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The Palestinians: Overview and Key Issues for U.S. Policy
The Palestinians and their ongoing disputes and interactions
International attention to the Palestinians’ situation
with Israel raise significant issues for U.S. policy (see “Key
increased after Israel’s military gained control over the
U.S. Policy Issues” below). During the Trump
West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Direct
Administration, U.S.-Palestinian tensions have risen in
U.S. engagement with Palestinians in the West Bank and
connection with U.S. actions generally seen as favoring
Gaza dates from the establishment of the Palestinian
Israel. In 2020, Palestinian leaders lamented some Arab
Authority (PA) in 1994. For the past several years, other
states’ normalization of relations with Israel because it
regional political and security issues have taken some of the
could undermine past Arab efforts to link such
global attention from Palestinian issues.
improvements with addressing Palestinian negotiating
Timeline of Key Events Since 1993
demands. Within a complicated legal and political context,
U.S. aid to the Palestinians was reduced in 2018 and
1993-1995
Israel and the PLO mutually recognize each
suspended in early 2019; its future is unclear.
other and establish the PA, which has limited
self-rule (subject to overall Israeli control) in
The Palestinians are an Arab people whose origins are in
the Gaza Strip and specified areas of the
present-day Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. Fatah, an
West Bank.
Arab nationalist faction, is the driving force within the
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which represents
2000-2005
Second Palestinian intifada affects prospects
Palestinians internationally. The Sunni Islamist group
for Israeli-Palestinian peace, leads to
Hamas (a U.S.-designated terrorist organization) has not
tightened Israeli security in the West Bank,
accepted PLO recognition of Israel and constitutes the main
and complicates the U.S. third-party role.
opposition to Fatah.
2004-2005
PLO Chairman/PA President Yasser Arafat
dies; Mahmoud Abbas succeeds him.
2005
Israel unilateral y disengages from Gaza, but
remains in control of airspace and
land/maritime access points.
2006
Hamas wins majority in Palestinian Legislative
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.
Source: Economist Intel igence Unit.
2017-2020
U.S.-Palestinian tensions rise in connection
Note: West Bank and Gaza Strip borders remain subject to Israeli-
with various Trump Administration actions
Palestinian negotiation.
(see “Key U.S. Policy Issues” below).
Of the approximately 12.4 million Palestinians worldwide,
2020
In moves opposed by Palestinian leaders, the
about 4.8 million (98% Sunni Muslim, 1% Christian) live in
United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain ful y
the West Bank and Gaza. About 1.5 million additional
normalize relations with Israel, and Sudan
Palestinians are citizens of Israel, and 6.1 million more live
announces steps in that direction.
elsewhere. Of the total Palestinian population, around 5.4
million (roughly 44%) are refugees (registered in the West
PLO/PA: Governance, Security, and Succession
Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria) whose claims to
The PA held occasional elections for president and a
land in present-day Israel constitute a major issue of Israeli-
legislative council until the Hamas victory in the 2006
Palestinian dispute. The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for
legislative elections. Since then, it has ruled by presidential
Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) provides
decree, and some NGOs have criticized its actions on rule
health care, education, and housing assistance to Palestinian
refugees.
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The Palestinians: Overview and Key Issues for U.S. Policy
of law and civil liberties. Given the West Bank-Gaza split
West Bank-based PA—whose actions suggest some
in 2007, it is unclear if elections will take place again.
ambivalence over taking responsibility for Gaza—they
After 2007, the United States and some other countries
could undermine prospects for West Bank-Gaza unity.
According to the World Bank, Gazans’ real per
sought to bolster the Abbas-led PA in the West Bank vis-à-
capita
vis Hamas, including through economic and nonlethal
incomes fell by one-third between 1994 and 2017, owing
security assistance. Since the U.S. suspension of aid, the
partly to Israel and Egypt’s tight controls on goods and
European Union and Arab Gulf states have continued to
people transiting Gaza’s borders.
provide external assistance for Palestinians, though some
Violence flares regularly between Gazans and Israel’s
Gulf states may have reduced funding in 2020.
military, periodically escalating toward larger conflict.
