The Republic of Palestine consists of 330 municipalities (Arabic: بلديات baladiyāt, singular: بلدية baladiyah) divided between 44 individual counties, as well as two special administrative municipalities (East Jerusalem and Port Said) which fall outside of any county's jurisdiction. Each municipality has its own local municipal government, which is funded by local taxes and supervised by the General Administration Directorate of the national government's State Secretariat of Internal Affairs. The highest office in municipal government is that of the mayor, who is traditionally elected in a local election every three years.
Municipalities can be either cities, towns or townships, depending on their population density. For example, while a city or large town would be a single municipality, several small towns or villages surrounded by farms or undeveloped land in a given area would be incorporated into a single municipality, called a township. There is also the new town/new city category, which refers to any municipality incorporated after 1979, usually towns and small cities, many former Israeli settlements but including many other types of planned communities as well.
Municipalities are responsible for collecting property taxes, providing local services like trash pickup and street cleaning, and maintaining local infrastructure such as roads and sewers, and may form a local police department; in practice, however, since 1989 all municipalities including Port Said and East Jerusalem have contracted law enforcement services from the Gendarmerie, the national public law enforcement agency.
List[]
This is a comprehensive list of all municipalities (cities, towns, townships, new cities and special administrative municipalities) in Palestine, ordered by population. The figures provided are a combination of individual censuses and estimates. Some are more accurate than others. The figures are from the December 2016 census conducted by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. The census counted working males, working and homemaking females, their children, parents, grandparents, as well as bachelors and migrant workers. Undocumented immigrants were not counted.
| بلدية | Rank | Municipality | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| بورسعيد | 1 | Port Said | 1,206,400 |
| القدس الشرقية | 2 | East Jerusalem | 748,330 |
| مدينة غزة | 3 | Gaza City | 615,556 |
| رفــح | 4 | Rafah | 590,291 |
| بورفؤاد | 5 | Port Fuad | 756,250 |
| خان يونس | 6 | Khan Younis | 479,417 |
| الخليل | 7 | Hebron | 422,506 |
| نابلس | 8 | Nablus | 405,900 |
| جباليا | 9 | Jabalia | 399,859 |
| دير البلح | 10 | Deir el-Balah | 355,119 |
| أبو عيّاض | Abu Ayyad | 338,119 | |
| الروحة | El-Rouheh | 309,685 | |
| رام الله | Ramallah | 294,029 | |
| العريش | Arish | 290,308 | |
| عبّاس حلمي باشا | Abbas Hilmi Basha | 279,770 | |
| الشيخ زويد | Sheikh Zoweid | 266,448 | |
| صفرون | Sophron | 236,000 | |
| خالديا | Khalidia | 210,400 | |
| طارجية | Tarjieh | 190,102 | |
| اريئيل | Ariel | 180,220 | |
| أُمّ السلاح | Umm Selah | 176,018 | |
| شرم الشيخ | Sharm el-Sheikh | 173,086 | |
| البيرة | El-Bireh | 164,318 | |
| قايتبايا | Qaitbaya | 159,290 | |
| جنين | Jenin | 138,004 | |
| تافريا | Tafria | 95,604 | |
| شعفاط | Shuafat | 88,000 | |
| شكري الكوتلي | Shokry el-Kotaly | 85,509 | |
| نسّان | Nissan | 79,030 | |
| بنفس | Benefs | 78,261 | |
| الجُملة | El-Joumleh | 76,034 | |
| القنطرة الشرقية | El-Qantara el-Sharqiya | 65,519 | |
| الغيف ء | Caeffa | 64,301 | |
| طولكرم | Tulkarm | 61,941 | |
| بيت لاهيا | Beit Lahia | 59,540 | |
| الابراهيمية | Ibrahimia | 55,400 | |
| مسواة | Maswah | 54,157 | |
| بيتار علوي | Beitar Alwi | 51,900 | |
| بئر العبد | Bir el-Abd | 50,240 | |
| بئر حسنة | Bir Hassanah | 44,000 | |
| نجد | Najd | 42,900 | |
| قلقيلية | Qalqilya | 41,739 | |
| بيت لحم | Bethlehem | 39,008 | |
| بيت إجزا | Beit Ijza | 38,419 | |
| البلدة القديمة | Old City of Jerusalem | 36,395 | |
| سمة السادس | Samet Sadis | 36,117 | |
| بيتار سفلي | Beitar Sufli | 35,600 | |
| بلاطة | Balata | 34,000 | |
| بيت حانون | Beit Hanoun | 33,187 | |
| الطاباء | Taba | 31,495 | |
| الطور | Tour | 30,877 | |
| النبي يعقوب | Nabi Yaqoub | 30,100 | |
| بيتونيا | Beitunia | 29,433 | |
| تقوع | Tekoa | 28,800 | |
| مير كوبني شاه | Mir Kobni Shah | 27,610 | |
| كفر عقب | Kafr Aqab | 26,119 | |
| بئر زيت | Bir Zeit | 24,529 | |
| الجلزون | Jalazone | 22,003 | |
| بشر العرب | Bishr el-Arab | 21,918 | |
| أريحا | Jericho | 20,300 | |
| عناتا | Anata | 19,488 | |
| بيت ساحور | Beit Sahour | 19,448 | |
| قباطية | Qabatiya | 19,197 | |
| عبسان الكبيرة | Abasan el-Kabireh | 18,900 | |
| صوريف | Surif | 17,650 | |
| بيت آل | Beit El | 16,115 | |
| نخل | Nekhel | 15,250 | |
| بيت جالا | Beit Jala | 14,758 | |
| الخضر | El-Khadr | 13,774 | |
| الدهيشة | Duheisheh | 13,017 | |
| نحالين | Nahalin | 12,300 | |
| فصايل | Fasayel | 11,417 | |
| بيتين | Beitin | 11,004 | |
| عورتا | Awarta | 10,544 | |
| دهب | Dahab | 10,118 | |
| قلنديا | Kalandia | 9,585 | |
| عبوين | Abwein | 9005 | |
| فرع الجفتلك | Fara el-Jiftlek | 8840 | |
| عقبة جبر | Aqabat Jaber | 8005 | |
| سلفيت | Salfit | 7994 | |
| رأس ابو رديس | Ras Abu Rudeis | 7550 | |
| يفيط | Yafit | 7118 | |
| رأس محمد | Ras Mohammed | 7001 | |
| حوارة | Huwara | 6900 | |
| تلّ | Tell | 6334 | |
| الخربة | El-Kherbeh | 6301 | |
| سلواد | Silwad | 6123 | |
| نويبع | Nueiba | 5900 | |
| عبسان الصغيرة | Abasan el-Saghireh | 5650 | |
| عين السلطان | Ain el-Sultan | 5500 | |
| سالم | Salem | 5100 | |
| بورين | Bourigne | 5036 | |
| خربثا بني حارث | Kharbetha Bani Hareth | 4846 | |
| مدينة سنتكترين | Saint Catherine City | 4604 | |
| الرودة | El-Rawda | 3900 | |
| جنيد | Juneid | 3117 | |
| رافات | Rafat | 3110 | |
| دير قديس | Deir Qaddis | 2942 | |
| جفنا | Jifna | 2708 | |
| الجورة | El-Joureh | 2400 | |
| بيت التحت | Beit el-Tahta | 2205 | |
| رفيديا | Rafidia | 1900 | |
| النبي الياس | Nabi Ilyas | 1214 | |
| قرية لوزة | Kiryat Luza | 889 | |
| عين سينيا | Ain Sinia | 715 | |
| النبي صالح | Nabi Saleh | 535 |