The Quds Governorate (Arabic: محافظة القدس, romanized: Muḥāfaẓat al-Quds; Hebrew: נפת אל-קודס), also Jerusalem Governorate, is one of the 16 governorates of Palestine and located in the central part of the West Bank. The current governor, appointed by the Palestinian National Authority, is Adnan Ghaith since 2018,[2] who succeeded to Adnan al-Husayni, appointed in 2008. The Governorate has two sub-districts: Jerusalem J1, which includes the localities within the territory controlled by the Israeli Jerusalem municipality (East Jerusalem), and Jerusalem J2, which includes the remaining parts of the Jerusalem Governorate.[3] The district capital of the Governorate is East Jerusalem (al-Quds).
The total land area of the governorate is 344 km2. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the governorate had a population of 429,500 residents in 2005, accounting for 10.5% of Palestinians living in the Palestinian territories in 2022 population had risen to 482,854 as official Statistics.[4]
Division
The Quds Governorate is divided into the sub-districts "Jerusalem J1" and "Jerusalem J2". Jerusalem J1 comprises the parts of the West Bank that were annexed by Israel in 1980 and included within the Israeli municipality Jerusalem. Jerusalem J1 is usually referred to as East Jerusalem. Jerusalem J2 comprises the parts of the Governorate that are not included in J1.[3]
Expanded Jerusalem with Israeli municipal boundary of annexed area, 1967
After the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Jerusalem was divided. West Jerusalem came under Israeli rule and East Jerusalem, including the Old City, was ruled by Jordan until 1967. In the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel occupied the West Bank and unified the two parts of the city. East Jerusalem, along with other parts of the West Bank and West Jerusalem, were incorporated in one municipality. However, according to an agreement between the PLO and Israel, East Jerusalem's Palestinian residents are allowed to participate in the PNA elections, and those that have taken up Israeli citizenship can vote in the elections for the Knesset as well.
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Palestine
