A report on Palestinians, Israel, State of Palestine and East Jerusalem

It is bordered by Jordan and the Dead Sea to the east and by Israel (see Green Line) to the south, west, and north.

The West Bank's borders also include the lands that comprise East Jerusalem.

It has an estimated population of 2,747,943 Palestinians, and over 670,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, of which 220,000 live in East Jerusalem.

Alongside the self-governing Gaza Strip, the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem are claimed by the State of Palestine as its sovereign territory, and thus remain a flashpoint of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, Munaẓẓamat at-Taḥrīr al-Filasṭīniyyah) is a Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establishing Arab unity and statehood over the territory of former Mandatory Palestine, in opposition to the State of Israel.

It is headquartered in the city of Al-Bireh in the West Bank, and is recognized as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people by over 100 countries that it has diplomatic relations with.

As the official recognized government of the de jure State of Palestine, it has enjoyed observer status at the United Nations (UN) since 1974.

In 1988, however, the PLO officially endorsed a two-state solution, contingent on terms such as making East Jerusalem capital of the Palestinian state and giving Palestinians the right of return to land occupied by Palestinians prior to 1948, as well as the right to continue armed struggle until the end of "The Zionist Entity."

The city straddles the Green Line between Israel and the West Bank; both Israelis and Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their capital.

Israel controls the entire city and maintains its primary governmental institutions there while the Palestinian National Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization ultimately foresee it as the seat of power for the State of Palestine.

During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, West Jerusalem was among the areas captured and later annexed by Israel while East Jerusalem, including the Old City, was captured and later annexed by Jordan.

The Palestinian Authority was formed in 1994, pursuant to the Gaza–Jericho Agreement between the PLO and the government of Israel, and was intended to be a five-year interim body.

The remainder of the territories, including Israeli settlements, the Jordan Valley region and bypass roads between Palestinian communities, were to remain under Israeli control ("Area C").

East Jerusalem was excluded from the Accords.

The State of Palestine has become recognized by 138 nations and since November 2012, the United Nations voted to recognize the State of Palestine as a non-member UN observer state.

The Oslo Accords are a pair of agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993; and the Oslo II Accord, signed in Taba, Egypt, in 1995.

They marked the start of the Oslo process, a peace process aimed at achieving a peace treaty based on Resolution 242 and Resolution 338 of the United Nations Security Council, and at fulfilling the "right of the Palestinian people to self-determination".

Bilateral dialogue stems from questions related to the international border between Israel and a future Palestinian state: negotiations for this subject are centred around Israeli settlements, the status of Jerusalem, Israel's maintenance of control over security following the establishment of Palestinian autonomy, and the Palestinian right of return.

While Peres had limited settlement construction at the request of US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, Netanyahu continued construction within existing Israeli settlements, and put forward plans for the construction of a new neighborhood, Har Homa, in East Jerusalem.

Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini (4 / 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), popularly known as Yasser Arafat (, ; محمد ياسر عبد الرحمن عبد الرؤوف عرفات القدوة الحسيني; ياسر عرفات) or by his kunya Abu Ammar (أبو عمار), was a Palestinian political leader.

Opposed to the 1948 creation of the State of Israel, he fought alongside the Muslim Brotherhood during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

Arafat refused, citing his belief in the need for a Palestinian state with Palestinian leadership.

It called for a Palestinian national authority over every part of "liberated" Palestinian territory, which refers to areas captured by Arab forces in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War (present-day West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip).

Israeli-occupied territories are the lands that were captured and occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967.

Despite the dissolution of the military government, and in line with Egyptian demands, the term Occupied Arab Territories had remained in use, referring to the West Bank (including East Jerusalem, which Israel effectively annexed in 1980), the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights.

From 1999 to early 2013, the term "Occupied Palestinian Territory" was used to refer to territories that the interim governing body of the State of Palestine, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), controlled in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Both of these territories were part of Mandate Palestine, and both have populations consisting primarily of Palestinians Arabs, including significant numbers of refugees who fled or were expelled from Israel and territory Israel controlled after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

Prior to hostilities in 1948, Palestine (modern-day West Bank, Gaza Strip and Israel) had been under the Mandate for Palestine control of the British Empire, which captured it from the Ottomans in 1917.

Jordanian forces remained in most positions they held in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Old City.

In 1974, the Arab League decided to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.

The decision forced King Hussein to relinquish his claim to speak for the Palestinian people during peace negotiations and to recognize an independent Palestinian state that is independent of Jordan.