However, since 2019, Hamas has engaged in fewer
In mid-2020, the PA officially suspended security
exchanges of fire with Israel. Some observers have argued
coordination with Israel and stopped accepting transfers of
that this reduction might reflect an interest by Hamas in an
taxes—representing about 60% of PA revenue—that Israel
extended calm with Israel.
collects on the PA’s behalf. These moves occurred in
Key U.S. Policy Issues
anticipation of possible Israeli annexation of some West
The Trump Administration has clashed politically with
Bank areas. Annexation became less likely in late 2020
Mahmoud Abbas and the PLO/PA. After President Trump
with the Israel-UAE normalization deal, making it possible
recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017,
that the PA could restart security coordination and/or allow
Abbas broke off high-level political contacts with the
tax transfers to resume out of a desire for greater relative
United States and turned to other international actors. The
security and fiscal stability. Given measures to control the
PLO/PA opposed a number of other developments during
Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic in the West Bank and
the Trump Administration, including the establishment of a
Gaza, the Economist Intelligence Unit has predicted that the
U.S. embassy to Israel in Jerusalem, other actions to
economy for the territories will contract by 8.5% for 2020.
downgrade U.S.-Palestinian diplomatic ties, a 2020 U.S.
peace proposal that fueled speculation regarding Israeli
Mahmoud Abbas’s age (b. 1935) and reports of
West Bank annexation, and the Arab-Israeli normalization
deteriorating health have contributed to speculation about
deals mentioned above.
who might lead the PA and PLO upon the end of his tenure.
There are a number of possible successors. Majid Faraj
Figure 1. U.S. Bilateral Assistance to the Palestinians
(arguably the adviser most trusted by Abbas) has a major
profile internationally, but limited domestic popular
support. Mohammed Shtayyeh (PA prime minister since
March 2019) 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
Sources: U.S. State Department and USAID, adapted by CRS.
Hamas controls Gaza through its security forces and obtains
Notes: Al amounts are approximate. Amounts for FY2020 have
resources from smuggling, informal “taxes,” and reported
been appropriated but not obligated. NADR = Nonproliferation,
external assistance from some Arab sources and Iran.
Antiterrorism, Demining, and Related Programs, INCLE =
Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s leader for Gaza, came from
International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement, ESF =
Hamas’s military wing. Hamas also maintains a presence in
Economic Support Fund, OCO = Overseas Contingency Operations.
the West Bank. Qatar-based Ismail Haniyeh is the leader of
the political bureau that conducts Hamas’s worldwide
In the context of U.S.-Palestinian tensions, the aid picture is
dealings. Fatah and Hamas have reached a number of
complicated. After actions in 2018 by the Administration
Egypt-brokered agreements aimed at ending the West
and Congress to reduce bilateral aid, and by the
Bank-Gaza split. However, problems with implementation
Administration to discontinue contributions to UNRWA,
have left Hamas in control of Gaza despite PA
The Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act of 2018 (P.L. 115-
responsibility for some civil services.
253) led to an end to all bilateral aid in early 2019 because
it could have subjected the PLO/PA to legal liability in U.S.
From 2008 to 2014, Hamas and other Gaza-based militants
courts. A late 2019 legal revocation of the tie between aid
engaged in three significant conflicts with Israel. In each
and liability might permit the resumption of some aid,
conflict, the militants launched rockets indiscriminately
including per FY2020 appropriations shown in Figure 1.
toward Israel, and Israeli military strikes largely decimated
Gaza’s infrastructure. The actions on both sides worsened a
Future action could change U.S. policy on aid to and
conundrum for international actors that seek to rebuild
diplomacy with the Palestinians. Under U.S. law the
Gaza’s infrastructure without bolstering Hamas.
resumption of most economic assistance directly benefitting
Difficult living conditions for Palestinians in Gaza persist
the PA would require a change in PLO/PA welfare
and are exacerbated by uncertainties regarding external
payments for or on behalf of people who were killed or
funding. Israeli-approved cash transfers from Qatar since
imprisoned in connection with charges or acts of terrorism.
late 2018 have provided some relief for Gazans. To the
Jim Zanotti, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs
extent that outside contributions replace funding from the
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The Palestinians: Overview and Key Issues for U.S. Policy
IF10644
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