# State of Palestine

By [MIlena](https://paragraph.com/@milena-2) · 2024-01-17

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**Palestine** ([Arabic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_language): فلسطين, [romanized](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanization_of_Arabic): _Filasṭīn_[\[d\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Palestine#cite_note-18)), [officially](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_status_of_the_State_of_Palestine) the **State of Palestine** (دولة فلسطين, _Dawlat Filasṭīn_),[\[e\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Palestine#cite_note-naming-22) is a state in the [Southern Levant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Levant) region of [West Asia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Asia). Founded on 15 November 1988 and officially governed by the [Palestine Liberation Organization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine_Liberation_Organization) (PLO), it claims the [West Bank](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bank) (including [East Jerusalem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Jerusalem)) and the [Gaza Strip](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_Strip) as its territory, all of which has been [Israeli-occupied territories](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli-occupied_territories) since the 1967 [Six-Day War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-Day_War).[\[6\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Palestine#cite_note-Limitations-9)[\[18\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Palestine#cite_note-23) The West Bank contains 165 [Palestinian enclaves](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_enclaves) that are under partial [Palestinian rule](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_National_Authority), but the remainder, including 200 [Israeli settlements](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_settlement), is under [full Israeli control](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_C_\(West_Bank\)). The Gaza Strip was [governed by Egypt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_the_Gaza_Strip_by_the_United_Arab_Republic) but conquered by Israel in 1967. Israel governed the region until it [withdrew in 2005](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_disengagement_from_Gaza). [Hamas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas) [seized power](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gaza_\(2007\)) after winning the [2006 Palestinian legislative election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Palestinian_legislative_election). The Gaza Strip has since been [blockaded by Israel and Egypt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockade_of_the_Gaza_Strip).[\[c\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Palestine#cite_note-control-7)

After [World War II](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II), in 1947, the [United Nations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations) (UN) adopted a [Partition Plan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Partition_Plan_for_Palestine) for [Mandatory Palestine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandatory_Palestine), which recommended the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an [internationalized Jerusalem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_separatum_\(Jerusalem\)).[\[27\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Palestine#cite_note-181\(II\)-32) This Partition Plan was accepted by the [Jews](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yishuv) but rejected by the [Arabs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinians). Immediately after the [United Nations General Assembly](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_General_Assembly) adopted the plan as Resolution 181, [a civil war broke out](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1947%E2%80%931948_civil_war_in_Mandatory_Palestine) in Palestine,[\[28\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Palestine#cite_note-Britannica2002-33) and the plan was not implemented.[\[29\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Palestine#cite_note-Galnoor1995-34) The day after the [establishment of the State of Israel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_Declaration_of_Independence) on 14 May 1948,[\[30\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Palestine#cite_note-35)[\[31\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Palestine#cite_note-36)[\[32\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Palestine#cite_note-37) neighboring Arab countries invaded the former British Mandate and engaged Israeli forces in the [1948 Arab–Israeli War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Arab%E2%80%93Israeli_War).[\[33\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Palestine#cite_note-38)[\[34\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Palestine#cite_note-39) Later, the [All-Palestine Government](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-Palestine_Government) was established by the [Arab League](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_League) on 22 September 1948 to govern the [All-Palestine Protectorate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-Palestine_Protectorate) in the [Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_the_Gaza_Strip_by_the_United_Arab_Republic). It was soon recognized by all Arab League members except [Transjordan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan), which had occupied and later [annexed the West Bank](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordanian_annexation_of_the_West_Bank), including [East Jerusalem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Jerusalem). Palestine is currently [recognized by 138 of the 193 United Nations (UN) member states](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_recognition_of_the_State_of_Palestine). Though jurisdiction of the All-Palestine Government was declared to cover the whole of the former Mandatory Palestine, its effective jurisdiction was limited to the Gaza Strip.[\[35\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Palestine#cite_note-gelber177-40) During the Six-Day War in June 1967, [Israel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel) captured the Gaza Strip and the [Sinai Peninsula](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinai_Peninsula) from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the [Golan Heights](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golan_Heights) from [Syria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syria).

On 15 November 1988 in [Algiers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algiers), [Yasser Arafat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasser_Arafat), as Chairman of the PLO, issued the [Palestinian Declaration of Independence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_Declaration_of_Independence), which established the State of Palestine. A year after the signing of the [Oslo Accords](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oslo_Accords) in 1993, the [Palestinian National Authority](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_National_Authority) (PNA) was formed to govern (in varying degrees) [areas A and B](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_enclaves) in the West Bank, comprising 165 enclaves, and the [Gaza Strip](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_Strip). After Hamas became the [PNA parliament](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_Legislative_Council)'s leading party in the most recent elections (2006), [a conflict broke out](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gaza_\(2007\)) between it and the [Fatah](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatah) party, leading to the Gaza Strip being taken over by Hamas in 2007 (two years after the [Israeli disengagement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_disengagement_from_Gaza)).

The State of Palestine's mid-year population in 2021 was 5,227,193. Although Palestine claims [Jerusalem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem) as its capital, the city is under the control of Israel; both Palestinian and Israeli claims to the city are [mostly unrecognized by the international community](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Status_of_Jerusalem). Palestine is a member of the [Arab League](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_League), the [Organisation of Islamic Cooperation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organisation_of_Islamic_Cooperation), the [G77](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_of_77), the [International Olympic Committee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Olympic_Committee), as well as [UNESCO](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNESCO), [UNCTAD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Conference_on_Trade_and_Development) and the [International Criminal Court](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Criminal_Court).[\[36\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Palestine#cite_note-41) Following a [failed attempt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine_194) in 2011 to secure full United Nations member state status, the United Nations General Assembly voted in 2012 to recognize Palestine as a [non-member observer state](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_General_Assembly_observers).[\[37\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Palestine#cite_note-UNStatehoodBid2012accepted-42)[\[38\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Palestine#cite_note-Charbonneau-43)[\[39\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Palestine#cite_note-Lederer-44)

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*Originally published on [MIlena](https://paragraph.com/@milena-2/state-of-palestine)*