Palestine

Palestine is a state in the Southern Levant made up of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, two territories held by Israel since 1967. The West Bank borders Jordan along the Jordan River, while Gaza lies on the Mediterranean next to Egypt; together they cover 6,020 km² (2,320 sq mi). Its proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, Ramallah is the seat of government, and Arabic is the official language.

Britain took the region from the Ottoman Empire during World War I and governed it under a League of Nations mandate. The United Nations proposed partition in 1947, and Israel was established in 1948. Israel took the West Bank from Jordan and Gaza from Egypt in 1967. The Palestine Liberation Organization declared independence in 1988 and signed the Oslo Accords in 1993, which set up the Palestinian Authority. Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005.

The state has a semi-presidential system tied to the PLO and the Palestinian Authority, and since 2012 it has held non-member observer status at the United Nations. Services are the largest part of the economy, followed by trade, manufacturing and farming, and foreign aid and money from the diaspora support the economy. Olives cover about half of the cultivated land, and quarries produce the bricks and tiles known as Jerusalem stone. Most payments are made in Israeli shekels, and the Jordanian dinar also circulates in the West Bank.

The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, built under Constantine the Great and dedicated in 339, became the first UNESCO World Heritage Site listed under Palestine in 2012. In 2023 the ancient mound of Tell es-Sultan at Jericho, settled from about 9000 BCE, joined the list. Palestinian embroidery, whose patterns show a woman's home town and status, was added to the UNESCO intangible heritage list in 2021.