_#_Language: Arabic, Israeli settlers speak Hebrew, English widely understood
_#_Literacy: NA% (male NA%, female NA%)
_#_Labor force: NA; excluding Israeli Jewish settlers—small industry, commerce, and business 29.8%, construction 24.2%, agriculture 22.4%, service and other 23.6% (1984)
_#_Organized labor: NA
_*Government #_Long-form name: none
_#_Note: The West Bank is currently governed by Israeli military authorities and Israeli civil administration. It is US policy that the final status of the West Bank will be determined by negotiations among the concerned parties. These negotiations will determine how the area is to be governed.
_*Economy #_Overview: Economic progress in the West Bank has been hampered by Israeli military occupation and the effects of the Palestinian uprising. Industries using advanced technology or requiring sizable financial resources have been discouraged by a lack of financial resources and Israeli policy. Capital investment has largely gone into residential housing, not into productive assets that could compete with Israeli industry. A major share of GNP is derived from remittances of workers employed in Israel and neighboring Gulf states but remittances from the Gulf dropped dramatically in the wake of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. Israeli reprisals against Palestinian unrest in the West Bank since 1987 have pushed unemployment up and lowered living standards. The Persian Gulf crisis of 1990-91 also dealt a blow to the economy. Many Palestinians returned from the Gulf, exacerbating unemployment. Export revenues have plunged because of the loss of export markets in Jordan and the Gulf.
_#_GNP: $1.0 billion, per capita $1,000; real growth rate - 15% (1988 est.)
_#_Inflation rate (consumer prices): NA%
_#_Unemployment rate: 40% (1990 est.)