The place and the people

Where is it?

At the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. People call it by different names — the Land of Israel, Palestine, the Holy Land — and even the name is part of the argument. Today it has three parts:

• IsraelIsrael✕The Jewish-majority state founded in 1948. It is a parliamentary democracy of about 10 million people, about one fifth of them Arab citizens.All words explained →, a Jewish-majority state founded in 1948.
• The West BankWest Bank✕Land west of the Jordan River. Jordan ruled it from 1949 to 1967; Israel has occupied it since 1967. About 3.4 million Palestinians and over 700,000 Israeli settlers live there (counting East Jerusalem). Many Israelis call it by its biblical names, Judea and Samaria.All words explained →, occupiedOccupation✕In international law, when an army controls territory outside its own country. The UN and the International Court of Justice consider the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza to be occupied by Israel since 1967. In a 2024 advisory opinion, which is not binding, the court said the occupation is unlawful and should end as soon as possible.The Israeli government: the West Bank is 'disputed', not occupied, because it was never a sovereign Palestinian state and Jews have deep historical ties to it; Gaza was not occupied after Israel left in 2005.Palestinians: a military occupation that controls every part of their lives, and the root of the conflict.All words explained → by Israel since 1967. Palestinians run their own cities, but the Israeli army controls most of the land.
• The Gaza StripGaza Strip✕A narrow piece of land on the Mediterranean coast, between Israel and Egypt, about 41 km long. Egypt ruled it from 1949 to 1967. Israel occupied it from 1967; in 2005 it withdrew its settlers and soldiers but kept control of Gaza's coast, airspace and border with Israel, so the UN says the occupation continued. Hamas took control in 2007. Since the 2023–25 war, Israeli troops hold most of it.All words explained →, a narrow piece of coast next to Egypt. The armed group Hamas took control in 2007. Since 2023, the war between Israel and Hamas has destroyed much of it.

Who lives there?

• Israel: about 10.2 millionPeople living in Israel✕about 10.2 millionAs of April 202610,244,000: about 7.8 million Jews and others (76%), about 2.16 million Arabs (21%) and about 300,000 foreign residents. Israel's official count includes East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and Israeli settlers in the West Bank.Source: Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) — Population of Israel on Independence Day 2026 (Apr 2026)Israel's official figures include residents of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, and Israeli settlers in the West Bank. people in Israel's own count, which includes the Israeli settlers and East Jerusalem. About one in five are Arabs, most of them citizens of Israel.
• The West Bank: about 3.4 millionPalestinians living in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem)✕about 3.4 millionAs of end of 2025Palestinian official estimate: 3,430,062. About 400,000 of them live in East Jerusalem.Source: Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) — The Palestinian people at the end of 2025 (Dec 2025)Official Palestinian statistics. No census has been possible in Gaza since the war; Israel disputes some wartime PCBS figures. Palestinians (including East Jerusalem) and more than 700,000Israeli settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem✕about 737,000As of end of 2024About 504,000 in the West Bank and about 234,000 in East Jerusalem. Settler organisations, using Israel's population register, give a higher West Bank figure (about 529,000 at the start of 2025).Sources: European Union (EEAS) — Report on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem (January–December 2024) (2025)Peace Now (Israeli anti-settlement group) — Settlements data: population and number of settlements (2026) Israeli settlersSettlements✕Israeli towns and villages built on land Israel captured in 1967, mainly in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Most countries and the UN consider them illegal under international law, which forbids moving your own population into occupied land. Israel disputes this.All words explained →.
• Gaza: about 2.1 millionPeople living in Gaza✕about 2.1 millionAs of end of 2025Palestinian official estimate (2,127,034). Before the war it was about 2.2 million. About half are children. Most are descendants of refugees from 1948. No census has been possible since the war began.Source: Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) — The Palestinian people at the end of 2025 (Dec 2025)Official Palestinian statistics. No census has been possible in Gaza since the war; Israel disputes some wartime PCBS figures. Palestinians, about half of them children.

