Geography of the West Bank and Gaza Strip

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See also: Category:Maps of the Palestinian territories

[edit] West Bank

Location: Middle East, west of Jordan

Geographic coordinates: 32°00′N 35°15′E

Map references: Middle East

Area:
total: 5,860 km²
land: 5,640 km²
water: 220 km²
note: includes West Bank, Latrun Salient, and the northwest quarter of the Dead Sea, but excludes Mount 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

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: 27%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 32%
forests and woodland: 1%
other: 40%

Irrigated land: NA km²

Natural hazards: NA

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 1999 est.)

[edit] Gaza Strip

Location: Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt and Israel

Geographic coordinates: 31°25′N 34°20′E

Map references: Middle East

Area:
total: 360 km²
land: 360 km²
water: 0 km²

Area - comparative: slightly more than twice the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries:
total: 62 km
border countries: Egypt 11 km, Israel 51 km

Coastline: 40 km

Maritime claims: Israeli-occupied with current status subject to the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement - permanent status to be determined through further negotiation

Climate: temperate, mild winters, dry and warm to hot summers

Terrain: flat to rolling, sand- and dune-covered coastal plain

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Mediterranean Sea 0 m
highest point: Abu 'Awdah (Joz Abu 'Auda) 105 m

Natural resources: arable land

Land use:
arable land: 24%
permanent crops: 39%
permanent pastures: 0%
forests and woodland: 11%
other: 26% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 120 km² (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: NA

Environment - current issues: desertification; salination of fresh water; sewage treatment

Geography - note: there are 24 Israeli settlements and civilian land use sites in the Gaza Strip (August 1999 est.)

See also : Gaza Strip