Ramallah in the context of "Al-Bireh"

Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. It encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, collectively known as the Palestinian territories. The territories share the vast majority of their borders with Israel, with the West Bank bordering Jordan to the east and the Gaza Strip bordering Egypt to the southwest. It has a total land area of 6,020 square kilometres (2,320 sq mi) while its population exceeds five million. Its proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, while Ramallah serves as its de facto administrative center. Gaza was its largest city prior to evacuations in 2023.

Situated at a continental crossroad, the Palestine region was ruled by various empires and experienced various demographic changes from antiquity to the modern era. It was treading ground for the Nile and Mesopotamian armies and merchants from North Africa, China and India. The region has religious significance. The ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict dates back to the rise of the Zionist movement, supported by the United Kingdom during World War I. The war saw Britain occupying Palestine from the Ottoman Empire, where it set up Mandatory Palestine under the auspices of the League of Nations. Increased Jewish immigration led to intercommunal conflict between Jews and Palestinian Arabs, which escalated into a civil war in 1947 after a proposed partitioning by the United Nations was rejected by the Palestinians and other Arab nations.

Samaria (/səˈmæriə, -ˈmɛəriə/), the Hellenized form of the Hebrew name Shomron (Hebrew: שֹׁמְרוֹן‎), is used as a historical and biblical name for the central region of the Land of Israel. It is bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The region is known in Arabic under two names, Samirah (Arabic: السَّامِرَة‎, as-Sāmira), and Mount Nablus (جَبَل نَابُلُس, Jabal Nābulus).

The first-century historian Josephus set the Mediterranean Sea as its limit to the west, and the Jordan River as its limit to the east. Its territory largely corresponds to the biblical allotments of the tribe of Ephraim and the western half of Manasseh. It includes most of the region of the ancient Kingdom of Israel, which was north of the Kingdom of Judah. The border between Samaria and Judea, while historically fluid, is set at the latitude of Ramallah.

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS; Arabic: الجهاز المركزي للإحصاء الفلسطيني, romanized: al-Jihāz al-Markazī lil-Iḥṣāʼ al-Filasṭīnī) is the official statistical institution of Palestine. Its main task is to provide credible statistical figures at the national and international levels. It is a state institution that provides service to the governmental, non – governmental and private sectors in addition to research institutions and universities. It is established as an independent statistical bureau. The PCBS publishes the Statistical Yearbook of Palestine and the Jerusalem Statistical Yearbook annually.

The head office of the agency is in Ein Munjed Quarter, Ramallah.

Area A (Arabic: منطقة أ, romanized: minṭaqa alif; Hebrew: שטח א, romanized: Shetakh A) is an area under the civil and security control of the Palestinian National Authority. It represents about 18% of the area and 55% of the population of the West Bank.

The largest cities in Area A include the following cities and their surroundings: Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarm, Qalqilya, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jericho, and 80% of Hebron. There are no Israeli settlements in Area A.

Qalandia or Qalandiya (Arabic: قلنديا), also known as Kalandia (Hebrew: קלנדיה), is a Palestinian village located in the West Bank, between Jerusalem and Ramallah, just west of the West Bank barrier. The village had a population of 572 residents in 2017. Qalandia is also the name of a refugee camp, established by UNRWA in 1949. It is located just east of Jerusalem municipality. Qalandia refugee camp was built for Palestinian refugees who fled from Lydda, Ramla, and Jerusalem during the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight.

Palestinian traditional clothing are the types of clothing historically and sometimes still presently worn by Palestinians. Foreign travelers to Palestine in the 19th and early 20th centuries often commented on the rich variety of the costumes worn, particularly by the fellaheen or village women. Many of the handcrafted garments were richly embroidered and the creation and maintenance of these items played a significant role in the lives of the region's women.

Though experts in the field trace the origins of Palestinian clothing to ancient times, there are no surviving clothing artifacts from this early period against which the modern items might be definitively compared. Influences from the various empires to have ruled Palestine, such as Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome and the Byzantine Empire, among others, have been documented by scholars largely based on the depictions in art and descriptions in literature of costumes produced during these times.