Thursday 24 January 2013

About Palestine

Source(google.com.pk)
About Palestine Biography

The location of Palestine is at the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Palestine is located to the south of Lebanon and to the west of Jordan. Palestine Geography consists of four regions in the country. The four regions of Palestine Geography are Jordan valley and Ghawr, coastal and inner plains, Mountain and Hills and Southern Desert. Palestine is also split into 8 governing districts Nablus and Jenin to the North, Ramallah and Jerusalem in the center, Jericho to the east, Bethlehem and Hebron to the south, and Gaza – located to the west of Israel.
The Palestinian territories are composed of two discontinuous regions: The West bank, including east Jerusalem, which has an area of 5655 square kilometers and a total population of 2.4 Millions according to 2009 statistics of Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics “PCBS”, and the Gaza Strip, which is a small enclave located to the south of the Palestinian coast, and has a total area of 365 square kilometres and a population of 1.5 millions according to the 2009 statistics of PCBS too.
The Palestinian territories, which were originally contained within the British Mandate of Palestine, fell under the control of Egypt and Jordan in the late 1940s, and captured and occupied by Israel following the 1967  War. In 1980 Israel claimed to annex East Jerusalem from the West Bank, but United Nations Security Council Resolution 478 declared this illegal and required that it be rescinded forthwith, while affirming that it was a violation of international law.
Following the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, portions of the territories have been governed in varying degrees by the Palestinian Authority, which was established according to these accords. Israel does not consider East Jerusalem to be part of the West Bank. Israel claims that both fall under full Israeli law and jurisdiction .This has not been recognized by any other country, since unilateral annexations of territory are prohibited by customary and conventional international law
Palestine’s Problems
Poverty; Over half of Palestinians live under the Poverty line - 45.7% in the West Bank and 79.4% in Gaza strip.
Refugees; There are a registered Palestinian Refugees in the Middle East total 4,618,141 - with an estimated total of 5.5 million refugees worldwide.
The Wall; The Wall’s total length is 723km - twice the length of the Green Line (the internationally recognised border) between the West Bank and Israel. When complete, 14% of the Wall will be constructed on the Green Line or in Israel, while 86% will be inside of the West Bank.
Settlements; There are currently 121 Israeli settlements and approximately 102 Israeli outposts. Both are built illegally on lands occupied in 1967. There are also approximately 462,000 Israeli settlers living in the West Bank.  191,000 are in settlements around Jerusalem and 271,400 are further spread throughout the West Bank
Housing Difficulties; The UN has stated that Palestinians face a housing crisis because of inadequate urban planning by Israeli officials who run the east Jerusalem region. 28 % of Palestinian homes in the area have been built without permits, which makes them targets for demolition by Israeli authorities (OCHA) - more than a quarter of the 225,000 Palestinians in east Jerusalem risk losing their homes.
Restriction of Movement; The occupying forces have constructed over 500 checkpoints throughout the West Bank – which severely hinder not only the freedom of movement but also the natural economic growth of Palestine. Similarly, the erratic closing of the checkpoints has meant that the citizens who attempt to travel to work via checkpoints are faced with the prospect of their access being closed. Ultimately resulting in small businesses being severely jeopardised and individuals who work in the bigger cities or in Israel losing their jobs if not allowed passed.
When a Palestinian turns on the television or flips through a newspaper, he/she always encounter some form of misrepresenation of the Palestinian people. The word "terrorist" is constantly repeated in the media when describing Palestinians. When a Palestinian blows up an Israeli bus, he is labeled as a terrorist, but when an Israeli soldier aims and shoots at the eyes and heads of Palestinian children, he is a soldier defending himself. When six, seven, or even eight Palestinians are killed each day, the story is usually hidden at the end of the newspaper or does not even make the evening news. But when an Israeli dies, it is on every single major television network and all over the newspapers.
       The media plays a very important role in modern politics because it is responsible for providing information to the public. What people read or watch on television has an enormous influence on how people think and behave. The media's perception and presentation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has caused the public to be misinformed and confused.
       The public and even some journalists are not aware of the history that exists between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Do the people know of the British betrayal of the Palestinian people after World War I? Do people know what the Sykes-Picot Agreement is, or the significance of the Balfour Declaration? In order for people to understand what is going on between the Palestinians and the Israelis, they need to be accurately informed and have a clear understanding of the history of that region.
       However, what the viewer sees on television is a thirty second segment of a blown up bus and women and children crying while the anchor explains that this is another, "Palestinian terrorist attack on Israel." Lately, it has been the image of young boys throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers while the reporter is interviewing an Israeli official who accuses Palestinian parents of sending their children to the front line to get sympathy from the world. Regarding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the media presents the same theme over and over again and portrays Israel as the victim and the Palestinians as the villain and as aggressors.
About Palestine
About Palestine
About Palestine
About Palestine
About Palestine
About Palestine
About Palestine
About Palestine
About Palestine
About Palestine
About Palestine

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