how big is palestine
Palestine is relatively small in land area, but the exact figure depends on what you mean by “Palestine.”
Quick size snapshot
- If you mean the State of Palestine as commonly defined today (West Bank including East Jerusalem + Gaza Strip), its total land area is about 6,000–6,200 square kilometers (roughly 2,300–2,400 square miles).
- If you mean “historic Palestine” (from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean, the territory of the British Mandate), that area is about 27,000 square kilometers.
- Within that:
- The West Bank is around 5,600–5,800 square kilometers.
* The **Gaza Strip** is about **360 square kilometers** , making it one of the most densely populated areas in the world.
Simple comparison
- The present‑day Palestinian territories (about 6,000+ km²) are:
- A bit smaller than the U.S. state of Delaware plus Rhode Island combined.
- Much smaller than countries like Switzerland (about 41,000 km²) or the Netherlands (about 41,000 km²).
Why the answer varies
People often argue about “how big is Palestine” because:
- Some refer to historic Palestine (about 27,000 km²), which includes all the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
- Others refer to the current Palestinian territories (West Bank and Gaza) under varying degrees of Israeli occupation and Palestinian self‑rule, which total just over 6,000 km².
- Political maps and statistics may differ slightly (by a few dozen km²) depending on how borders and water areas (like parts of the Dead Sea) are counted.
At‑a‑glance table (sizes)
| Area | Approx. size (km²) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Historic Palestine | ~27,000 | British Mandate territory, Jordan River to Mediterranean. | [1][3]
| State of Palestine (West Bank + Gaza) | ~6,000–6,200 | Common modern statistical definition. | [3][7][9][1]
| West Bank (incl. East Jerusalem) | ~5,600–5,800 | Main inland territory, fragmented by settlements and checkpoints. | [7][1][3]
| Gaza Strip | ~360 | Very dense coastal strip on the Mediterranean. | [5][1][3]
“Latest news” and forum angle
Discussions about “how big Palestine is” often show up in forums and memes that exaggerate its size or minimize it to make political points, especially around ceasefires or diplomatic moves. In reality, whether you take the larger historic definition or the smaller current territories, Palestine is geographically small , and debates about borders, control, and recognition make its “size” as much a political question as a geographic one.
In online debates you’ll see people share distorted maps or jokes claiming Palestine is “planet‑sized”; these are satire or propaganda, not real geography.
TL;DR:
- Modern Palestinian territories (West Bank + Gaza): about 6,000–6,200 km².
- Historic Palestine (Mandate period): about 27,000 km².
Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.