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Background:
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Palestine
is the ancient name of a Middle Eastern
country situated on the eastern coast of
the Mediterranean Sea. Its size has varied
greatly throughout its history and its
exact borders are even now in dispute.
Its
location at the junction of trade routes
linking three continents has meant that it
was a melting pot for religious and
cultural influences. It has also,
unfortunately, been a natural battleground
for the region's powerful states and thus
subject to domination by them, the first
of these being Egypt in the third
millennium BC.
When
Egyptian power began to wane in the 14th
century BC, the country was again invaded:
this time by Hebrews, who were a Semitic
tribe from Mesopotamia, and by Philistines
(from whom the country took its name), an
Indo-European people.
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| Palestine |
Geography |
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The
Jordan River: |
The
Jordan River (Arabic: Nahar al-Urdunn;
Hebrew: Iha-Yarden) is 359km (223 miles)
long and flows from Mount Hermon to the
Dead Sea.
It
drains an area of 16,000 sq km (6000 sq
mi) and flows along the western side of
the Golan Heights to the Sea of Galilee
(also known as Lake Tiberias). After the
1967 Arab-Israeli War, the river was
recognized as the border between Jordan
and Israel and the Israeli-occupied West
Bank.
Because
the river is shallow and follows such a
twisting course, it is not used for
navigation. It is of the greatest
importance, however, for irrigation and
the diversion of its waters for this
purpose and for hydroelectric power is a
matter of continual friction and dispute
between Israel and Jordan.
The
main crossing of the river is on the road
from Jerusalem to Damascus, at the famous
Allenby Bridge
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Topography:
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Palestine
is a country containing a variety of
topographical features. It is easily
divided into four distinct regions. Moving
from the Mediterranean Sea to the east --
in other words from west to east -- one
first encounters the coastal plain, then a
hilly and mountainous area in Galilee,
Samaria and Judaea, next the Jordan River
Valley and finally a plateau in the east.
In the south of the country is the very
dry and inhospitable Negev Desert.
Elevations
within the country range from 395m (1296
ft) below sea level along the shore of the
Dead Sea -- the lowest point on the
earth's surface -- to 1020m (3347 ft) on
the summit of Mount Hebron.
There
are principally two fertile areas: along
the northern Mediterranean coast is the
Plain of Sharon, and north of the Samarian
hills is a valley called the Plain of
Esdraelon. Water is not plentiful and such
little rain as there is falls in the
winter months. The country's main river,
the Jordan, flows south through the Sea of
Galilee (also known as Lake Tiberias, a
large freshwater lake) to the incredibly
salty Dead Sea.
On
the western bank of the River Jordan, the
so-called West Bank is surrounded on the
north, south and west by Israel and on the
east by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
It shares a border with the Dead Sea in
the south east.
The
area of the West Bank is approximately
5860 sq km (2263 sq mi) and it is, for the
most part, under Israeli occupation. The
town of Jericho, however, is administered
by the Palestinian National Authority
(PNA). Along with the Gaza Strip, the West
Bank is set to undergo elections and
negotiations to determine its future
political status.
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| Palestine |
Government |
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Government-over
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Yasser Arafat
is the president of the Palestinian
National Authority (PNA) and the chairman
of the Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO).
The government
of the West Bank has up to now been a dual
one: one part applying to Israeli citizens
and the other to Palestinians. Israelis
are under Israeli law and authority while
Palestinians are ruled by the Civil
Administration, a joint civil and military
bureaucracy, under the Israeli Ministry of
Defence among others.
Jericho and
its surrounding area is independent of
this administration; it is now ruled by
the PNA under Arafat. Up to now,
Palestinian control of Jericho has been
limited to the police, a new school
curriculum and the administration of local
health facilities. In the rest of the West
Bank, Israel retains responsibility for
security and administration.
As a result of
the peace process, the Civil
Administration has limited its concern
primarily to matters directly affecting
the safety and welfare of Israeli
citizens. Under the terms of the accord
signed in Washington in 1993,
responsibility for education and culture,
health, social welfare, direct taxation
and tourism is to be transferred from
Israeli control to Palestinian.
An elected
Palestinian Council will negotiate with
Israel to determine the final status of
the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
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Palestine |
Economy |
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Economy
- overview:
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Following the
Israeli occupation in 1967, the West Bank
economy has been utterly disrupted. From
its traditional agricultural base, the
area has become more and more reliant on
jobs in Israel. Palestinians have gone
into Israel for both skilled and unskilled
work, particularly in the construction
industry. Palestinians have also been
employed in the Arab oil states and income
from those sources accounts for a healthy
infusion of foreign currency into the West
Bank and other areas.
When the
intifada began in 1987, access to jobs in
Israel became less and less sure because
of strikes called by the Palestinian
leaders and because of curfews imposed by
Israel. In need of income and with time on
their hands, Palestinian workers returned
to agriculture -- often rehabilitating and
enlarging their farm lands.
The end of
easy access to employment in Israel for
Palestinians and Israeli employment of
foreigners to replace Palestinians have
resulted in individual hardship and
considerable collective loss. The
situation has been worsened by the sudden
decline in income from the Arab oil
states; Palestinians there lost their jobs
and were often expelled in retaliation for
Arafat's support of Saddam Hussein during
the Gulf War. Direct financial aid from
the oil states to the Palestinians has
also fallen for the same reason.
All these
factors have given rise to a dangerous
level of unemployment which must be
addressed and solved if the Palestinian
state is to attain economic viability.
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