km (landlocked)

Maritime claims: none; landlocked

International disputes: West Bank and Gaza Strip are Israeli occupied
with interim status subject to Israeli/Palestinian negotiations -
final status to be determined

Climate: temperate, temperature and precipitation vary with altitude,
warm to hot summers, cool to mild winters

Terrain: mostly rugged dissected upland, some vegetation in west, but
barren in east

Natural resources: negligible

Land use:
arable land: 27%
permanent crops: 0%
meadows and pastures: 32%
forest and woodland: 1%
other: 40%

Irrigated land: NA sq km

Environment:
current issues: NA
natural hazards: NA
international agreements: NA

Note: landlocked; highlands are main recharge area for Israel's
coastal aquifers; there are 199 Jewish settlements and civilian land
use sites in the West Bank and 25 in East Jerusalem (August 1994 est.)

@West Bank:People

Population: 1,319,991 (July 1995 est.)
note: in addition, there are 122,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank
and 149,000 in East Jerusalem (August 1994 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 46% (female 293,269; male 308,775)
15-64 years: 51% (female 335,193; male 337,722)
65 years and over: 3% (female 25,759; male 19,273) (July 1995 est.)

Population growth rate: 3.5% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 39.83 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate: 4.84 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 29.7 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 71.42 years
male: 69.91 years
female: 73 years (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate: 5.34 children born/woman (1995 est.)

Nationality:
noun: NA
adjective: NA

Ethnic divisions: Palestinian Arab and other 83%, Jewish 17%

Religions: Muslim 75% (predominantly Sunni), Jewish 17%, Christian and
other 8%

Languages: Arabic, Hebrew (spoken by Israeli settlers), English
(widely understood)

Literacy: NA%

Labor force: NA
by occupation: construction 28.2%, agriculture 21.8%, industry 14.5%,
commerce, restaurants, and hotels 12.6%, other services 22.9% (1991)
note: excluding Jewish settlers

@West Bank:Government

Note: Under the Israeli-PLO Declaration of Principles on Interim
Self-Government Arragements ("the DOP"), Israel agreed to transfer
certain powers and responsibilities to the Palestinian Authority