{ "Introduction": { "Background": { "text": "
Inhabited since at least the 15th century B.C., the West Bank has been dominated by many different peoples throughout its history; it was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in the early 16th century. The West Bank fell to British forces during World War I, becoming part of the British Mandate of Palestine. Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the West Bank was captured by Transjordan (later renamed Jordan), which annexed the West Bank in 1950; it was captured by Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967. Under a series of agreements known as the Oslo accords signed between 1993 and 1999, Israel transferred to the newly created Palestinian Authority (PA) security and civilian responsibility for many Palestinian-populated areas of the West Bank as well as the Gaza Strip. In 2000, a violent intifada or uprising began, and in 2001 negotiations to determine the permanent status of the West Bank and Gaza Strip stalled. Subsequent attempts to re-start direct negotiations have not resulted in progress toward determining final status of the area.
In 2017, the economic outlook in the West Bank - the larger of the two areas comprising the Palestinian Territories – remained fragile, as security concerns and political friction slowed economic growth. Unemployment in the West Bank remained high at 19.0% in the third quarter of 2017, only slightly better than 19.6% at the same point the previous year, while the labor force participation rate remained flat, year-on-year.
Longstanding Israeli restrictions on imports, exports, and movement of goods and people continue to disrupt labor and trade flows and the territory’s industrial capacity, and constrain private sector development. The PA’s budget benefited from an effort to improve tax collection, coupled with lower spending in 2017, but the PA for the foreseeable future will continue to rely heavily on donor aid for its budgetary needs and infrastructure development.
" }, "Real GDP growth rate": { "Real GDP growth rate 2014": { "text": "5.3% (2014 est.)" }, "Real GDP growth rate 2013": { "text": "1% (2013 est.)" }, "Real GDP growth rate 2012": { "text": "6% (2012 est.)" }, "note": "note: excludes Gaza Strip" }, "Inflation rate (consumer prices)": { "Inflation rate (consumer prices) 2017": { "text": "0.2% (2017 est.)" }, "Inflation rate (consumer prices) 2016": { "text": "-0.2% (2016 est.)" }, "note": "note: excludes Gaza Strip" }, "Real GDP (purchasing power parity)": { "Real GDP (purchasing power parity) 2014": { "text": "$21.22 billion (2014 est.)" }, "Real GDP (purchasing power parity) 2013": { "text": "$20.15 billion (2013 est.)" }, "Real GDP (purchasing power parity) 2012": { "text": "$19.95 billion (2012 est.)" }, "note": "note: data are in 2014 US dollars; includes Gaza Strip" }, "GDP (official exchange rate)": { "text": "$9.828 billion (2014 est.)the current status of the West Bank is subject to the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement - permanent status to be determined through further negotiation; Israel continues construction of a \"seam line\" separation barrier along parts of the Green Line and within the West Bank; Israel withdrew from Gaza and four settlements in the northern West Bank in August 2005; since 1948, about 350 peacekeepers from the UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), headquartered in Jerusalem, monitor ceasefires, supervise armistice agreements, prevent isolated incidents from escalating, and assist other UN personnel in the region
" }, "Refugees and internally displaced persons": { "refugees (country of origin)": { "text": "858,758 (Palestinian refugees) (2020)" }, "IDPs": { "text": "131,000 (includes persons displaced within the Gaza strip due to the intensification of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since June 2014 and other Palestinian IDPs in the Gaza Strip and West Bank who fled as long ago as 1967, although confirmed cumulative data do not go back beyond 2006) (2020)" }, "note": "data represent Gaza Strip and West Bank" } } }