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Updated December 17, 2019
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 unilateral y 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 unsuccessful y; PLO/PA
increases efforts to gain membership in or
support from international organizations.
2017-present
Trump Administration takes various actions,
including recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s
capital; U.S.-Palestinian tensions increase.
PLO/PA: Governance, Security, and Succession
The PA held occasional elections for president and a
legislative council until the Hamas victory in the 2006
Source: Economist Intel igence Unit.
legislative elections. Since then, it has ruled by presidential
Note: West Bank and Gaza Strip borders remain subject to Israeli-
decree, and some NGOs have criticized its actions on rule
Palestinian negotiation.
of law and civil liberties. Given the West Bank-Gaza split
in 2007, it is unclear if and when elections will take place
International attention to the Palestinians’ situation
again. Despite this uncertainty, PA leaders have publicly
increased after Israel’s military gained control over the
contemplated holding elections sometime in 2020.
West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Direct
U.S. engagement with Palestinians in the West Bank and
The United States and some other countries sought to
Gaza dates from the establishment of the Palestinian
bolster the Abbas-led PA in the West Bank vis-à-vis
Authority (PA) in 1994. In the past decade, other regional
Hamas, including through economic and nonlethal security
assistance. However, U.S. aid shrank considerably in 2018
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The Palestinians: Overview and Key Issues for U.S. Policy
and ended completely in early 2019. Assistance for
Fatah and Hamas have reached a number of Egypt-brokered
Palestinians continues from European Union and Arab Gulf
agreements aimed at ending the West Bank-Gaza split.
states. Israel-PA security coordination, which has
However, problems with implementation have left Hamas
contributed to the West Bank’s stability since the end of the
in control despite PA responsibility for some civil services.
second intifada, continues amid some Palestinian criticism.
Key U.S. Policy Issues
Mahmoud Abbas’s age (b. 1935) and reports of
The Trump Administration has clashed politically with
deteriorating health have contributed to speculation about
Mahmoud Abbas and the PLO/PA. After President Trump
who might lead the PA and PLO upon the end of his tenure.
recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017
There are a number of possible successors. Majid Faraj
and announced his intention to relocate the U.S. embassy
(arguably the adviser most trusted by Abbas), Saeb Erekat
there, Abbas broke off high-level political contacts with the
(the PLO’s top negotiator), and Salam Fayyad (a previous
United States and turned to other international actors.
PA prime minister) have major profiles internationally, but
Since then, the Trump Administration significantly reduced
limited domestic popular support. Mohammed Shtayyeh
bilateral aid to the West Bank and Gaza, discontinued
(PA prime minister since March 2019 and a close Abbas
contributions to UNRWA for Palestinian refugees, closed
confidant) is an internationally visible Fatah insider. Other
the PLO’s representative office in Washington, DC, and
key Fatah figures include Mahmoud al Aloul and Jibril
subsumed the U.S. consulate general in Jerusalem within
Rajoub. Marwan Barghouti attracts significant popular
the U.S. embassy to Israel.
support, but has been imprisoned by Israel since 2002.
Muhammad Dahlan enjoys support from some Arab states,
Figure 1. U.S. Bilateral Assistance to the Palestinians
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
political bureau that conducts the movement’s worldwide
dealings. Gaza-based Ismail Haniyeh is the leader of
Hamas’s political bureau. Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s leader
for Gaza, came from Hamas’s military wing.
Hamas and other Gaza-based militants have engaged in
Sources: U.S. State Department and USAID, adapted by CRS.
three significant conflicts with Israel (2008-2009, 2012,
Notes: Al amounts are approximate. Amounts stated for FY2020
2014). In each conflict, the militants launched rockets
reflect pending appropriation amounts from the H.R. 1865 joint
indiscriminately toward Israel, and Israeli military strikes
explanatory statement. NADR = Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism,
largely decimated Gaza’s infrastructure. The actions on
Demining, and Related Programs, INCLE = International Narcotics
both sides exacerbated a conundrum for third-party
Control and Law Enforcement, ESF = Economic Support Fund, OCO
countries and international organizations that seek to
= Overseas Contingency Operations.
rebuild Gaza’s infrastructure without bolstering Hamas.
Congress enacted the Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act in
Difficult living conditions for Palestinians in Gaza persist
2018 (ATCA; P.L. 115-253). Under ATCA, as of February
and are exacerbated by uncertainties regarding external
2019 the PA refused to accept any U.S. bilateral aid in the
funding. This has led some international observers and
West Bank and Gaza—including nonlethal security
Israeli officials to warn of a crisis, and some Members of
assistance that Israel supports—because doing so might
Congress to call for a resumption of U.S. assistance to help
subject the PLO/PA to legal liability in U.S. courts. Section
alleviate suffering. Israeli-approved cash transfers from
903 of H.R. 1865 (an FY2020 appropriations bill), if
Qatar since late 2018 have provided some relief for Gazans.
enacted in December 2019, could amend ATCA by
To the extent that outside contributions replace funding
removing U.S. aid as a trigger for potential PLO/PA legal
from the West Bank-based PA—whose actions suggest
liability. The amendment could lead to U.S.-PA discussions
some ambivalence over taking responsibility for Gaza—
on possibly resuming some aid (per Figure 1 for FY2020),
they could undermine prospects for West Bank-Gaza unity.
despite other potential liability triggers and (per the Taylor
According to the World Bank, Gazans’ real per capita
Force Act, Title X of P.L. 115-141) possible limitations on
incomes fell by one-third between 1994 and 2017, owing
economic (including humanitarian and development) aid.
partly to Israel and Egypt’s tight controls on goods and
The Trump Administration claims that it has prepared a
people transiting Gaza’s borders.
peace plan, but numerous delays have led to doubts over
Violence flares regularly between Gazans and Israel’s
whether it will be released. Citing U.S. statements that may
military, periodically escalating toward larger conflict.
favor Israel’s positions on a range of contested issues,
However, Hamas largely refrained from involving itself in
including the legality of West Bank settlements, Palestinian
exchanges of fire between Israel and Palestine Islamic Jihad
leaders claim that the Administration has aligned itself with
militants that occurred in November 2019. Some observers
Israel to predetermine key diplomatic outcomes.
have argued that this restraint might demonstrate interest by
Hamas in a years-long calm with Israel, though action
Jim Zanotti, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs
toward that end could lose Hamas support from Palestinians
who warn against abandoning armed resistance to Israel.
IF10644
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The Palestinians: Overview and Key Issues for U.S. Policy
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