e death of longtime Palestinian leader Yasir
ARAFAT in November 2004, the election of his successor Mahmud ABBAS
in January 2005 could bring a turning point in the conflict.

Geography West Bank

Location:
Middle East, west of Jordan

Geographic coordinates:
32 00 N, 35 15 E

Map references:
Middle East

Area:
total: 5,860 sq km
note: includes West Bank, Latrun Salient, and the northwest quarter
of the Dead Sea, but excludes Mt. Scopus; East Jerusalem and
Jerusalem No Man's Land are also included only as a means of
depicting the entire area occupied by Israel in 1967
water: 220 sq km
land: 5,640 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly smaller than Delaware

Land boundaries:
total: 404 km
border countries: Israel 307 km, Jordan 97 km

Coastline:
0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims:
none (landlocked)

Climate:
temperate; temperature and precipitation vary with altitude, warm
to hot summers, cool to mild winters

Terrain:
mostly rugged dissected upland, some vegetation in west, but barren
in east

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Dead Sea -408 m
highest point: Tall Asur 1,022 m

Natural resources:
arable land

Land use:
arable land: 16.9%
permanent crops: 18.97%
other: 64.13% (2001)

Irrigated land:
NA sq km

Natural hazards:
droughts

Environment - current issues:
adequacy of fresh water supply; sewage treatment

Geography - note:
landlocked; highlands are main recharge area for Israel's coastal
aquifers; there are 244 West Bank settlements and 29 East Jerusalem
settlements in addition to at least 20 occupied outposts(August 2003
est.)

People West Bank

Population:
2,311,204
note: in addition, there are about 187,000 Israeli settlers in the
West Bank and fewer than 177,000 in East Jerusalem (July 2004 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 43.8% (male 518,470; female 493,531)
15-64 years: 52.8% (male 623,785; female 595,376)
65 years and over: 3.5% (male 34,226; female 45,816) (2004 est.)

Median age:
total: 18 years
male: 17.8 years
female: 18.2 years (2004 est.)

Population growth rate:
3.21% (2004 est.)

Birth rate:
33.21 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Death rate:
4.07 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Net migration rate:
2.98 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 y