The following is a list of cities administered by the Palestinian National Authority. After the 1995 Interim Agreements, the Palestinian National Authority took control of civil affairs in the West Bank Palestinian enclaves, designated Areas A and B, where most Palestinian population centers are located (and excluding those within the municipal borders of East Jerusalem). Israel Defense Forces are responsible for security in Area B in the West Bank and have full control over localities in Area C.
Following the 2007 rift between the main two Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas, the Palestinian National Authority has been split with the former dominating the Palestinian government in the West Bank and the latter controlling the Gaza Strip.
The Local Government Ministry of the Palestinian National Authority is responsible for granting a town with city or municipality status. However, there is no specific guidelines for a particular locality to achieve the status of Palestinian city. It is mostly judged on the population reaching above 20,000. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) took its latest official census in 2007. [1]
The largest city in the Gaza Strip and all of Palestine is Rafah, and the largest cities in the West Bank are East Jerusalem and Hebron. Some cities form agglomerations with other towns or cities, such as the Bethlehem metropolitan area with Beit Jala and Beit Sahour. Ramallah and al-Bireh also form an agglomeration and are often considered a single city.[ citation needed ]
The following is a list of all Palestinian cities under Ramallah-administration, their governorates, their specific jurisdictions and their populations according to the 2007 census and the 2015 estimate by the PCBS.
Common Name | Arabic Name | Governorate | Jurisdiction | Population (2007 census) [2] | Population (2015 estimate) [3] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Abasan al-Kabira | عبسان الكبيرة | Khan Yunis | Area A | 18,413 | 23,198 |
Abu Dis | أبو ديس | Jerusalem | Area B | 10,782 | 12,385 |
Bani Na'im | بني نعيم | Hebron | Area A, Area B | 20,084 | 25,698 |
Bani Suheila | بني سهيلا | Khan Yunis | Area A | 31,703 | 39,941 |
Beit Hanoun | بيت حانون | North Gaza | Area A | 38,047 | 51,073 |
Beit Jala | بيت جالا | Bethlehem | Area A, Area C [4] | 11,758 | 14,419 |
Beit Lahia | بيت لاهيا | North Gaza | Area A | 64,457 | 86,526 |
Beit Sahour | بيت ساحور | Bethlehem | Area A | 15,367 | 18,165 |
Beit Ummar | بيت اُمّر | Hebron | Area B | 13,548 | 17,335 |
Beitunia | بيتونيا | Ramallah and al-Bireh | Area A | 39,761 | 34,592 |
Bethlehem (Beit Lahm) | بيت لحم | Bethlehem | Area A | 35,266 | 40,983 |
al-Bireh | البيرة | Ramallah and al-Bireh | Area A | 58,202 | 67,540 |
Deir al-Balah | دير البلح | Deir al-Balah | Area A | 54,439 | 70,045 |
ad-Dhahiriya | الظاهرية | Hebron | Area A | 28,776 | 36,820 |
Dura | دوره | Hebron | Area A | 28,268 | 36,170 |
Gaza City (Ghazzah) | غزة | Gaza | Area A | 649,221 | 766,331 |
Halhul | حلحول | Hebron | Area A | 22,128 | 28,313 |
Hebron (al-Khalil) | الخليل | Hebron | Area A, Area B, Area C | 263,146 | 308,750 |
Idhna | إذنا | Hebron | Area B | 19,012 | 24,326 |
Jabalia | جباليا | North Gaza | Area A | 122,998 | 165,110 |
Jenin | جنين | Jenin | Area A | 99,004 | 115,305 |
Jericho (Ariha) | أريحا | Jericho | Area A | 18,346 | 22,609 |
Khan Yunis | خان يونس | Khan Yunis | Area A | 142,637 | 179,701 |
Nablus | نابلس | Nablus | Area A | 216,132 | 239,772 |
Qabatiya | قباطية | Jenin | Area A | 36,197 | 40,282 |
Qalqilya | قلقيليه | Qalqilya | Area A | 41,739 | 50,700 |
Rafah | رفح | Rafah | Area A | 121,774 | 158,414 |
Ramallah | رام الله | Ramallah and al-Bireh | Area A | 97,460 | 104,173 |
Sa'ir | سعير | Hebron | Area B | 18,045 | 23,089 |
as-Samu | السموع | Hebron | Area A | 19,649 | 25,141 |
Surif | صوريف | Hebron | Area B, Area C | 13,648 | 17,535 |
Tubas | طوباس | Jenin | Area A | 26,154 | 30,801 |
Tulkarm | طولكرم | Tulkarm | Area A | 61,300 | 79,114 |
Ya'bad | يعبد | Jenin | Area A | 23,640 | 26,543 |
al-Yamun | اليامون | Jenin | Area A | 26,383 | 30,870 |
Yatta | يطّا | Hebron | Area A | 48,672 | 62,277 |
az-Zawayda | الزوايده | Deir al-Balah | Area A | 16,939 | 21,795 |
Ramallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank or Ramallah Bank, that serves as the de facto administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, 10 km north of Jerusalem, at an average elevation of 872 meters (2,861 ft) above sea level, adjacent to al-Bireh.
