Occupied Palestinian Territory (also known as the occupied Palestinian territories, oPt, OPT or Palestine) comprises the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem - territories that have been under Israeli military occupation since the 1967 war.[1][2][3] Though East Jerusalem was annexed to Israel under its domestic laws in 1980, the legality of that annexation lacks international recognition.[2]
Palestinians are generally prevented from traveling between the different areas of the occupied Palestinian territories.[2] Cities, towns, villages, and refugee camps are divided into isolated enclaves by Israeli military checkpoints, fences and barriers (including the Israeli West Bank barrier and the Gaza Strip barrier), Israeli settlements, and closed military areas, effected by West Bank closures or in areas such as the Seam Zone.[2]
The Occupied Palestinian Territories ranked 110th out of 182 countries in the Human Development Index (HDI) survey conducted by the UNDP for 2009.[4]
In July 2004, The International Court of Justice delivered an Advisory Opinion on the 'Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory'. The Court observed that under customary international law as reflected in Article 42 of the Regulations Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land annexed to the Fourth Hague Convention of 18 October 1907, territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostile army, and the occupation extends only to the territory where such authority has been established and can be exercised.
The State of Israel raised a number of exceptions and objections,[5] but the Court found them unpersuasive. The Court ruled that territories had been occupied by the Israeli armed forces in 1967, during the conflict between Israel and Jordan, and that subsequent events in those territories, had done nothing to alter the situation.