It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority.

Since 1995, Bethlehem has been governed by the Palestinian National Authority.

In 1995, Israel turned it over to the Palestinian National Authority in accordance with the Oslo peace accord.

On December 21, 1995, Israeli troops withdrew from Bethlehem, and three days later the city came under the complete administration and military control of the Palestinian National Authority in conformance with the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1995.

This document, which was accepted by the Palestinian National Council ( PNC ) after lobbying by Fatah and DFLP, cautiously introduced the concept of a two-state solution in the PLO, and caused a split in the organization leading to the formation of the Rejectionist Front, where radical organizations such as the PFLP, PFLP-GC, Palestine Liberation Front and others gathered with the backing of Syria, Libya and Iraq to oppose Arafat and the mainstream PLO stance.

* List of political parties in the Palestinian National Authority

However, the Hamas legislative victory led to a split between the two main Palestinian political parties, with Fatah retaining control of the Palestinian National Authority in the West Bank.

* List of political parties in the Palestinian National Authority

The agreement also established an elected 88-member Palestinian National Council, which held its inaugural session in Gaza in March 1996.

The US granted a request from the Palestinian National Authority for recognition of the West Bank and Gaza as a Country in view of developments including the Israeli-PLO Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements.

* Palestinian National Authority

In certain cases a special style is needed to accommodate imperfect statehood, e. g. the title Sardar-i-Riyasat was used in Kashmir after its accession to India, and PLO-leader Yasser Arafat was styled the first " President of the Palestinian National Authority " in 1994.

Article 3 of the Basic Law of the Palestinian Authority, which was ratified in 2002 by the Palestinian National Authority and serves as an interim constitution, states that " Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine.

* 2005 – Mahmoud Abbas wins the election to replace Yasser Arafat as President of the Palestinian National Authority.

* In the Palestinian National Authority, municipalities are localities with populations over 4, 000 and have 13-15 council members.

In his autobiography, From Jerusalem to Munich, first published in France in 1999, and later in a written interview with Sports Illustrated, Abu Daoud wrote that funds for Munich were provided by Mahmoud Abbas, Chairman of the PLO since 11 November 2004 and President of the Palestinian National Authority since 15 January 2005.

* 1988 – Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed by the Palestinian National Council.

* Palestinian National Authority, an administrative organisation established to govern parts of the Palestinian territories since 1994

The Palestinian National Covenant or Palestinian National Charter (; transliterated: al-Mithaq al-Watani al-Filastini ) is the charter or constitution of the Palestine Liberation Organization ( PLO ).

Later, ( Hirst, 2003, p. 427 ) a promised Charter amendment based on Fatah doctrine " that all Jews < nowiki > date restriction </ nowiki >... were to be entitled to Palestinian citizenship " failed due to doctrinal quarrels over the meaning of the precise nature of the proposed Democratic State.

Following Yasser Arafat's commitment to " submit to the Palestinian National Council for formal approval " the changes to the Charter confirming that " those articles of the Palestinian Covenant which deny Israel's right to exist, and the provisions of the Covenant which are inconsistent with the commitments of this letter are now inoperative and no longer valid " in the September 9, 1993 letters of mutual recognition, the PNC met in Gaza and voted on 24 April 1996.

At one time the text of the Charter at the official website of the Palestinian National Authority appended these amendments to the text of the 1968 charter ; the redrafting process referred to in the second amendment still remains uncompleted.

While this was seen as progress in some quarters, other Palestinian officials contended that the Charter had not yet been amended, and there were also reportedly discrepancies between the two letters.

Observers who had previously been skeptical of Palestinian claims that the Charter had been amended continued to voice doubts.

: The Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Central Council will reaffirm the letter of 22 January 1998 from PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat to President Clinton concerning the nullification of the Palestinian National Charter provisions that are inconsistent with the letters exchanged between the PLO and the Government of Israel on 9 – 10 September 1993.

: I thank you for your rejection — fully, finally and forever — of the passages in the Palestinian Charter calling for the destruction of Israel.

With official Israeli objections to the Charter disappearing henceforward from lists of Palestinian violations of agreements, the international legal controversy ended.

A June 1999 report by the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Information on the status of the Charter made no mention of the 1998 events and leading Palestinians continue to state that the Charter has not yet been amended.

