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Updated April 25, 2019
The Palestinians: Overview and Key Issues for U.S. Policy
The Palestinians and their ongoing disputes and interactions
Authority (PA) in 1994. In the past decade, other regional
with Israel raise significant issues for U.S. policy. U.S.-
political and security issues have taken some of the global
Palestinian tensions have risen in connection with Trump
attention from Palestinian issues.
Administration actions on Israeli-Palestinian matters such
Timeline of Key Events Since 1993
as Jerusalem and aid (see “Key U.S. Policy Issues” below).
1993-1995
Israel and the PLO mutually recognize one
The Palestinians are an Arab people whose origins are in
another and establish the PA, which has
present-day Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip
limited self-rule (subject to overall Israeli
(Gaza). Fatah, a traditionally secular Arab nationalist
control) in the Gaza Strip and specified areas
faction, is the predominant faction within the Palestine
of the West Bank.
Liberation Organization (PLO), which represents
Palestinians internationally. The Sunni Islamist group
2000-2005
The Clinton Administration is unable to
Hamas (a U.S.-designated terrorist organization) has not
broker an Israel-PLO peace agreement;
accepted PLO recognition of Israel and constitutes the main
second Palestinian intifada affects prospects
opposition to Fatah.
for Israeli-Palestinian peace, leads to
tightened Israeli security in the West Bank,
Of the approximately 12.4 million Palestinians worldwide,
and complicates the U.S. third-party role.
about 4.8 million (98% Sunni Muslim, 1% Christian) live in
the West Bank and Gaza. About 1.5 million additional
2004-2005
PLO Chairman/PA President Yasser Arafat
Palestinians are citizens of Israel, and 6.1 million more live
dies; Mahmoud Abbas succeeds him.
elsewhere. Of the total Palestinian population, around 5.4
million (roughly 44%) are refugees (registered in the West
2005
Israel unilaterally disengages from Gaza, but
Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria) whose claims to
remains in control of airspace and
land in present-day Israel constitute a major issue of Israeli-
land/maritime access points; Israeli
Palestinian dispute. The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for
settlements continue to expand in the West
Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) provides
Bank (including East Jerusalem).
assistance (such as health care, education, and housing) to
2006
Hamas wins majority in Palestinian Legislative
Palestinian refugees.
Council and leads new PA cabinet; Israel,
United States, and European Union confine
relations to PA President Abbas.
2007
West Bank-Gaza split: Hamas seizes control
of Gaza Strip; Abbas reorganizes PA cabinet
to lead West Bank; this remains the status
quo to date.
2007-present
Various rounds of U.S.-brokered Israeli-
Palestinian peace negotiations (the last in
2013-2014) end unsuccessfully; PLO/PA
increases efforts to gain membership in or
support from international organizations.
2017-present
Trump Administration recognizes Jerusalem
as Israel’s capital, and U.S.-Palestinian
tensions increase.
PLO/PA, West Bank, and Possible Succession
The PA held occasional elections for president and a
legislative council until the Hamas victory in the 2006
Source: Economist Intelligence Unit.
legislative elections. Since then, it has ruled by presidential
Note: West Bank and Gaza Strip borders remain subject to Israeli-
decree. Given the West Bank-Gaza split in 2007, it is
Palestinian negotiation.
unclear if and when presidential and legislative elections
will take place again.
International attention to the Palestinians’ situation
increased after Israel’s military gained control over the
The United States and some other countries sought to
West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Direct
bolster the Abbas-led PA in the West Bank vis-à-vis
U.S. engagement with Palestinians in the West Bank and
Hamas, including through the provision of economic and
Gaza dates from the establishment of the Palestinian
nonlethal security assistance. However, U.S. aid shrank
considerably in 2018 and ended completely in early 2019.
https://crsreports.congress.gov
The Palestinians: Overview and Key Issues for U.S. Policy
Assistance for Palestinians continues from various sources
However, key provisions remain unimplemented, with
such as the European Union and Arab Gulf states.
Hamas still effectively in control despite PA responsibility
The PA faces acute financial concerns because, as of
for some civil services. A new Fatah-dominated PA
February 2019, it has rejected monthly revenue transfers
government established by Abbas in March 2019 may
from Israel representing approximately 65% of the PA
deepen rather than ease Fatah-Hamas tensions.
budget, in protest of some amounts withheld by Israel (for
Key U.S. Policy Issues
more detail, see CRS Report R44245, Israel: Background
The Trump Administration has clashed politically with
and U.S. Relations in Brief, by Jim Zanotti). The PA has
Mahmoud Abbas and the PLO/PA. After President Trump
asked the Arab League to follow through on a 2010
recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017
decision to provide it with budgetary assistance.
and announced his intention to relocate the U.S. embassy
Mahmoud Abbas’s age (b. 1935) and reports of
there, Abbas broke off high-level political contacts with the
deteriorating health have contributed to speculation about
United States and turned to other international actors.
who might lead the PA and PLO upon the end of his tenure.
