West Bank

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West Bank

The West Bank is a Palestinian territory in the Middle East located between Israel and Jordon. It was originally a part of Palestine, the territory bounded by Syrian and Lebanon (in the north), the Mediterranean Sea (in the west), and Egypt (in the south). The area was taken over by Jordon in 1950 and was later captured by Israel as a result of the war of 1967 (Israel’s defeat of Jordon, Egypt, and Syria). Peace processes began between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in 1993 and Israel withdrew from the West Bank. However, in 2002 Israel reclaimed the area it had previously occupied.

The largest city in the West Bank is East Jerusalem, however, Israel considers East Jerusalem to be part of Israel, since it was captured in the war of 67. Much of the Palestinian and Israeli conflict centers on control of Jerusalem, which holds religious meaning in both Judaism and Islam. Most Palestinians in the West Bank live in villages, but 12 percent of the population lives in refugee camps that are controlled by the Israeli government. A small percentage of the population are Israelis who live in government-sanctioned settlements or in East Jerusalem.

Palestinians in the West Bank speak Arabic as their first language and sometimes English as their second. Most of the population follows the Suni sect of Islam, but there are small Catholic and Jewish populations. Most of the land is not fertile, and there are major temperature changes between the highlands and the Jordan River Valley. The Jordan is the main river within the West Bank, and the Dead Sea, the lowest point of the earth, is on the southeast border. Because such a small percentage of land is farmable, the main natural resource is stone, which is used for construction. Olives and citrus crops are the main crops that contribute to the Palestinian economy.

Palestine Liberation Organization
The Palestine Liberation Organization politically represents the Palestinian people. The organization’s main goal is to reestablish the land of Palestine for the Palestinian people. Guerrilla groups, mainly the Fatah, dominate the PLO, however the rest of the organization is made up of doctors, lawyers, teachers, students and women. The PLO is split into three main branches: The Palestine National Council (PNC), the Executive Committee, and the Central Council.  The PNC is the main authority of the PLO. It has both elected and appointed members and acts as the parliament of the Palestinian people.

The Hijab
Many women of the Muslim faith cover their heads with cloths called “hijab”. The Qur’an (the sacred book of the Islamic faith) advises that men and women should both be modest, and through the centuries interpretations of “modesty” have developed into various customs among Muslim peoples. Women are taught that their beauty is only for the enjoyment of their husband therefore they should only reveal their hair (a symbol of beauty) to their husbands. For thousands of years Muslim women were considered to be secondary to men, however they played an integral role in agriculture as well as tending to the home and family. Depending on the strictness of the culture, women were either forbidden to show their hair, or in more extreme cultures, their faces.

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