* Palestinian National Charter ( 1968 ) published by The Avalon Project at Yale Law School

* Palestinian National Charter ( 1964 ) published by the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations

The first PNC, composed of 422 representatives, met in Jerusalem in May 1964 and adopted the Palestinian National Covenant ( also called Palestinian National Charter ).

The original PLO Charter stated the desire for a Palestinian state established within the entirety of the borders of the British mandate prior to the 1948 war ( i. e. the current boundaries of the State of Israel ) and said it is a " national duty ... to purge the Zionist presence from Palestine.

One of his main points was disagreement with the Oslo premise that the negotiations should proceed in stages, meaning that concessions should be made to Palestinians before any resolution was reached on major issues, such as the status of Jerusalem, and the amending of the Palestinian National Charter.

The Arab Higher Committee boycotted the Commission, explaining that the Palestinian Arabs ' natural rights were self-evident and could not continue to be subject to investigation, but rather deserved to be recognized on the basis of the principles of the United Nations Charter.

To the Palestinian people who view Palestine as their homeland, its boundaries are those of Mandate Palestine excluding the Transjordan, as described in the Palestinian National Charter.

The Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Central Council should reaffirm the letter of January 22, 1998 from PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat to President Clinton concerning the nullification of the Palestinian National Charter provisions that were inconsistent with the letters exchanged between the PLO and the Government of Israel on September 9 – 10, 1993.

He was born while his father was on crusade, attempting to create the County of Tripoli on the Palestinian coast.

The collection of Palestinian material was strengthened with the acquisition in 1980 of around 17, 000 objects found at Lachish by the Wellcome-Marston expedition of 1932 – 1938.

Following the publication of the Declaration the British had dispatched Commander David George Hogarth to see Hussein in January 1918 bearing the message that the " political and economic freedom " of the Palestinian population was not in question.

The real statement was a critique of the Israeli government and its treatment of the Palestinian people.

The PDFLP's original political orientation was based on the view that Palestinian national goals could be achieved only through revolution of the masses and " people's war ".

Its efforts ultimately failed, and the PLO became embroiled what was in effect a Palestinian civil war.

The DFLP was subsequently represented in the Palestinian delegation at the unsuccessful Camp David negotiations of July 2000.

In a meeting with 8 Jewish and 8 Protestant Dutch leaders in Israel in May 2011, a statement of cooperation was issued, indicating, for the most part, that the Protestant Church recognizes the issues involved with the Palestinian Christians and that this is sometimes at odds with support for the State of Israel, but standing up for the rights of the Palestinians does not detract from the emphasis on the safety of the State of Israel and vice versa.

On 4 February 2008 an Israeli woman was killed and 38 others injured in the town by a Palestinian suicide bomber ( see Dimona bombing ).

Another summit was convened in Sharm El Sheik in early 2005, which was attended by Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan.

Contentious issues include Egypt's signing of the Camp David Accords with Israel in 1979, its support for Iraq in Iran's eight-year conflict, the Islamic Republic's hailing of Khalid Islambouli, the late President Anwar Sadat's assassin as a religious hero, seeing as there was both a street and mural named after him ( however, the honorer was changed to Muhammad al-Durrah, the 12-year-old Palestinian boy shot and killed during the outset of the Second Intifada ), and close Egyptian relations with the United States, and most of the Western European countries.

El Salvador, which is home to a sizeable ethnic Palestinian community, was widely expected to join the succession of South American governments that recognised Palestine in the end of 2010.

Al-Mustaqbal was to campaign against Fatah in the 2006 Palestinian legislative election, presenting a list including Mohammed Dahlan, Kadoura Fares, Samir Mashharawi and Jibril Rajoub.

However, he added that there was no other way but to sit down and strike a deal, calling on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to enter negotiations.

Deputy Foreign Minister of Israel, Danny Ayalon, said the conference was a " serious blow to peace " and " was another lost opportunity for the Palestinian leadership to adopt moderate views.

He initially declared that it was a Fascist attack, but he later stated it was a Palestinian transport of weapons which went wrong.

Planning to return to the Palestinian excavations the following winter, he was prevented from doing so when Starkey was murdered.