Since then, the Trump Administration significantly
There are a number of possible successors. Majid Faraj
reduced bilateral aid to the West Bank and Gaza,
(arguably the adviser most trusted by Abbas), Saeb Erekat
discontinued contributions to UNRWA for Palestinian
(a top PLO negotiator), and Salam Fayyad (a previous PA
refugees, closed the PLO’s representative office in
prime minister) are well-known in international circles, but
Washington, DC, and subsumed the U.S. consulate
less so among domestic constituencies. Mohammed
general in Jerusalem within the U.S. embassy to Israel.
Shtayyeh (PA prime minister since March 2019 and a close
Abbas confidant) is an internationally visible Fatah insider.
Figure 1.U.S. Bilateral Assistance to the Palestinians
Other Fatah figures include Mahmoud al Aloul and Jibril
Rajoub. Marwan Barghouti attracts significant popular
support, but has been imprisoned by Israel since 2002.
Muhammad Dahlan enjoys support from some Arab
states, but was expelled from Fatah in 2011.
Hamas and Gaza
Hamas controls Gaza through its security forces and obtains
resources from smuggling, informal “taxes,” and reported
external assistance from some Arab sources and Iran.
Hamas also maintains a presence in the West Bank and a
Sources: U.S. State Department and USAID, adapted by CRS.
political bureau that conducts the movement’s worldwide
Notes: All amounts are approximate. Amounts stated for FY2019
dealings. Gaza-based Ismail Haniyeh is the leader of
Hamas’s political bureau
and FY2020 have been requested, with ultimate appropriation and
. Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s
allocation amounts to be determined. NADR = Nonproliferation,
designated leader for Gaza, came from Hamas’s military
Antiterrorism, Demining, and Related Programs, INCLE =
wing (the Izz ad Din al Qassam Brigades).
International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement, ESF =
Hamas and other Gaza-based militants have engaged in
Economic Support Fund, OCO = Overseas Contingency Operations.
three significant conflicts with Israel (2008-2009, 2012,
2014). In each conflict, the militants launched rockets
The Trump Administration claims that it will introduce a
indiscriminately toward Israel, and Israeli military strikes
peace plan, but has delayed publicizing it numerous times.
largely decimated Gaza’s infrastructure. The actions on
Partly due to the Administration’s lack of stated opposition
both sides exacerbated a conundrum for third-party
to statements by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin
countries and international organizations that seek to
Netanyahu regarding Israel’s possible unilateral annexation
rebuild Gaza’s infrastructure without bolstering Hamas.
of West Bank settlements, Palestinian leaders and some
other observers claim that the Administration has aligned
A sharp decrease in PA and external funding to Gaza since
itself with Israel to predetermine key diplomatic outcomes.
2017 has worsened already difficult conditions there. This
has led some international observers and Israeli officials to
Congress enacted the Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act in
warn of a growing crisis, and some Members of Congress
2018 (ATCA; P.L. 115-253). Under the ATCA, as of
to call for a resumption of U.S. assistance to help alleviate
February 2019 the PA refused to accept any U.S.
suffering. Israeli-approved cash transfers from Qatar since
bilateral aid in the West Bank and Gaza—including
late 2018 have provided some relief for Gazans. According
nonlethal security assistance that Israel supports—because
to the World Bank, Gazans’ real per capita incomes have
doing so might subject the PLO/PA to legal liability in U.S.
fallen by one-third since 1994, owing largely to the West
courts. Apparently, U.S. aid to the Palestinians will not
Bank-Gaza split and to Israel’s and Egypt’s tight controls
resume unless Congress amends or repeals the ATCA, or
on goods and people transiting Gaza’s borders.
the Administration channels the aid differently.
Violence flares regularly between Gazans and Israel’s
military, periodically escalating toward larger conflict. At
Jim Zanotti, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs
the same time, Hamas is reportedly keeping options open
IF10644
for a long-term cease-fire with Israel.
Fatah and Hamas have reached a number of Egypt-brokered
agreements aimed at ending the West Bank-Gaza split.
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The Palestinians: Overview and Key Issues for U.S. Policy
Disclaimer
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