About 750,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled during the 1948 war. Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza in 1967. Israeli settlements, military operations and movement restrictions continue to displace families and limit where Palestinians can live and move. Many remain in their homeland; many live in exile.
1945
The ≈ ⅔ figure refers to people, not land. Green does not mean Palestinian ownership or rule.
Palestinian Arabs lived in towns and villages throughout British Mandate Palestine. They made up about two-thirds of the population in the mid-1940s.
Land ownership, the 1947 partition proposal and the territory Israel controlled after the 1948 war tell different parts of the history.
Sources for the comparison 1945 land records · 1947 UN partition proposal · UN history and refugee backgrounder.
c. 1900
Sources: R. Huber / Library of Congress and PalQuest.
The Ottoman Empire governed the region through several districts. Jerusalem was a separate district. Acre and Nablus belonged to the province of Beirut. [24] [25]
1923–46
Sources: Uri Farkash / Wikimedia Commons (adapted, CC BY-SA 4.0).
British forces took control in 1917–18, and the League of Nations Mandate took effect in 1923. By the mid-1940s, Palestinian Arabs made up about two-thirds of the population. Land records distinguish Arab-owned, Jewish-owned and public or waste land. [26] [29] [1] [18]
1945 · Ownership
Sources: UN land-ownership map and Village Statistics 1945, Table I.
The circles sit near subdistrict centres and show each subdistrict’s shares. The Mandate records left title unresolved for most of Beersheba, including land used by Bedouin communities. [30] [31]
1947 · Proposal
Sources: UN partition plan and Uri Farkash / Wikimedia Commons (adapted, CC BY-SA 4.0).
UN General Assembly Resolution 181 proposed separate Arab and Jewish states, allocating just over half the territory to the proposed Jewish state. It proposed international administration for Jerusalem. [2] [3]
1949 · Control
Sources: UN historical overview.
After the 1948 war, the State of Israel controlled about 77% of former Mandate Palestine. About 750,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes. [3] [4] [17]
1967
Sources: UN historical overview and ICJ case record.
Israeli forces captured the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. The two territories went from separate Jordanian and Egyptian control to Israeli military occupation. [3] [6]
From 1995
Sources: UNICEF geographic layer.
Palestinian civil administration was concentrated in separate areas. Israel retained near-exclusive control over Area C, which covers more than 60% of the West Bank. [19] [20]
December 2025
Sources: UN OCHA access map and UNICEF geographic layer.
The UN documented 925 movement obstacles in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Of these, 307 were checkpoints staffed continuously or intermittently. [7] [16]
Each percentage is a share of that subdistrict’s land. *Hadawi’s compilation includes 142,050 dunums held by other owners in its Arab column, about 0.54% of the total area. It also records unresolved title in Beersheba separately from public land. [30]
| Subdistrict | Arab column* | Jewish-owned | Public | Unresolved |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acre | 87.3% | 3.1% | 9.6% | 0.0% |
| Beersheba | 15.4% | 0.5% | <0.1% | 84.1% |
| Beisan | 44.9% | 34.0% | 21.1% | 0.0% |
| Gaza | 75.7% | 4.4% | 19.8% | 0.0% |
| Haifa | 44.6% | 35.3% | 20.1% | 0.0% |
| Hebron | 95.7% | 0.3% | 4.1% | 0.0% |
| Jaffa | 52.9% | 38.6% | 8.5% | 0.0% |
| Jenin | 84.1% | 0.5% | 15.4% | 0.0% |
| Jerusalem | 88.4% | 2.1% | 9.5% | 0.0% |
| Nablus | 88.4% | <0.1% | 11.6% | 0.0% |
| Nazareth | 52.9% | 27.6% | 19.5% | 0.0% |
| Ramallah | 99.4% | <0.1% | 0.6% | 0.0% |
| Ramle | 78.8% | 14.0% | 7.1% | 0.0% |
| Safad | 70.5% | 17.5% | 12.0% | 0.0% |
| Tiberias | 52.6% | 38.0% | 9.5% | 0.0% |
| Tulkarm | 77.9% | 16.9% | 5.2% | 0.0% |
| All subdistricts | 48.5% | 5.7% | 5.7% | 40.2% |
The 1945 map shows recorded ownership shares, not individual properties. The later maps show proposed borders, state control or restrictions. Palestinians also lived outside the green areas. The maps simplify boundaries and do not capture every aspect of life or control on the ground.