Go deeper · optionalMore about the people and the land▾

Israelis. About three in four people in Israel are Jewish. Their families came from Europe, the Arab world, Iran, Ethiopia, the former Soviet Union and elsewhere. Israel's count includes about 2.2 million ArabsArabs in Israel's population count✕about 2.2 million (21%)As of April 2026About 1.8 million are Arab citizens of Israel; about 400,000 are Palestinians in East Jerusalem, most of whom are residents but not citizens. Most are Muslim; there are also Christians and Druze. Many Arab citizens call themselves Palestinian citizens of Israel. They vote, sit in parliament and serve as judges and doctors; many also say they are treated as second-class citizens, for example over land and housing. (The Palestinian statistics office gives a lower figure, 1.9 million, because it counts East Jerusalem's Palestinians with the West Bank.)Source: Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) — Population of Israel on Independence Day 2026 (Apr 2026)Israel's official figures include residents of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, and Israeli settlers in the West Bank.: about 1.8 million Arab citizens of Israel — mostly Muslim, some Christian or Druze — and about 400,000 Palestinians in East Jerusalem, most of whom are residents but not citizens.

Palestinians. Most people in Gaza are descendants of refugees from 1948. Many Palestinians also live abroad, especially in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria: there are about 15.5 millionPalestinians worldwide✕about 15.5 millionAs of end of 2025Palestinian official estimate: about 5.6 million in the West Bank and Gaza, 1.9 million inside Israel (as Israeli citizens), 6.8 million in Arab countries and 1.3 million elsewhere.Source: Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) — The Palestinian people at the end of 2025 (Dec 2025)Official Palestinian statistics. No census has been possible in Gaza since the war; Israel disputes some wartime PCBS figures. in the world, and about 6 millionRegistered Palestine refugees✕about 6 millionAs of 2025Registered with UNRWA in Jordan, Gaza, the West Bank, Syria and Lebanon. Descendants of the 1948 refugees are also registered. Israel says this keeps the refugee problem alive artificially; UNRWA says the UN treats other long refugee crises the same way.Source: UNRWA (UN agency for Palestine refugees) — Palestine refugees are registered with the UN as refugees.

Distances. In the centre of the country, the Mediterranean coast is only about 70 km (45 miles) from the Jordan River — about an hour's drive. Inside its 1949 borders Israel covers about 20,800 km² (8,000 square miles)Size of Israel (inside its 1949 borders)✕about 20,800 km² (8,000 square miles)About the size of Wales. About 22,000 km² if East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights are included; Israel annexed them, but most countries do not recognise this.Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica — Israel; the West Bank covers about 5,660 km² (2,185 square miles)Size of the West Bank✕about 5,660 km² (2,185 square miles)Including East Jerusalem — a little smaller than the US state of Delaware.Source: Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) — The Palestinian people at the end of 2025 (Dec 2025)Official Palestinian statistics. No census has been possible in Gaza since the war; Israel disputes some wartime PCBS figures.; Gaza covers 365 km²Size of the Gaza Strip✕365 km² (141 square miles)About 41 km (25 miles) long and 6 to 12 km (4 to 7.5 miles) wide — roughly twice the size of Washington, D.C. Before the war it was one of the most crowded places on Earth.Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica — Gaza Strip — about twice the size of Washington, D.C.

Why does it matter so much?

For Jews, this is where their people began. Jewish kingdoms ruled from Jerusalem about 3,000 years ago. After the Romans destroyed the Jewish Temple in the year 70, most Jews lived in exile for almost 2,000 years — but they kept praying towards Jerusalem, and a small community always stayed.

For Palestinians, this is the homeland where their families have lived, generation after generation, for many centuries — in villages and in old cities such as Jerusalem, Jaffa, Nablus, Hebron and Gaza.

Jerusalem is holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims. The Temple Mount / Al-AqsaTemple Mount / Al-Aqsa✕A hilltop in Jerusalem's Old City. For Jews it is the holiest place, where their ancient Temples stood. For Muslims it is the Noble Sanctuary (Haram al-Sharif), home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, the third-holiest site in Islam. Its status is one of the most sensitive issues in the conflict.All words explained → compound is the holiest place in Judaism and the third-holiest in Islam.

Two views

Whose land is it?

Many Israelis say

This is the Jewish people's homeland, where their nation, faith and language were born, and where Jews have always lived and always prayed to return. They came back from Europe, the Arab world and beyond, many fleeing persecution that ended in the HolocaustHolocaust✕The murder of about six million Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies during the Second World War (1941–1945). It convinced many countries that the Jewish people needed a state of their own.All words explained →. Israel is the one place where Jews are not a vulnerable minority.

Many Palestinians say

This is the Palestinians' homeland, where they lived for generations with their own towns, culture and national identity. They had nothing to do with Europe's persecution of Jews, but they paid the price: most lost their land and homes, and many still live as refugees or under military rule.

These are widely held views, not the views of every Israeli or every Palestinian. Both societies argue about these questions among themselves.