Untitled - Ipam

Welcome to the West Bank!
If we take the political and democratic situation, there are few areas in
the world that can be compared with the West Bank. In the last century
alone, the area was governed by four authorities starting from the Ottoman
Empire, then the British, the Jordanians and, since 1967, the Israelis who
have occupied the West Bank now for over for four decades. The people
of the West Bank have had little or no autonomy during this latter period,
though the Palestinian Authority today has some control over major cities
and villages.
The West Bank is what is left of Palestine, apart from the southern border
strip which is called the Gaza Strip, since the creation of the state of Israel
in 1948. The West Bank forms about a fifth of historical Palestine. The
Palestinian population is a little under 3 million citizens. Most of them
are refugees thrown out from their coastal cities and villages which were
mostly destroyed by the Jewish state after its creation.
These refugees live side by side with the villagers and city dwellers of
the West Bank. The most recognizable cities are Jerusalem , Nablus,
Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Jericho, Tulkarm and Jenin. These cities
suffer from resource shortages as a result of the policies of the subsequent
occupying Israeli state, which has occupied Palestine without taking into
consideration the interests of its people.
During the occupation settlements have been developed on hill tops in
rural areas as well as in different villages and cities around the West
Bank. The settlers who live within these communities now total around
500,000. In many cases the settlers occupy buildings within the city, but
since the settlers are supported by the Israeli army it is impossible for the
Palestinian residents to do anything. Consequently the Palestinians are
defenseless to settler attacks and harassments that occur regularly.
At the same time the Israeli army seizes control over water resources,
depriving Palestinian farmers and people of water in order to benefit the
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