The Palestinian territories are the two regions of the former British Mandate for Palestine that have been occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967, namely the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has referred to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as "the Occupied Palestinian Territory", and this term was used as the legal definition by the ICJ in its advisory opinion of July 2004. The term occupied Palestinian territory was used by the United Nations and other international organizations between October 1999 and December 2012 to refer to areas controlled by the Palestinian National Authority, but from 2012, when Palestine was admitted as one of its non-member observer states, the United Nations started using exclusively the name State of Palestine. The European Union (EU) also uses the term "occupied Palestinian territory". The government of Israel and its supporters use the label "disputed territories" instead.
Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in the southern Levant region of West Asia. It encompasses two disconnected territories — the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, collectively known as the Palestinian territories — within the larger region of Palestine. The country shares its borders with Israel to north, west and south, Jordan to the east and Egypt to the southwest. It has a combined land area of 6,020 square kilometres (2,320 sq mi) while its population exceeds five million people. Its proclaimed capital is Jerusalem while Ramallah serves as its administrative center and Rafah is currently its largest city. Arabic is the official language. The majority of Palestinians practice Islam while Christianity also has a significant presence.
Beit Jala is a Palestinian Christian town in the Bethlehem Governorate of Palestine, in the West Bank. Beit Jala is located 10 km (6.2 mi)10 km south of Jerusalem, on the western side of the Hebron road, opposite Bethlehem, at 825 meters (2,707 ft) altitude. In 2017, Beit Jala had 13,484 inhabitants according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. About 80% of the population were Christians and about 20% Muslims.
Beit Hanoun or Beit Hanun is a Palestinian city on the northeast edge of the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 52,237 in 2017. From mid-2007 until late 2023, it was administered by the Hamas administration. Beit Hanoun has been entirely depopulated, and virtually all its structures have either been destroyed or rendered unusable due to extreme damage following the Israel-Hamas war. The remains of Beit Hanoun are located by the Nahal-Hanun stream, 6 kilometers (3.7 mi) away from the Israeli town of Sderot.
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Demographic features of the population of the area commonly described as Palestinian territories includes information on ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of that population.
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Highway 60 or is a south–north intercity road in Israel and the Palestinian West Bank that stretches from Beersheba to Nazareth.
The Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate is one of 16 governorates of Palestine. It covers a large part of the central West Bank, on the northern border of the Jerusalem Governorate. Its district capital or muhfaza (seat) is the city of al-Bireh.
Beit Ummar is a Palestinian town located eleven kilometers northwest of Hebron in the Hebron Governorate of the State of Palestine. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, in 2017, the town had a population of 16,977 inhabitants. Over 4,800 residents of the town are under the age of 18. Since the Second Intifada, unemployment ranges between 60 and 80 percent due mostly to the inability of residents to work in Israel and a depression in the Palestinian economy. A part of the city straddles Road 60 and due to this, several propositions of house demolition have occurred.
Bani Zeid is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate of Palestine, in the north-central West Bank, located 27 kilometers (17 mi) northwest of Ramallah, about 45 kilometers northwest of Jerusalem and about 6 kilometers (3.7 mi) southwest of Salfit. A town of over 6,000 inhabitants, Bani Zeid was founded when the villages of Deir Ghassaneh and Beit Rima merged to form a municipality in 1966 during the Jordanian rule.
Qatanna is a Palestinian town in the central West Bank part of the Jerusalem Governorate, located 12 km. northwest of Jerusalem. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 6,981 inhabitants in 2017. Primary health care for the town is level 2.
Beit Sira is a Palestinian village in the central West Bank, located 22 kilometers west of Ramallah and is a part of the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate. The village is situated along the Green Line. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, around 4,000 dunams of its land became a part of the "No-Man's Land" strip between the north-central West Bank and Israel. Currently Beit Sira's jurisdiction is 3,120 dunams, of which 441 dunams are built-up areas and the remainder is open spaces for future construction or agricultural land.
Tourism in the Palestinian territories is tourism in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. In 2010, 4.6 million people visited the Palestinian territories, compared to 2.6 million in 2009. Of that number, 2.2 million were foreign tourists while 2.7 million were domestic. In the last quarter of 2012 over 150,000 guests stayed in West Bank hotels; 40% were European and 9% were from the United States and Canada. Major travel guides write that "the West Bank is not the easiest place in which to travel but the effort is richly rewarded."
The 2011–2012 Palestinian protests were a series of protests in the Palestinian National Authority and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, staged by various Palestinian groups as part of the wider Arab Spring. The protests were aimed to protest against the Palestinian government, as well as supporting the popular uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Syria. The first phase of protests took place during 2011 and the second phase in 2012.
At-Tira is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the northern West Bank.