Israel has occupied East Jerusalem, which is claimed by the Palestinians, since 1967 and has pursued a continuing policy of settlement of the eastern part of the city and its surroundings.

The Palestinian autonomous territories (Areas A and B) comprise 37% of the West Bank. The remainder (Area C) was left under full Israeli control. The location of the Israeli settlements and plans for their extension complicate the establishment of territorial continuity for the future Palestinian state.

The land designated for the future Palestinian state punctuated by Israeli settlements.

At the Camp David II summit the Israeli delegation spoke of "territorial concessions" to the Palestinians. But their proposals were not released in any official text still less recorded on any map. That is why the Jerusalem Task Force from Orient House (which represents Palestinian interests in Jerusalem), drew up this map on the basis of information from the Palestinian delegation to the summit. Ehud Barak's Palestinian state is shown as a West Bank territory divided into three and further subdivided by roads reserved for Jewish settlers plus the Gaza Strip.

Of the 3.6 million Palestinian refugees in the Middle East in June 1999, a third were living in camps. Of these, more than half were living outside Palestine, mostly in Jordan, which is the main host country. The question of the right of return, which arose after the first wave of exile in 1948-49, is mainly of concern to these refugees.

The Palestinian territories were splintered and divided into three zones. Israeli settlement increased, East Jerusalem remained under Israeli control, and Hebron was divided in two under an agreement of 17 January 1997.

Water in the occupied territories has been under military control since 1967. The Arab inhabitants are forbidden to dig new wells, while the Jewish settlements may drill for water without restriction. According to World Bank figures, 90% of the water in the West Bank is used for Israel's benefit and only 10% remains for the Palestinians. The highly complicated water issue has been left to the final-status negotiations.

Outside Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, the bulk of the Palestinian diaspora lives in the United States and the Gulf states.

The October War, also known as the Yom Kippur War: Egyptian and Syrian troops launched an attack to reconquer the territories under Israeli occupation since 1967. The United States gave military assistance to Israel, and the Arab states were similarly aided by the Soviet Union.

Israel attacked Egypt on 5 June 1967. Following a lightning six-day war, it occupied Sinai, the Golan Heights, the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.

The first Arab-Israeli war enabled the new state of Israel to extend its territory southwards into the Negev desert, eastwards as far as the Dead Sea, and northwards up to the Lebanese border.

The UN partition plan of 29 November 1947 divided Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state. The first Arab-Israeli war (1948-49) enabled the victorious state of Israel to enlarge its territory.