Palestinian National Authority (PA) is a political institution established in 1993 following the peace accords of Oslo between the PLO (Organization for the Liberation of Palestine) And Israel. The latter has conferred to the A. the mandate of government over part of the territories occupied by Israel after the 1967 war (Ghaza Strip and part of the West Bank, especially the cities of Jericho, Hebron, Nablus And Bethlehem). The jurisdiction of the A. it concerns civil government and police activity; Israel enjoys the right to intervene in the territories administered by the A. for security reasons. In 2005, the Israeli government carried out a large-scale evacuation of Jewish settlers from the Ghaza Strip. From a political point of view, the 2006 legislative elections held in the territories administered by the. led to the victory of Ḥamas, which reiterated its refusal to recognize the State of Israel. This policy has generated a tightening of relations with the Israeli government which has accentuated the boycott measures against the administration of the A.; this caused the internal break between the Ḥamas front and the front of the moderates of Al-Fatah, generating a situation of profound division. THERE. it is organized into a Council of autonomy composed of 88 members elected by universal suffrage, a prime minister designated by the Council and a president elected by direct suffrage. In November 2012, with 138 votes in favor (including that of Italy), 9 against and 41 abstentions, the General Assembly of the United Nations recognized the Palestinian National Authority as an observer State not a member of the UN.
According to Relationshipsplus, the human rights situation in the Palestinian Territories is worrying to say the least. In addition to the violations committed by the Israeli occupation forces (administrative detentions, arbitrary expropriations, house demolitions, cases of torture, expansion of Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank), there are those perpetrated by Palestinian security men: arbitrary arrests, violations of freedom of expression, torture, the elimination of Palestinians accused of collaborationism, and, finally, the application of the death penalty. A situation of general confusion that has once again favored the onset of clashes in East Jerusalem – so far of low intensity – between Israelis and Palestinians.
The consequence of the Arab defeat of 1948 was the emergence of the problem of Palestinian refugees, who concentrated in the camps of Gaza, the West Bank, Transjordan (now Jordan), Lebanon and Syria. There were just over 750,000 refugees in the 1950s. According to the most recent estimates by U nrwa (the United Nations agency that deals with supporting Palestinian refugees), these are at least five million (although most of them no longer live in the camps).
At the present stage, the country hosting the largest number of people of Palestinian origin is Jordan; followed by the West Bank and Gaza, Israel, Lebanon and Syria. From a legal point of view, Palestinians from Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and other Arab countries are considered refugees and, only a part, those from the West Bank and Gaza. A part of the latter and of the Israeli Arabs are not included in this classification, making it difficult to define a Palestinian society. What has taken shape over the years is instead a plurality of companies or segments of it, made up of Palestinians and / or refugees. Furthermore, even today, the number of emigrants to more distant countries, forced by difficult living conditions, continues to be significant.
The situation of refugees is particularly difficult in Lebanon, where any form of integration has been made impossible by the division of power along community lines. In addition, especially as regards the Gaza Strip, the high population density determines an even more serious situation for the administration of the Territories.
From the point of view of religion, the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza are mostly Sunni Muslims (97%) and the rest Christian. There are various Christian confessions, mostly Greek Orthodox, followed by the Catholic, Syriac and Armenian rites. The Druze are almost absent as they are demographically concentrated in the Israeli territories.
