About 4 million Palestinians live under Israeli military occupation in the West Bank [2,500,000] and Gaza [1,600,000]. Arabs living as citizens inside Israel proper total around 1 million (out of Israel’s population of 6 million). Over 3 million Palestinian refugees comprise the Palestinian diaspora, a result of having been driven from their homeland in 1948 by the military forces of the State of Israel. Many of these are double refugees, having been driven out of Palestine in 1948 and again fleeing in 1967 when Israel further expanded as a result of the war in June of that year. The largest Palestinian diaspora community, approximately 1.3 million, is in Jordan. Many of them still live in refugee camps that were established in 1949,
Killings by Palestinian security forces occurred infrequently during 2009 compared to previous years. Palestinian terrorist groups' killings remained a serious problem, particularly in the Gaza Strip, as did killings by Hamas-controlled security forces. Israeli military actions in Gaza in January 2009 caused significant civilian casualties. According to statistics maintained by the Israeli government and by the United Nations Office for the Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), 27 Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem died in clashes with Israeli security forces during the year. B'Tselem reported that 22 Palestinians in the West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem) were killed by Israeli security. Of them, four were killed while participating in hostilities, 13 were killed while not participating; B'Tselem did not know whether the remaining five were killed while participating in hostilities.
According to Israeli government figures, Palestinian deaths resulting from Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip in December 2008 and January 2009 totaled 1,166, including 295 noncombatant deaths. Human rights organizations estimated the number of dead at 1,400 Palestinians, including more than 1,000 civilians, and the wounded at more than 5,000.
Palestinian factional violence resulted in 12 Palestinian fatalities and 29 Palestinian injuries in the West Bank over the period from January until September 28, 2009. Killings by Palestinian security forces occurred infrequently compared to previous years. Palestinian terrorist groups' killings remained a serious problem, particularly in the Gaza Strip, as did killings by Hamas security forces. According to Israeli government statistics, Palestinian terrorist acts emanating from the West Bank killed five Israeli civilians in 2009, including two policemen. No Israeli civilians died in violence emanating from the Gaza Strip, although the Israeli government attributed the death of 10 IDF soldiers killed during and immediately after IDF military operations in Gaza in January to terrorist action.
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