page_title: Palestinian territories
section_title: Political status and sovereignty
hierarchical_section_title: Palestinian territories / Political status and sovereignty
caption_attribution_description: English: The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) building in Gaza City, which was destroyed in the so-called 'Operation Cast Lead' in December 2008/January 2009, in September 2009. العربية: مبنى المجلس التشريعي الفلسطيني في مدينة غزة، بعد تدميره في الحرب التي شنتها إسرائيل على قطاع غزة وأسمتها الرصاص المصبوب والتي حدثت بين كانون الأول (ديسمبر) 2008/كانون الثاني (يناير) 2009، التقطت الصورة في أيلول (سبتمبر) 2009.
context_page_description: The term "Palestinian territories" has been used for many years to describe the territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. More recently, the official United Nations terminology has been used, occupied Palestinian territory increasingly replacing other terms since 1999. The European Union also has adopted this usage. The term Occupied Palestinian Territory was used by the UN and other international organizations between October 1999 and December 2012 to refer to areas controlled by the Palestinian National Authority. The EU had utilized a parallel term Palestinian Authority territories occasionally during the same period. The International Court of Justice referred to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as "the Occupied Palestinian Territory" and this term was used as the legal definition by the ICJ in the ruling in July 2004.
  The Gaza Strip and the West Bank had been occupied by Egypt and Jordan, respectively, since the 1948 war until 1967. Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the Six-Day War of 1967 and has since maintained control.
context_section_description: The international community regards the West Bank as territories occupied by Israel. Israel has withdrawn its military forces from the Gaza strip, but it continues to be designated the occupying power in the Gaza Strip by the United Nations, the United States and various human rights organizations. Despite this Hamas complete de facto control over the Gaza Strip. Hillel Neuer, the executive Director of UN Watch argues that the co-founder of Hamas, Mahmoud Zahar, has stated that Gaza is no longer occupied since the Israeli withdrawal. Zahar has elsewhere referred to the situation in Gaza as an "occupation". The final status of the Palestinian Territories as an independent state is supported by the countries that form the Quartet's "Road map for peace". The government of Israel has also accepted the road map but with 14 reservations.
  A transfer of powers and responsibilities for the Gaza Strip and Jericho took place pursuant to the Israel–PLO 4 May 1994 Cairo Agreement on the Gaza Strip and the Jericho Area. In other areas of the West Bank, transfer of powers took place pursuant to the Israel–PLO 28 September 1995 Interim Agreement, the Israel–PLO 15 January 1997 Protocol Concerning the Redeployment in Hebron, the Israel–PLO 23 October 1998 Wye River Memorandum, and the 4 September 1999 Sharm el-Sheikh Agreement.
  The DOP provides that Israel will retain responsibility during the transitional period for external security and for internal security and public order of Israeli settlements and citizens. Direct negotiations to determine the permanent status of Gaza and the West Bank had begun in September 1999 after a three-year hiatus, but have been derailed by the al-Aqsa Intifada that began in September 2000.
  In 2003, the Israeli government issued a plan for total withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and part of the northern West Bank by late 2005. This became known as the Disengagement Plan. The Palestinian Authority welcomed this plan, but declared that until final status, it would still consider the Gaza Strip under Israeli occupation. Many Israelis opposed the plan, and tensions were very high in Israel before and after the Disengagement Plan was approved by the Israeli Knesset on 16 February 2005.
  In August 2005, the Israel Defense Forces and Israeli police forcibly removed all settlers from the Gaza Strip. Israel completed the disengagement on 12 September 2005. Presently, most of the West Bank is administered by Israel though 42% of it is under varying degrees of autonomous rule by the Fatah-run Palestinian Authority. The Gaza Strip is currently under the control of Hamas.
  The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an independent international treaty organisation with its own legislative assembly. Many of the member states recognise the State of Palestine. The Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki presented the ICC prosecutor with documentary evidence which shows that 67 states in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe have legally recognised the State of Palestine.
  In January 2010, King Abdullah of Jordan, after a meeting with the Israeli president Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum in Davos, declared that his country does not want to rule the West Bank and that "the two-state solution" to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict was the only viable option. If rule over the territory was to be transferred to the kingdom, it would only "replace Israeli military rule with Jordanian military rule... and the Palestinians want their own state".
  On Thursday, 29 November 2012, In a 138–9 vote (with 41 abstaining) General Assembly resolution 67/19 passed, upgrading Palestine to "non-member observer state" status in the United Nations. The new status equates Palestine's with that of the Holy See. The change in status was described by The Independent as "de facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine". The vote was a historic benchmark for the partially recognised State of Palestine and its citizens, whilst it was a diplomatic setback for Israel and the United States. Status as an observer state in the UN will allow the 
caption: The destroyed Palestinian Legislative Council building in Gaza City, Gaza–Israel conflict, September 2009
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