The West Bank is located on the eastern side of present day Israel (the west side of the Jordan River). It is slightly smaller than the American state of Delaware (5500 square km/ 2125 sq miles). Around 2.5 million Palestinians live in the West Bank along with 400,000 Israeli settlers.
While the Palestinian Authority is the elected government of the West Bank, life is complicated by the fact that large portions are controlled by Israel. In the last few years, Israel has constructed a barrier wall around most of the West Bank to separate it from Israel. The wall has been controversial for several reasons. While most of the wall follows the recognized 1967 border, it does take nearly 10% of the total area of the West Bank for Israel. Another consequence of the wall and other Israeli policies is the economic blockade of the West Bank. Since the vast majority of Palestinians are not allowed to leave the West Bank, there is widespread unemployment. Restrictions have eased in the past year, but the standard of living remains worse than in 2000 when the second intifada or uprising began.
You will recognize the names of many of the cities in the West Bank from stories in the Bible; Hebron, Jericho, Bethlehem, Bethany, Emmaus. The largest city is Nablus; this is where Jacob’s well is located (remember the story of the woman at the well?). Although the majority of the people live in cities, there are hundreds of small villages scattered across the hills of the West Bank. These villages may have from a few hundred to a few thousand. There is a shift of people from the villages to the larger cities because of greater job opportunities.
While there are 19 official refugee camps in the West Bank, most of them are small. Only 25% of the 770,000 refugees still live in the camps. Only Israelis live in settlements. Palestinians do not go into the Settlements and Israelis do not go into the Palestinian towns and villages. They are separated to the point of driving on different roads.
