at broke out in September
2000. The resulting widespread violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,
Israel's military response, and instability within the Palestinian
Authority continue to undermine progress toward a permanent agreement.

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: NEGL% permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (1998 est.)

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 231 Israeli settlements and
civilian land use sites in the West Bank and 29 in East Jerusalem
(August 2001 est.)

People West Bank

Population: 2,163,667 (July 2002 est.) note: in addition, there are
about 182,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank and about 176,000 in
East Jerusalem (August 2001 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years: 44.4% (male 492,446; female 468,321) 15-64
years: 52% (male 575,282; female 550,793) 65 years and over: 3.6%
(male 33,163; female 43,662) (2002 est.)

Population growth rate: 3.39% (2002 est.)

Birth rate: 34.94 births/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Death rate: 4.26 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Net migration rate: 3.18 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Sex ratio: at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05
male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 65 years and over:
0.76 male(s)/female total population: 1.04 male(s)/female (2002 est.)

Infan