The
Palestinian National Authority (
PNA or
PA;
Arabic السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية
As-Sulta Al-Wataniyya Al-Filastīniyya) is the administrative organization established to
govern parts of the
West Bank and
Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian National Authority was formed in 1994, pursuant to the Oslo Accords between the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and the government of Israel, as a 5-year interim body during which final status negotiations between the two parties were to take place. According to the Accords, the Palestinian Authority was designated to have control over both security-related and civilian issues in Palestinian urban areas (referred to as "Area A"), and only civilian control over Palestinian rural areas ("Area B"). The remainder of the territories, including Israeli settlements, the Jordan Valley region, and bypass roads between Palestinian communities, were to remain under exclusive Israeli control ("Area C"). East Jerusalem was excluded from the Accords.
The Palestinian Authority is a subsidiary agency of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Also, it is the PLO, not the Palestinian National Authority, which enjoys international recognition as the organization representing the Palestinian people. The Palestinian diaspora, living outside the West Bank and Gaza, which constitutes the majority of the Palestinian people, do not vote in elections for Palestinian National Authority offices. Under the name "Palestine", Palestinian Liberation Organisation has an observer status in the United Nations (UN) since 1974. After the 1988 Palestinian Declaration of Independence, the PLO's representation at the United Nations was renamed Palestine. It is the PLO, not the PNA, which has participated in General Assembly debates, without voting, since 1998, and which was in 1994 recognized by Israel as the representative of the Palestinian people following the signing of the Oslo Accords.
The PNA previously received considerable financial assistance from the European Union and the United States (approximately USD $1,000,000,000 combined in 2005), but both suspended all direct aid on April 7, 2006 (as threatened in January 2006 and following Canada's March 29, 2006 decision to cut all aid) as a result of the Hamas victory in parliamentary elections.[3][4]
