Short stories about what you need to know before visit Israel

Posted by: Diana Gasper

Let’s start with this because this is what confused me before I went! Due to the political situation and complications around who owns the land, there are multiple names for different areas.

Again, I’m definitely not an expert so I’m not going to say what terms are correct and incorrect (different countries, NGOs and world organisations use different terms) but I’ll just explain them in the most basic of ways to give you a better understanding. If there’s anything here that you believe is factually incorrect, please let me know!

According to the United Nations, Israel is a country and is recognised as a full member of the UN. Most of the Americas, Europe and Australasia recognise Israel as a country too, as well as central and southern Africa, and most Asian countries. Major cities in Israel include Tel Aviv, Haifa, Nazareth, Eilat and Jerusalem to name a few (but we’ll get more into East Jerusalem a bit later).

Countries with large Muslim populations however, like others in the Middle East, northern Africa, Indonesia and Malaysia, generally do not recognise Israel as a state, do not allow Israeli passport holders to visit, and do not let their citizens travel to Israel.

Then there’s Palestine. Palestine is a non-member observer state of the United Nations, and is recognised as a state by 138 of the 193 members of the UN.

Most of the remaining members (who are mainly in North America, Australasia and Western Europe) generally support a solution to the conflict where both Israel and Palestine become fully recognised, but have existing relationships with Israel which could become tense if they recognised Palestine.

The Occupied Palestinian Territories is a common term used by the UN, the EU and other global organisations to describe geographical regions where large numbers of Palestinians live and that have Palestinian governing bodies, but where Israel is the occupying power. The two distinct territories are the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

The Gaza Strip is something I definitely want to learn more about but I spent most of my week exploring the West Bank instead.

In 2005 Israel removed their forces and Israeli settlements (predominantly Jewish Israeli citizens inhabiting the land they believe to be theirs) from the Gaza Strip and now say that they no longer occupy the land, however the majority of Gaza’s borders, its coast and its airspace are controlled by Israel, meaning Gaza’s inhabitants have no actual governance. The Gaza Strip is technically governed by the Hamas party, who often engage in violent attacks with Israeli forces.

The West Bank occupied territory, including East Jerusalem, is located along the western bank of the River Jordan. Major cities in the West Bank include East Jerusalem, Ramallah, Hebron and Bethlehem.

The Palestinian National Authority, the governing body of this region, recognises the West Bank as a part of Palestine’s sovereign nation, and therefore believes that Israeli military occupation and settlements are illegal. This view is also held by many countries and global bodies around the world, however a resolution has not yet been reached.

TOLD YOU IT WAS CONFUSING! Terminology is one of the key things to know before you go to Israel, so hopefully this gives you a head start.