Palestinian territories

This article deals with the Palestinian autonomous territories, which are not congruent with the state of Palestine or the Israeli-occupied territories.

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The Palestinian Territories (Arabic الأراضي الفلسطينية, DMG al-arāḍī al-filasṭīniyya 'Palestinian Territories'), located in the Near East between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, consist of the Gaza Strip and 40 percent of the West Bank. The territorial status was agreed in the 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip between Israel and the PLO, whereby the areas without autonomy ('C areas') were also to be gradually transformed into autonomous areas within five years. However, this has not yet happened. The Palestinian Authority claims the entire West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The autonomous territories were long ruled by factions of the PLO under Yasser Arafat. Following an electoral victory by the radical Islamic Hamas in 2006, a subsequent fragile unity government with Fatah, and the battle for Gaza in June 2007, the Palestinian territories are de facto divided in two. In Gaza, a de facto regime by Hamas ruled until 2014, while the parts of the West Bank under Palestinian control were run by a Fatah government. Following a series of reconciliation agreements, a unity government was formally formed in June 2014, but this also remained fragile (see also Fatah-Hamas conflict).

Of the 193 member states of the United Nations, 138 recognize the state of Palestine proclaimed by the PLO in 1988. This status is not recognised by Israel, the USA and other, mainly Western, states. On October 31, 2011, Palestine became a member of UNESCO. On 29 November 2012, it attained United Nations observer status (non-member observer state), which is considered a precursor to full membership. This was the first time the United Nations spoke of a "state" in relation to the PLO delegation.

Possible necessary steps towards a two-state solution were set out in the so-called Roadmap in 2003, but were not sufficiently pushed by either side. Despite repeated efforts by the Middle East Quartet, peace with Israel and the associated transfer of the autonomous territories to an internationally recognized, economically viable state of Palestine has repeatedly failed, most recently in April 2014 (see Middle East conflict).

Geography

The West Bank, as a result of the 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip, was divided into three zones (A: 18%, B: 20%, and C: 62% of the West Bank area), in each of which the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Israeli military have different powers. The A areas were placed under PA control and consist of the larger cities. The B areas are composed primarily of rural communities and villages. Here the Palestinians have administrative control and Israel has security control. The C area is under Israeli control both civilly and in security matters and consists mainly of sparsely populated rural areas, Palestinian villages and Israeli settlements.

The autonomous territories consist of several settlement areas in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, separated from each other by the C Area. In addition to Israel and Israeli-occupied areas of the West Bank, they border Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea in the Gaza Strip. The interim agreement provides for the gradual transfer of Zone C territories to Palestinian autonomy, with exceptions yet to be negotiated. No agreement has yet been reached on final status and territorial allocation. Largely within Zone C, Israel has established a fortified perimeter.

Designations

In diplomatic dealings with the Palestinian government, Germany uses the term Palestinian territories for the territory of the autonomous authority. However, because the Israeli-occupied territories in the West Bank and East Jerusalem continue to be seen by the UN as part of the Palestinian Territories, this term also includes areas over which the PA does not exercise direct influence (Zone C, see Geography section). Switzerland uses the term Occupied Palestinian Territory for this in the official context. Austria uses the term Palestine.


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