An election campaign supporting Mahmoud Abbas held in Palestine on Jan 7, 2005. The Palestinian election for the chairmanship of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is due tobe held on Jan. 9 to choose a successor to late leader Yasser Arafat. (Xinhua photo)  (Xinhua photo)  (Xinhua photo)

    BEIJING, Jan. 8 (Xinhua)-- The Palestinian election for the chairmanship of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is due tobe held on Jan. 9 to choose a successor to late leader Yasser Arafat.

    The following are key facts about the state of Palestine.

    Palestine, currently under occupation, is located on the East coast of the Mediterranean Sea, West of Jordan and to the south ofLebanon. The territory of Palestine covers around 27,000 square kilometers.

    The population, with Arabic as its major language, was 8.8 million in 2002, which included the Arab Palestinians outside Palestine state. Most of its population are Muslims.

    The history of the proposed modern Palestinian state began withthe British Mandate of Palestine.

    From Sept. 29, 1923, until May 14, 1948, Britain controlled theregion, but by 1947, Britain had appealed to the UN to solve the complex problem of competing Palestinian and Jewish claims to the land.

    In Aug. 1947, the United Nations proposed dividing Palestine into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and a small international zone.

    In the Arab-Israeli war of 1967, Israel, over a period of six days, defeated the military forces of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, and annexed the territories of East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and all of the Sinai peninsula. Over 1 million Palestinian Arabs were driven out of their homelands and became refugees.

    The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), was bent on Israel's annihilation. Palestinian rioting, demonstrations, and violent acts against Israelis became chronic.

    On Nov. 15, 1988, the 19th special session of the PLO passed the Declaration of Independence and announced the establishment ofthe State of Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital. One month later, Arafat publicly eschewed terrorism and officially recognized the state of Israel.

    In 1993, highly secretive talks in Norway between the PLO and the Israeli government resulted in the Oslo Agreement. The accord stipulated a five-year plan in which Palestinians of the West Bankand the Gaza Strip would gradually become self-governing.

    On Sept. 13, 1993, Arafat and Israeli prime minister Yitzak Rabin signed the historic "Declaration of Principles." As part of the agreement, Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip and Jericho in the West Bank in 1994.

    The Palestinian National Authority (PNA), with Arafat as its elected leader, took control of the newly non-Israeli-occupied areas, assuming all governmental duties in 1994. In the same year,Arafat returned to Gaza after 27 years of exile.

    On Nov. 10, 2004, Yasser Arafat died in a hospital in France ofan unknown illness. He was buried in his West Bank compound in Ramallah.

    Former prime minister Mahmoud Abbas succeeded Arafat as chairman of the PLO. He is also the leading contender in the upcoming election. Enditem