Palestinian Authority

Category: Conflict in the Middle East

Head of State- President Mahmoud Abbas; Prime Minister Salam Fayyad
Form of Government- Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), mixed parliamentary system
Capital City- Ramallah
Population- 3,702,212
Brief History- In 1948, Israel delcared themselves an independent state, and fought Palestinians until 1949. The Israelis won, thus forcing the Palestinians into exile. In the 1960's and 1970's the Palestinian Liberation Organization led by Yassir Arafat began to gain influence in the area. Terrorism became more widespread. In 1993, President Bill Clinton organized the Camp David Accords in which Yitzak Rabin, the Israeli prime minister and Yassir Arafat came to an agreement. Israel would hand over some land in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank to Palestinians in exchange for them stopping the terrorist attacks. The success was shortlived because Rabin was assassinated in 1995. The new Israeli government was more conservative and stopped giving land the Palestinians. The terrorist attacks began again, and Palestine and Israel have been in almost constant conflict until the present day. In the 1990's Hamas replaced the PLO as the leaders of the Palestinians. They were viewed by many other countried as radical terrorists and are now perceived as a threat.