Outline of Palestine

Last updated July 31, 2025

The Palestinian Flag

The Coat of arms of Palestine

A map of the Palestine with the West Bank and Gaza Strip highlighted in red LocationPalestine.svg — A map of the Palestine with the West Bank and Gaza Strip highlighted in red

An enlargeable map of the West Bank Westbankjan06.jpg — An enlargeable map of the West Bank

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Palestine:

State of Palestine – a country in the Middle East, politically under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian government and the Hamas Government in Gaza. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988 and the consequent admission into UN as an observer state in 2012, Palestine is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries.^[1] Its proclaimed capital is East Jerusalem, and Ramallah is its administrative center. Although recently promoted to a non-member state status in the UN, Palestine does not exert full control of its territory and has historically turbulent relations with Israel and much of the west.

General reference

Pronunciation: /ˈpælɪstaɪn/ PAL-ist-eyen
Common English country names: Palestine; State of Palestine; Palestinian territories
Official English country name: U.S. State Department: Palestinian Territories ; E.U. ISO 3166-2: Palestine, State of ; UN-affiliated organizations: Palestine, State of
Common endonym(s): Filasṭīn (Arabic : فلسطين, also transliterated Falasṭīn and Filisṭīn)
Official endonym(s): Dawlat Filasṭīn (Arabic: دولة فلسطين)
Adjectival(s): Palestinian
Demonym(s): Palestinian people (aš-šaʿb al-filasṭīnīy), Palestinians (al-filasṭīnīyūn) or Palestinian Arabs (al-ʿarab al-Filasṭīnīyūn)
Etymology: Timeline of the name Palestine, Place names in Palestine
ISO country codes: PS, PSE, 275
ISO region codes: See ISO 3166-2:PS
Internet country code top-level domain: .ps

Geography of Palestine

Palestine location:
- Northern Hemisphere and Eastern Hemisphere
- Eurasia
  - Asia
    - Southwest Asia
      - Middle East
- Time zone: UTC+02, summer UTC+03
- Extreme points of Palestine
  - High: Mount Nabi Yunis 1,030 m (3,379 ft)
  - Low: Dead Sea −412 m (−1,352 ft) – lowest point on the surface of the Earth
- Land boundaries: Officially undefined, figures given are the de facto boundaries of the Green Line as they apply to the West Bank and Gaza Strip (See also Israeli West Bank barrier, Israeli Gaza Strip barrier and the Seam Zone)

Total: 466 km (290 mi)

Israel 358 km (222 mi)

Jordan 97 km (60 mi)

Egypt 11 km (6.8 mi)

Coastline (Gaza Strip): 40 km (25 mi)
Coastline (West Bank): 0 km (0 mi)

Note: West Bank includes the northern portion of the Dead Sea with a 40 km (25 mi) shoreline.

Population of Palestine:
- Palestinian population worldwide, including diaspora: est. 10,000,000 - 11,000,000
- Population of Palestine: est. 3,800,000
Area of Palestine:
- Palestine (post-2013): claimed area 6,220 km² (2,400 sq mi) (de facto control of 2,488 km² (961 sq mi)); The West Bank (including East Jerusalem) is (5,860 km² (2,260 sq mi) and the Gaza Strip is 360 km² (140 sq mi)
Atlas of Palestine

Environment of Palestine

The Dead Sea on a rough day, with salt deposits on cliffs DeadSea3667.jpg — The Dead Sea on a rough day, with salt deposits on cliffs

Colored postcard of the Jordan River by Karimeh Abbud circa 1925. Abbud24C.jpg — Colored postcard of the Jordan River by Karimeh Abbud circa 1925.

Natural geographic features of Palestine

Regions of Palestine

Government and politics of Palestine

Form of government: semi-presidential parliamentary democracy ^[2]

Capital of Palestine:
- Proclaimed capital: East Jerusalem (also proclaimed by Israel)
- de facto capital: Ramallah
Elections in Palestine
Palestinian government
- Palestinian government of 2013
- Palestinian unity government of 2014
List of political parties in Palestine
- Political parties of the PLO
Taxation in Palestine

Branches of the government of Palestine

- President of Palestine: Mahmoud Abbas
- Prime Minister of Palestine: Rami Hamdallah
NB. As a result of the Fatah-Hamas conflict, there is a dispute over the Presidency and Prime Ministership of Palestine.
- Ministries of Palestine

Legislative branches of the government of Palestine

Palestinian Legislative Council (Palestine, unicameral)
Palestinian National Council (PLO, unicameral, parliament-in-exile ^[3])

Judicial branch of the government of Palestine

According to the Constitution of Palestine, all courts relating to the country shall be independent.

Local governance in Palestine

Local governance in Palestine
Mukataa

Foreign relations of Palestine

Foreign relations of Palestine
Diplomatic missions in Palestine
List of diplomatic missions of Palestine

Palestine and the United Nations

International organization membership

Palestine is a member in a number of international organizations. In others, it enjoys affiliation in a lesser capacity or under another designation (such as PLO or Palestinian National Authority). In the list below, if the membership is not full or not for Palestine, the type and name of affiliation is denoted in parentheses.

Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD)
Arab League (AL)
Arab Monetary Fund (AMF)
Council of Arab Economic Unity (CAEU)
FIFA (Asian Football Confederation (AFC)
Group of 77 (G77)
International Olympic Committee (IOC)
International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) ( affiliate member )
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) (non-voting observer status)
International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
International Paralympic Committee (IPC)
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
Islamic Development Bank (IDC)
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)
United Nations (UN) (observer)
- Asian Group of the United Nations
- United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UNESCWA)
UNESCO
UNIDO
Universal Postal Union (UPU)
World Health Organization (WHO) (observer status) (see also: [Palestine's application to the WHO]])
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
OPCW
ICC
Interpol
UNCTAD
UNICEF
IPU

International aid to Palestine

International aid to Palestinians

International solidarity movements

Palestinian solidarity organizations

Law and order in Palestine

Palestinian Law

Military of Palestine

Command
- Commander-in-chief: N/A
  - Ministry of Defense of Palestine: N/A
Forces
- Army of Palestine: N/A
- Navy of Palestine: N/A
- Air Force of Palestine: N/A
- Special forces of Palestine:
Military history of Palestine
- Arab Liberation Army
- Army of the Holy War
Military ranks of Palestine: N/A

Paramilitary forces of Palestine

Palestinian National Security Forces

Preventive Security Force

Irregular Palestinian forces

Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades (armed wing affiliated with Fatah )
al-Quds Brigades (armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad )
Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades (armed wing of Hamas )
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC) (armed wing of the PFLP )
Popular Resistance Committees
Palestinian domestic weapons production

International civilian organizations in Palestine

History of Palestine

Palestinian culture

The ruins of Khirbet al-Mafjar, an Umayyad era palace in Jericho, West Bank Jerycho5.jpg — The ruins of Khirbet al-Mafjar, an Umayyad era palace in Jericho, West Bank

Art in Palestine

Sports in Palestine

Sport in Palestine

Economy and infrastructure of Palestine

Economy of Palestine
- Economy of Gaza

Healthcare in Palestine

Health care in Palestine

Housing in Palestine

Housing in Palestine
- House demolition in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
- Palestinian refugee camps

Education in Palestine

The amphitheatre of An-Najah National University overlooking the city of Nablus, West Bank Najah.JPG — The amphitheatre of An-Najah National University overlooking the city of Nablus, West Bank

Education in Palestine
Education Ministry
Universities and colleges of Palestine
- Student organizations in Palestine
- Student organizations supporting Palestine
  - Palestinian cultural club
  - Palestine Solidarity Movement
  - Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights

Books on Palestine

Correcting a Mistake: Jews and Arabs in Palestine/Israel, 1936-1956
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine
Palestine (comics)
Palestine Peace Not Apartheid
Underground to Palestine

References

↑ "Note that the term Palestine has historically referred to the region which today incorporates Israel as well as the Palestinian territories. The current position was expressed by Mahmoud Abbas in his September 2011 speech to the United Nations: 'When we adopted this program, we were taking a painful and very difficult step for all of us, especially those, including myself, who were forced to leave their homes and their towns and villages, carrying only some of our belongings and our grief and our memories and the keys of our homes to the camps of exile and the Diaspora in the 1948 Al-Nakba, one of the worst operations of uprooting, destruction and removal of a vibrant and cohesive society that had been contributing in a pioneering and leading way in the cultural, educational and economic renaissance of the Arab Middle East. Yet, because we believe in peace and because of our conviction in international legitimacy, and because we had the courage to make difficult decisions for our people, and in the absence of absolute justice, we decided to adopt the path of relative justice – justice that is possible and could correct part of the grave historical injustice committed against our people. Thus, we agreed to establish the State of Palestine on only 22% of the territory of historical Palestine – on all the Palestinian Territory occupied by Israel in 1967.'"
↑ Martijn Schoonvelde (26 June 2009). "Palestinian Territories". Archived from the original on 3 June 2009. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
↑ Sela and Ma'oz, 1997, p. 16.

Bibliography

Roberto Remo Bissio, ed. (1995). The world: a Third World guide 1995-96 (Illustrated ed.). Instituto del Tercer Mundo. ISBN 9780855982911.
Milton-Edwards, Beverley (2008), The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A People's War (Illustrated ed.), Taylor & Francis, ISBN 9780415410434
Kogan Page (2004). Middle East Review (27th, illustrated ed.). Kogan Page Publishers. ISBN 9780749440664.
Said, Edward W.; Hitchens, Christopher (2001), Blaming the victims: spurious scholarship and the Palestinian question (2nd, illustrated ed.), Verso, ISBN 9781859843406
Sela, Avraham; Ma'oz, Moshe (1997), The PLO and Israel: from armed conflict to political solution, 1964-1994 (Illustrated ed.), Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 9780312129064

External links

Wikimedia Atlas of Palestine

Maps

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[1] "Note that the term Palestine has historically referred to the region which today incorporates Israel as well as the Palestinian territories. The current position was expressed by Mahmoud Abbas in his September 2011 speech to the United Nations: 'When we adopted this program, we were taking a painful and very difficult step for all of us, especially those, including myself, who were forced to leave their homes and their towns and villages, carrying only some of our belongings and our grief and our memories and the keys of our homes to the camps of exile and the Diaspora in the 1948 Al-Nakba, one of the worst operations of uprooting, destruction and removal of a vibrant and cohesive society that had been contributing in a pioneering and leading way in the cultural, educational and economic renaissance of the Arab Middle East. Yet, because we believe in peace and because of our conviction in international legitimacy, and because we had the courage to make difficult decisions for our people, and in the absence of absolute justice, we decided to adopt the path of relative justice – justice that is possible and could correct part of the grave historical injustice committed against our people. Thus, we agreed to establish the State of Palestine on only 22% of the territory of historical Palestine – on all the Palestinian Territory occupied by Israel in 1967.'"

[EF-2] Martijn Schoonvelde (26 June 2009). "Palestinian Territories". Archived from the original on 3 June 2009. Retrieved 26 July 2009.

[Selap16-3] Sela and Ma'oz, 1997, p. 16.

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