2009 Palestine

(Nation)
Flag:
center|Location
Capital: Jerusalem
Official Language: Arabic
Government: Parliamentary Democracy
Head of State: Sari Nusseibeh
Formation: Third Way, Fatah and Hamas (2008)
Population: 4,104,867
Currency: (Currency ad abbreviation)
¨Human Rights Record¨ (Over all grade, notable abuses and ongoing controversies)
¨Territorial Disputes¨ The country of Palestine is recognised by only a very small amount of nations, because officially what's known as Palestine is claimed by the Israeli zionists.
¨Ongoing Conflicts¨ Palestine is in war with Israel since the formation of the Israeli state in 1948. The existence of Palestine itself is disputed by many nations, such as the USA and Israel.
Welcome to the international embassy of Palestine!
=Diplomatic Relations=
Diplomatic relations with: Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, China, Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Turkey, Algeria and Lebanon
Member of: the OIC and the League of Arab States.
=Summary=
Palestine is a name which has been widely used since Roman times to refer to the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. Other terms that have been used to refer to all or part of this area include Israel, "Greater Israel" (Hebrew Eretz Yisrael), Southern Syria, Greater Syria, Arabistan, Canaan, and the Holy Land.
In the broad geographical sense, Palestine refers to an area that includes contemporary Israel and the Palestinian territories, parts of Jordan, and parts of Lebanon and Syria. In the narrow sense, it refers to the area within the boundaries of the former British Mandate of Palestine (1920-1948) west of the Jordan River.
Today, Palestine may also refer to the State of Palestine proposed by the Palestinian National Authority.
Within the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the term Palestine has weighty political connotations and arouses fierce controversy.
=Brief History=
Current status
Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and neighboring Arab states eliminated Palestine as a distinct territory. With the establishment of Israel, the remaining lands were divided amongst Egypt, Syria and Jordan. The Arab governments at this point refused to set up a State of Palestine.
 
The region as of today: Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan HeightsIn addition to the UN-partitioned area it was allotted, Israel captured 26% of the Mandate territory west of the Jordan river. Jordan captured and annexed about 21% of the Mandate territory, known today as the West Bank. Jerusalem was divided, with Jordan taking the eastern parts, including the Old City, and Israel taking the western parts. The Gaza Strip was captured by Egypt.
For a description of the massive population movements, Arab and Jewish, at the time of the 1948 war and over the following decades, see Palestinian exodus and Jewish exodus from Arab lands.
From the 1960s onward, the term "Palestine" was regularly used in political contexts. Various declarations, such as the 15 November 1988 proclamation of a State of Palestine by the PLO referred to a country called Palestine, defining its borders based on the U.N. Resolution 242 and 383 and the principle of land for peace. The Green Line was the 1967 border established by many UN resolutions including those mentioned above.
In the course of the Six Day War in June 1967, Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan and Gaza from Egypt.
According to the CIA World Factbook,of the ten million people living between Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea, about five million (49%) identify as Palestinian, Arab, Bedouin and/or Druze. One million of those are citizens of Israel. The other four million are residents of the West Bank and Gaza, which are under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian National Authority.
In the West Bank, 360,000 Israeli settlers live in a hundred scattered settlements with connecting corridors. The 2.5 million West Bank Palestinians live in four blocs centered in Hebron, Ramallah, Nablus, and Jericho. In 2005, all the Israeli settlers were evacuated from the Gaza Strip in keeping with Ariel Sharon's plan for unilateral disengagement, and control over the area was transferred to the Palestinian Authority.
=Diplomatic Messages=
After the split up of the Palestine territories into a Hamas part (Gaza) and a Fatah part (Westbank) the Palestine Authority was in crisis. Thanks to the good work of the Egypt government Fatah and Hamas came to an agreement to stop their disputes and end their conflict with new elections. These elections were hold at the end of 2008.
Unsuspected by Fatah and Hamas was that the people of Palestine decided to chose to punish both parties and vote for a new direction. The people of Palestine were terrible annoyed by the conflicts between Fatah and Hamas while they also suffered under the Israeli regime.
Professor Sari Nusseibeh which is known from his studies in the US and New Zealand entered the political stage to lead the Third Way party. He said that his enter was need because of the chaos Hamas and Fatah brought the Palestine territories.
The results of the elections in the Palestine territories gave two answers. First of all that the people of Palestine had enough of the Hamas-Fatah conflicts and both parties were hardly punished and the Palestinians voted an mass for Sari Nusseibeh his Third Way. 
A second statement what the Palestinians made with their vote is that although they choose for the Third Way that Hamas and Fatah are still popular each in their own region (Hamas at Gaza and Fatah at Westbank). Because Sari Nusseibeh his Third Way needed a coalition because his party was not big enough to control the parliament alone he decided to form a coalition with both Hamas and Fatah. This was based on the fact that a coalition without Hamas or Fatah wouldn't be accept in Gaza and/or Westbank.
=Seats in the Palestine Parliament=
Palestinian Legislative Council (Total Members 133)
Third Way - 52 seats
Hamas- 34 seats
Fatah- 32 seats
Total Coalition- 118
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine- 4 seats
Independant Palestine- 3 seats
Freedom and Social Justice- 1 seats
Independants- 7 seats
Total Opposition - 15
President: Sari Nusseibeh (Third Way Party)
Vice President: Abu Setite (Fatah)
Vice President: Ismail Haniya (Hamas)
=Ministers in the Palestine Authority=
President: Sari Nusseibeh (Third Way)
Minister of Foreign Business and Vice President: Abu Setite (Fatah)
Minister of Domestic Issues and Vice President: Ismail Haniya (Hamas)
Minister of Security: Khouloud Daibes (Fatah)
Minister of Trafic: Salam Fayyad (Third Way)
Minister of Sport: Mahmoud Zahar (Hamas)
Minister of Trade: Sami Abdel-Shafi (Third Way)
Minister of Education: Hanan Ashrawi (Third Way)
=Resources=
(Links to pages which will help players or mods, wikipedia, flag, signature, etc.)