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The Palestinians: Overview and Key Issues for U.S. Policy
The Palestinians and their ongoing disputes and interactions
political and security issues have taken some of the global
with Israel raise significant issues for U.S. policy. U.S.-
attention from Palestinian issues.
Palestinian tensions have risen in connection with Trump
Timeline of Key Events Since 1993
Administration actions on Israeli-Palestinian matters such
as Jerusalem and aid (see “Key U.S. Policy Issues” below).
1993-1995
Israel and the PLO mutually recognize each
other and establish the PA, which has limited
The Palestinians are an Arab people whose origins are in
self-rule (subject to overall Israeli control) in
present-day Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip
the Gaza Strip and specified areas of the
(Gaza). Fatah, an Arab nationalist faction, is the driving
West Bank.
force within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO),
which represents Palestinians internationally. The Sunni
2000-2005
Clinton Administration is unable to broker an
Islamist group Hamas (a U.S.-designated terrorist
Israel-PLO peace agreement; second
organization) has not accepted PLO recognition of Israel
Palestinian intifada affects prospects for
and constitutes the main opposition to Fatah.
Israeli-Palestinian peace, leads to tightened
Israeli security in the West Bank, and
Of the approximately 12.4 million Palestinians worldwide,
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: Governance, Security Coordination,
Financial Concerns, and Succession
The PA held occasional elections for president and a
Source: Economist Intelligence Unit.
legislative council until the Hamas victory in the 2006
Note: West Bank and Gaza Strip borders remain subject to Israeli-
legislative elections. Since then, it has ruled by presidential
Palestinian negotiation.
decree. Given the West Bank-Gaza split in 2007, it is
unclear if and when 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 economic and nonlethal security
Gaza dates from the establishment of the Palestinian
assistance. However, U.S. aid shrank considerably in 2018
Authority (PA) in 1994. In the past decade, other regional
and ended completely in early 2019. Assistance for
Palestinians continues from European Union and Arab Gulf
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The Palestinians: Overview and Key Issues for U.S. Policy
states. Israel-PA security coordination, which has
Hamas still effectively in control despite PA responsibility
contributed to the West Bank’s stability since the end of the
for some civil services. A new Fatah-dominated PA
second intifada, has continued to date.
government established by Abbas in March 2019 may
The PA faces acute financial concerns because, as of
deepen rather than ease Fatah-Hamas tensions.
February 2019, it has rejected monthly revenue transfers
Key U.S. Policy Issues
from Israel that, when annualized, represent approximately
The Trump Administration has clashed politically with
65% of the PA budget, in protest of some amounts withheld
Mahmoud Abbas and the PLO/PA. After President Trump
by Israel (for more detail, see CRS Report R44245, Israel:
recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017
Background and U.S. Relations in Brief, by Jim Zanotti).
and announced his intention to relocate the U.S. embassy
The Arab League has pledged assistance to make up for
there, Abbas broke off high-level political contacts with the
some of the PA’s resulting budgetary shortfall.
United States and turned to other international actors.
Mahmoud Abbas’s age (b. 1935) and reports of
Since then, the Trump Administration significantly
deteriorating health have contributed to speculation about
reduced bilateral aid to the West Bank and Gaza,
who might lead the PA and PLO upon the end of his tenure.
discontinued contributions to UNRWA for Palestinian
There are a number of possible successors. Majid Faraj
refugees, closed the PLO’s representative office in
(arguably the adviser most trusted by Abbas), Saeb Erekat
Washington, DC, and subsumed the U.S. consulate
(the PLO’s top negotiator), and Salam Fayyad (a previous
general in Jerusalem within the U.S. embassy to Israel.
PA prime minister) have major profiles internationally, but
limited domestic popular support. Mohammed Shtayyeh
Figure 1. U.S. Bilateral Assistance to the Palestinians
(PA prime minister since March 2019 and a close Abbas
confidant) is an internationally visible Fatah insider. Other
key 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.
Sources: U.S. State Department and USAID, adapted by CRS.
Hamas also maintains a presence in the West Bank and a
Notes: All amounts are approximate. Amounts stated for FY2019
political bureau that conducts the movement’s worldwide
and FY2020 have been requested, with ultimate appropriation and
dealings. Gaza-based Ismail Haniyeh is the leader of
allocation amounts to be determined. NADR = Nonproliferation,
Hamas’s political bureau. Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s leader
Antiterrorism, Demining, and Related Programs, INCLE =
for Gaza, came from Hamas’s military wing.
International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement, ESF =
Economic Support Fund, OCO = Overseas Contingency Operations.
Hamas and other Gaza-based militants have engaged in
three significant conflicts with Israel (2008-2009, 2012,
Congress enacted the Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act in
2014). In each conflict, the militants launched rockets
2018 (ATCA; P.L. 115-253). Under the ATCA, as of
indiscriminately toward Israel, and Israeli military strikes
February 2019 the PA refused to accept any U.S.
largely decimated Gaza’s infrastructure. The actions on
bilateral aid in the West Bank and Gaza—including
both sides exacerbated a conundrum for third-party
nonlethal security assistance that Israel supports—because
countries and international organizations that seek to
doing so might subject the PLO/PA to legal liability in U.S.
rebuild Gaza’s infrastructure without bolstering Hamas.
courts. Apparently, U.S. aid to the Palestinians will not
A sharp decrease in PA and external funding to Gaza since
resume unless Congress amends or repeals the ATCA, or
2017 has worsened already difficult conditions there. This
the Administration channels the aid differently.
has led some international observers and Israeli officials to
The Trump Administration claims that it will introduce a
warn of a growing crisis, and some Members of Congress
peace plan, but has delayed its release numerous times.
to call for a resumption of U.S. assistance to help alleviate
Partly due to the Administration’s lack of public opposition
suffering. Israeli-approved cash transfers from Qatar since
to Israeli statements regarding possible unilateral
late 2018 have provided some relief for Gazans. According
annexation of West Bank settlements, Palestinian leaders
to the World Bank, Gazans’ real per capita incomes have
claim that the Administration has aligned itself with Israel
fallen by one-third since 1994, owing largely to the West
to predetermine key diplomatic outcomes. The PLO may
Bank-Gaza split and to Israel’s and Egypt’s tight controls
consider discontinuing security coordination and other
on goods and people transiting Gaza’s borders.
Israeli-Palestinian arrangements, as it has previously
Violence flares regularly between Gazans and Israel’s
without Abbas having implemented its recommendations.
military, periodically escalating toward larger conflict. At
the same time, Hamas is reportedly keeping options open
Jim Zanotti, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs
for a long-term cease-fire with Israel.
IF10644
Fatah and Hamas have reached a number of Egypt-brokered
agreements aimed at ending the West Bank-Gaza split.
However, key provisions remain unimplemented, with
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The Palestinians: Overview and Key Issues for U.S. Policy
Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff to
congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and under the direction of Congress.
Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other than public understanding of information that has
been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in connection with CRS’s institutional role. CRS Reports, as a work of the
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