The British Mandate and 1947 maps adapt Uri Farkash’s partition map under CC BY-SA 4.0. Geography comes from Natural Earth. The Golan Heights are outside the area shown.
The Oslo areas come from UNICEF. West Bank obstacle totals come from UN OCHA’s December 2025 survey; for individual locations, see its access map.
The 1870s Survey of Western Palestine records towns, villages and terrain at about one inch to a mile. It complements the 1899 Ottoman administrative map, which shows the empire’s divisions.
Ottoman tax registers from 1596 help locate recorded villages and districts. They cover taxable settlements and households, with gaps.
Source UN OCHA’s December 2025 survey, published April 2026.
| Governorate | Obstacles |
|---|---|
| Bethlehem | 79 |
| Hebron | 227 |
| Jenin | 19 |
| Jericho | 27 |
| Jerusalem | 89 |
| Nablus | 135 |
| Qalqilya | 50 |
| Ramallah | 183 |
| Salfit | 53 |
| Tubas | 34 |
| Tulkarm | 29 |
| Total | 925 |
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In its October 2026 update, UNICEF reported that demolitions, settler violence and related access restrictions had displaced an average of 17 Palestinians a day in the West Bank that year, including eight children. [21]
By early November, the UN had recorded 377 attacks by Israeli settlers connected to the olive harvest since the season started in September. Farmers faced assaults, theft and restrictions on reaching their land. [22]
The Israeli government evacuated Israeli settlements and withdrew permanent ground forces from Gaza in 2005. The International Court of Justice said Israel continued to exercise key elements of authority and that its obligations under occupation law corresponded to its degree of effective control. [6]
In early November 2026, the UN reported that airstrikes, shooting and shelling by Israeli forces continued to hit populated areas in Gaza. Gunfire damaged tents at a displacement site in northern Rafah and forced an aid organisation working on flood protection to leave. [22] [23]
Who can move, where can people build, and which laws govern them?
Under the Rome Statute, the crime of apartheid involves inhumane acts committed in an institutionalised regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over another, with intent to maintain that regime. [8]
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the Israeli organisation B’Tselem concluded that Israeli authorities practise apartheid against Palestinians. Their analyses differ in scope. Human Rights Watch found the elements of the crime came together in the occupied territory, including East Jerusalem. [9] [10] [11]
In July 2024, the Court concluded that Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful and must end as rapidly as possible. It also found that measures imposed by Israeli authorities maintained near-complete separation between settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, breaching Article 3 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Article 3 prohibits racial segregation and apartheid. The majority left open which applied. The Israeli government rejected the advisory opinion and argued for a negotiated settlement. [6] [14]
The Court also found that Israeli settlements and the sections of the separation barrier built in occupied territory violate international law. Palestinian citizens of Israel have the right to vote in Israeli national elections. In the occupied West Bank, settlers and Palestinians are generally subject to different legal regimes. [5] [6] [15]
In South Africa v Israel, the Court issued binding interim orders under the Genocide Convention in 2024. The question of whether genocide occurred is a matter for the merits of that case. [12]
Australia formally recognised the State of Palestine on 21 September 2025. The ICJ’s 2024 occupation opinion says states must refrain from recognising as lawful the situation arising from Israel’s unlawful presence in the occupied territory or helping maintain it. [6] [13]
A question for your federal MP
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Use the AEC’s postcode or suburb search to find your electorate and the name of your federal MP. If you write, include a question you’d like them to answer in their own words.
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