West Bank
none conventional short form: West Bank
West Bank as the 2001 edition of the CIA World Factbook published it: 87 fields, one of 36 editions from 1990 to 2025.
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Introduction
1 fieldBackground
The Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements (the DOP), signed in Washington on 13 September 1993, provided for a transitional period not exceeding five years of Palestinian interim self-government in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Under the DOP, Israel agreed to transfer certain powers and responsibilities to the Palestinian Authority, which includes the Palestinian Legislative Council elected in January 1996, as part of interim self-governing arrangements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
A transfer of powers and responsibilities for the Gaza Strip and Jericho took place pursuant to the Israel-PLO 4 May 1994 Cairo Agreement on the Gaza Strip and the Jericho Area and in additional areas of the West Bank pursuant to the Israel-PLO 28 September 1995 Interim Agreement, the Israel-PLO 15 January 1997 Protocol Concerning Redeployment in Hebron, the Israel-PLO 23 October 1998 Wye River Memorandum, and the 4 September 1999 Sharm el-Sheikh Agreement.
The DOP provides that Israel will retain responsibility during the transitional period for external security and for internal security and public order of settlements and Israeli citizens. Permanent status is to be determined through direct negotiations, which resumed in September 1999 after a three-year hiatus. An intifadah broke out in September 2000; the resulting widespread violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel's military response, and instability in the Palestinian Authority are undermining progress toward a permanent settlement.
Geography
Middle East, west of Jordan
17 fieldsArea
- total:
- 5,860 sq km land: 5,640 sq km water: 220 sq km note: includes West Bank, Latrun Salient, and the northwest quarter of the Dead Sea, but excludes Mt. Scopus;
- East Jerusalem and Jerusalem No Man's Land are also included only as a means of depicting the entire area occupied by Israel in 1967
Climate
temperate, temperature and precipitation vary with altitude, warm to hot summers, cool to mild winters
Land use
arable land: 27% permanent crops: 0% permanent pastures: 32% forests and woodland: 1% other: 40%
Geography - note
- landlocked;
- highlands are main recharge area for Israel's coastal aquifers;
- there are 231 Israeli settlements and civilian land use sites in the West Bank and 29 in East Jerusalem (August 1999 est.)
People
18 fieldsPer 1,000 population(2001 est.)
Age structure
0-14 years: 44.61% (male 478,232; female 454,439) 15-64 years: 51.8% (male 552,661; female 530,230) 65 years and over: 3.59% (male 32,629; female 42,522) (2001 est.)
Sex ratio
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.77 male(s)/female total population: 1.04 male(s)/female (2001 est.)
Life expectancy at birth
total population: 72.28 years male: 70.58 years female: 74.07 years (2001 est.)
Languages
Arabic, Hebrew (spoken by Israeli settlers and many Palestinians), English (widely understood)
Government
1 fieldEconomy
Economic output in the West Bank is governed by the Paris Economic Protocol of April 1994 between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
31 fieldsEconomy - overview
Economic output in the West Bank is governed by the Paris Economic Protocol of April 1994 between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Real per capita GDP for the West Bank and Gaza Strip (WBGS) declined by 36.1% between 1992 and 1996 owing to the combined effect of falling aggregate incomes and rapid population growth.
The downturn in economic activity was largely the result of Israeli closure policies - the imposition of border closures in response to security incidents in Israel - which disrupted established labor and commodity market relationships between Israel and the WBGS. The most serious social effect of this downturn was rising unemployment;
unemployment in the WBGS during the 1980s was generally under 5%; by 1995 it had risen to over 20%. Since 1997 Israel's use of comprehensive closures has decreased and, in 1998, Israel implemented new policies to reduce the impact of closures and other security procedures on the movement of Palestinian goods and labor.
These changes fueled an almost three-year long economic recovery in the West Bank and Gaza Strip; real GDP grew by 5% in 1998 and 6% in 1999. Recovery was upended in the last quarter of 2000 with the outbreak of Palestinian violence, which triggered tight Israeli closures of Palestinian self-rule areas and a severe disruption of trade and labor movements.
GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 9% industry: 28% services: 63% note: includes Gaza Strip (1999 est.)
Budget
revenues: $1.6 billion expenditures: $1.73 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA note: includes Gaza Strip (1999 est.)
Industries
- generally small family businesses that produce cement, textiles, soap, olive-wood carvings, and mother-of-pearl souvenirs;
- the Israelis have established some small-scale, modern industries in the settlements and industrial centers
Electricity - production
- NA kWh;
- note - most electricity imported from Israel;
- East Jerusalem Electric Company buys and distributes electricity to Palestinians in East Jerusalem and its concession in the West Bank;
- the Israel Electric Company directly supplies electricity to most Jewish residents and military facilities;
- at the same time, some Palestinian municipalities, such as Nablus and Janin, generate their own electricity from small power plants
Exchange rates
- new Israeli shekels per US dollar - 4.0810 (December 2000), 4.0773 (2000), 4.1397 (1999), 3.8001 (1998), 3.4494 (1997), 3.1917 (1996);
- Jordanian dinars per US dollar - fixed rate of 0.7090 (from 1996)
Communications
9 fieldsTelephone system
general assessment: NA domestic: NA international: NA note: Israeli company BEZEK and the Palestinian company PALTEL are responsible for communication services in the West Bank
Radio broadcast stations
- AM 1, FM 0, shortwave 0 note:
- the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation broadcasts from an AM station in Ramallah on 675 kHz;
- numerous local, private stations are reported to be in operation (2000)
Transportation
6 fieldsHighways
total: 4,500 km paved: 2,700 km unpaved: 1,800 km (1997 est.) note: Israelis have developed many highways to service Jewish settlements
Airports - with paved runways
total: 3 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 under 914 m: 1 (2000 est.)
Military
NA
3 fieldsTransnational Issues
1 fieldDisputes - international
West Bank and Gaza Strip are Israeli-occupied with current status subject to the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement - permanent status to be determined through further negotiation
Cite this entry
Central Intelligence Agency. “West Bank.” The World Factbook 2001. Archived by The Factbook, thefactbook.org/west-bank/2001.