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                                                                                            Updated  November  20, 2020

The Palestinians: Overview and Key Issues for U.S. Policy


The  Palestinians and their ongoing disputes and interactions
with Israel raise significant issues for U.S. policy (see Key
U.S. Policy Issues below). During the Trump
Administration, U.S.-Palestinian tensions have risen in
connection with U.S. actions generally seen as favoring
Israel. In 2020, Palestinian leaders lamented some Arab
states' normalization of relations with Israel because it
could undermine  past Arab efforts to link such
improvements   with addressing Palestinian negotiating
demands.  Within a complicated legal and political context,
U.S. aid to the Palestinians was reduced in 2018 and
suspended  in early 2019; its future is unclear.
The Palestinians are an Arab people whose origins are in
present-day Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. Fatah, an
Arab nationalist faction, is the driving force within the
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which represents
Palestinians internationally. The Sunni Islamist group
Hamas  (a U.S.-designated terrorist organization) has not
accepted PLO  recognition of Israel and constitutes the main
opposition to Fatah.


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Source: Economist Intelligence Unit.
Note: West Bank and Gaza Strip borders remain subject to Israeli-
Palestinian negotiation.
Of the approximately  12.4 million Palestinians worldwide,
about 4.8 million (98% Sunni Muslim,  1%  Christian) live in
the West Bank  and Gaza. About  1.5 million additional
Palestinians are citizens of Israel, and 6.1 million more live
elsewhere. Of the total Palestinian population, around 5.4
million (roughly 44%) are refugees (registered 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 U.N. Relief and Works Agency  for
Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)   provides
health care, education, and housing assistance to Palestinian
refugees.


International attention to the Palestinians' situation
increased after Israel's military gained control over the
West  Bank and Gaza  in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Direct
U.S. engagement  with Palestinians in the West Bank and
Gaza  dates from the establishment of the Palestinian
Authority (PA) in 1994. For the past several years, other
regional political and security issues have taken some of the
global attention from Palestinian issues.
'nmeA  ,e  of Key  EvnsSnei993
1993-1995         Israel and the PLO mutually recognize each
                  other and establish the PA, which has limited
                  self-rule (subject to overall Israeli control) in
                  the Gaza Strip and specified areas of the
                  West Bank.


2000-2005




2004-2005


2005



2006




2007


Second Palestinian intifada affects prospects
for Israeli-Palestinian peace, leads to
tightened Israeli security in the West Bank,
and complicates the U.S. third-party role.
PLO  Chairman/PA President Yasser Arafat
dies; Mahmoud Abbas succeeds him.
Israel unilaterally disengages from Gaza, but
remains in control of airspace and
land/maritime access points.
Hamas  wins majority in Palestinian Legislative
Council and leads new PA cabinet; Israel,
United States, and European Union confine
relations to PA President Abbas.
West  Bank-Gaza split: Hamas seizes control
of Gaza Strip; Abbas reorganizes PA cabinet
to lead West Bank; this remains the status
quo to date.


2007-present     Various rounds of U.S.-brokered Israeli-
                  Palestinian peace negotiations (the last in
                  2013-2014) end unsuccessfully; PLO/PA
                  increases efforts to gain membership in or
                  support from international organizations.


2017-2020


2020


U.S.-Palestinian tensions rise in connection
with various Trump Administration actions
(see Key U.S. Policy Issues below).
In moves opposed by Palestinian leaders, the
United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain fully
normalize relations with Israel, and Sudan
announces steps in that direction.


The PA  held occasional elections for president and a
legislative council until the Hamas victory in the 2006
legislative elections. Since then, it has ruled by presidential
decree, and some NGOs   have criticized its actions on rule


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