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1 1 (January 24, 2024)

handle is hein.crs/goveocs0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service informing the Iegii Thve debate since 1914 Updated January 24, 2024 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 new 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 have returned to the forefront. Post-conflict governance in Gaza is one crucial question, along with potentially interrelated developments regarding political outcomes in the West Bank, the status of Jerusalem, risks of a broader regional war with Iran and its allies, and Israel's efforts to improve its security and relations with Arab states. Successive U.S. Presidents and Congresses have helped shape Palestinian issues, including through humanitarian, economic, and non-lethal security assistance for Palestinians. Since the mid-1990s, U.S. officials have sought to actively facilitate a negotiated Israeli-Palestinian peace. Most U.S. administrations since the early 2000s have voiced support for an eventual independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, with a capital in East Jerusalem (and President Trump's 2020 plan arguably allowed for a variation on the idea). The ongoing conflict has resulted in more than 1,200 Israeli and 25,000 Palestinian casualties, with some 130 hostages reportedly held (as of late January 2024) by Hamas or other militants in Gaza. As Israel seeks to recover hostages and eliminate Hamas's military and governing capabilities, life has been upended for Gaza's citizens-with around 75% displaced, and most facing threats from the fighting, overcrowding in southern Gaza, and acute shortages of food, water, and medical care. While U.S. officials have supported Israel's operations against Hamas, they have urged Israel to minimize threats to civilians and increase humanitarian access. Beyond the immediate crisis, questions surround when and how the conflict might end or abate and who will control security and governance. U.S. officials support the idea of a revamped Palestinian Authority (PA)-which currently exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank-returning to power in Gaza, despite public opposition from Israeli officials and PA insistence that any return be linked with progress toward a two-state solution. Hamas forcibly seized Gaza from the PA in 2007. Overview: Population, Politics, and Economy About 3.2 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 1.9 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 U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)-funded mostly by voluntary contributions from the United States and other countries- is mandated by the U.N. General Assembly to provide protection and essential services to these registered Palestinian refugees, including health care, education, and housing assistance. 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 represents Palestinians internationally. Hamas has not accepted PLO recognition of Israel and constitutes the main opposition to Fatah. The United States and other Western countries have generally sought to bolster the Fatah-led PA vis-a-vis Hamas and support PA-Israel cooperation. The economy in the West Bank faces challenges related to unrest and violence, as well as considerable Israeli movement, access, and land use restrictions. Tirm ine of Key Events Since 1993 1993-1995 Israel-PLO mutual recognition, and their establishment of the PA with limited self-rule (subject to overall Israeli control) in the Gaza Strip and specified areas of the West Bank. 2000-2005 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. 2004-2005 PLO Chairman/PA President Yasser Arafat dies; Mahmoud Abbas succeeds him. 2005 Israel unilaterally disengages from Gaza, but remains in control of airspace and land/maritime access points.

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