Israeli Occupied Territories

Arab territories captured by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War and subsequently occupied. These territories comprised the Gaza Strip and Sinai peninsula (captured from Egypt), the West Bank and East Jerusalem (captured from Jordan), and the Golan Heights (captured from Syria).

Israeli governments encouraged the expansion of Jewish settlements in these territories, which were effectively placed under military rule, with Palestinian Arabs there denied the rights enjoyed by the Palestinian population in Israel. Palestinians' frustrations erupted in the Intifada of 1987-93.

Israel handed Sinai back to Egypt in the early 1980s as part of an Israeli-Egyptian peace accord and in 1993 agreement was reached between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization for Israel to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho, with control handed over to the Palestine National Authority in July 1994. Israel also agreed to phased withdrawal from other areas of the West Bank.