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1 [1] (April 15, 2025)

handle is hein.crs/psovwad0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Servce Inforrning the legislative debate since 1914 0 Updated April 15, 2025 The Palestinians: Overview, Aid, and U.S. Policy Issues The Palestinians are an Arab people whose origins are in present-day Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. The October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel-led by the Iran-backed Sunni Islamist group Hamas (a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization)-and subsequent conflict in Gaza have raised challenges for U.S. policy in the region. Palestinian issues that had arguably faded as a priority since the 2010s for the United States and many Arab states became prominent again. How to end the war and implement a governance and security transition in Gaza are crucial questions, along with potentially interrelated developments regarding political outcomes in the West Bank, the status of Jerusalem, risks of broader regional war with Iran and its allies, and Israel's efforts to improve its security and relations with Arab states. Successive U.S. Administrations and Congresses have helped shape developments on Palestinian issues. Since the mid-1990s, U.S. officials have sought to facilitate a negotiated Israeli-Palestinian peace. During much of that time, Congress has appropriated bilateral economic and nonlethal security aid in support of stated U.S. goals to assist Palestinian governance, civil society, and economic development, while also appropriating humanitarian aid for Palestinians in the region. The Bush, Obama, and Biden Administrations voiced open support for an eventual independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, with a capital in East Jerusalem. In 2017, President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital (while leaving sovereign boundaries open to negotiation), and in 2020, his first Administration presented a plan to potentially allow for Palestinian statehood under certain conditions. Prospects for a Palestinian state seem unclear amid various regional challenges, resistance from Israeli officials, and questions regarding U.S. policy in early 2025. The Trump Administration appears to have relaxed U.S. scrutiny of the continued or expanded Israeli control and settlement activity in the West Bank that could present obstacles to Palestinian statehood. President Trump also has raised ideas about possible U.S. responsibility for Gaza and its reconstruction, and the potential relocation of Gazans, that have generated debate. Additionally, his Administration's review of U.S. foreign aid has reportedly led to reductions or delays in aid for the West Bank and Gaza. The war in Gaza has reportedly resulted in more than 1,600 Israeli and (according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza) 50,000 Palestinian deaths. Some 59 hostages are reportedly held by Hamas or other militants in Gaza. During the war, a great majority of Gazans have faced displacement, and most continue to face threats from fighting, overcrowding, and/or acute shortages of food, water, and medical care. U.S. officials have provided material support for Israel's operations against Hamas in Gaza, while also seeking to help mediate a ceasefire and hostage releases. Since early March 2025, Israel has https://crsrep prevented new supplies of food and other humanitarian aid from coming into Gaza. The duration and intensity of Israeli military operations and the issue of who manages Gaza's reconstruction, security, and governance remain open questions. Arab and many European states support the return to power in Gaza of the Palestinian Authority (PA)-which currently exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank. Israel has to date publicly rejected renewed rule by the PA, alleging that it has engaged in corruption and supported terrorism, while the PA insists that any return it makes to Gaza be linked with progress toward a two-state solution. Hamas forcibly seized Gaza from the PA in 2007. Overview: Population, Politics, and Economy About 3 million Palestinians live in the West Bank, plus an estimated 2.1 million in Gaza. Around 98% are Sunni Muslim, with a small Christian minority. Another estimated 2 million Palestinians live in Israel as citizens. Of the Palestinians living in the Middle East, about 5.9 million are registered refugees (in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria) whose claims to land in present-day Israel constitute a major issue of Israeli-Palestinian dispute. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)-funded mostly by voluntary contributions from various countries-is mandated by the UN General Assembly to provide protection and services to these registered refugees. The United States has not funded UNRWA since January 2024, when allegations surfaced that some UNRWA staff may have participated in the October 2023 attacks against Israel. u m GaaStrip Source: Economist Intelligence Unit. Note: West Bank and Gaza Strip borders remain subject to Israeli- Palestinian negotiation. Palestinian domestic politics are dominated by two factions. Fatah, a secular Arab nationalist faction, is the driving force within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which ports.congress.go

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