Information: A state.

Palestine, recognized officially as the State of Palestine by the United Nations and other entities, is a sovereign state in Western Asia claiming the West Bank (bordering Israel and Jordan) and Gaza Strip (bordering Israel and Egypt) with East Jerusalem as the designated capital, although its administrative center is currently located in Ramallah. The entirety of territory claimed by the State of Palestine has been occupied since 1948, first by Egypt and Jordan and then by Israel after the Six-Day War in 1967.

On 15 November 1988, Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Algiers, proclaimed the establishment of the State of Palestine. A year after the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, the Palestinian National Authority was formed to govern the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Gaza would later be ruled by the Hamas in 2007, two years after the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

The State of Palestine is recognized by 138 United Nations members and since 2012 has a status of a non-member observer state. There are a wide variety of views regarding the status of the State of Palestine, both among the states of the international community and among legal scholars. The existence of a state of Palestine, although controversial, is a reality in the opinions of the states that have established bilateral diplomatic relations.

When World War I ended in 1918 with an Allied victory, the 400-year Ottoman Empire rule ended, and Great Britain took control over what became known as Palestine (modern-day Israel, Palestine and Jordan). The Balfour Declaration and the British mandate over Palestine were approved by the League of Nations in 1922. Before Israel became a nation, the majority of people dwelling in the region were Palestinians – Arabs who lived in what was then known as Palestine.

National Dance: Dabke

Language: Arabic

Religion: Predominantly Muslim