence. In December, the "Geneva Accord", a document drafted and signed by Palestinian and Israeli negotiators acting in private capacities, was put forward and received extensive international attention.

The economy of the Occupied Palestinian Territories relies primarily on agriculture, services, and, to a lesser extent, light manufacturing. Since the outbreak of the al-Aqsa Intifada, GDP growth has plummeted and unemployment has risen to 60 percent due in large part to Israeli restrictions on movement of Palestinians. According to a World Bank report issued in March 2003, the number of poor is nearly two million. It is anticipated that a resource base of 1.2 billion dollars will be required from aid donors for 2004.

Humanitarian Situation
Following the first war in 1948, more than 750,000 Palestinians were displaced and became refugees in neighboring Arab States and in lands now occupied by Israel. Over the last 56 years, the number of Palestinians has grown to approximately 8 million worldwide (over 4 million are registered with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East of whom more than half live in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip).

The humanitarian situation in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip continues to deteriorate. The food program of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees has grown from serving 11,000 to 220,000 families. Care International's 2002 nutrition survey highlighted a number of disturbing statistics. Global Acute Malnutrition for children from 6 to 59 months of age stands at 13.3 percent in the Gaza Strip and 4.3 percent in the West Bank. Global Chronic Malnutrition for the same group is 17.5 percent in Gaza and 7.9 percent in the West Bank.

Approximately 130,000 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are disabled. Medical relief organizations have estimated that approximately one-sixth of the 10,600 Palestinians injured during the "al-Aqsa Intifada" would be disabled permanently. Some Palestinian institutions care for and train disabled persons; however, their efforts are chronically under-funded. Many Palestinians with disabilities are segregated and isolated from Palestinian society; they are discriminated against in most spheres, including education, employment, transportation, and access to public buildings and facilities.

Prolonged closures affect students' ability to attend school and university. In areas under curfew, classes are cancelled. Furthermore, teachers were unable to reach their schools in different villages and towns, and university students were unable to travel between Gaza and the West Bank due to the closure of the safe passage route.

Future Outlook and RI's Role
Refugees International completed its first humanitarian assessment mission to the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza in 2002. In early 2003, RI highlighted that Israel, as the Occupying Power, bears primary responsibility for the current humanitarian situation. Under the Geneva Convention (IV) Relative to the Protection of Civilians Persons in Time of War, Israel is responsible using all the means at its disposal to meet the basic food, health, and education needs of the Palestinian civilian population. RI called on the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to take concrete measures to protect Palestinian civilians, and in particular to bring pressure to bear on the Government of Israel to comply with the applicable provisions of the Convention.

RI returned to the region in September 2003 and recommended the immediate halt of construction on the barrier to fully explore alternatives to ending Palestinian attacks within Israel, alternatives that are compatible with its obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law. RI also carried out an initial assessment of the situation for the Bedouin population of the Negev.

Updated January 2004