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Public Holidays and Bank Holidays for West Bank and Gaza

The list of West Bank and Gaza bank holidays, national holidays and public holidays for 2008, comes from the Q++ Worldwide Public Holidays Database, the professional source of international public holidays long trusted by the world's foremost diary publishers. The information on this page is provided for private, non-professional, use. Qualified professionals can license data for 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and beyond. For details, please visit our licensing information page or

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09 May 2008 (Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda-West Bank) The Palestinian Authority has declared Thursday, May 15, 2008, as a one-off public holiday to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Nakba, or Catastrophe, referring to the 1948 creation of the State of Israel. • 09 Jan 2008 (Ikhwanweb-Gaza) The Hamas government of the Gaza Strip has declared that the Christmas days will henceforth be public and official holiday in the Gaza Strip. • 27 Dec 2006 The Jordanian Public Security Department announced that the King Hussein Bridge (linking the West Bank to Jordan) will be closed for passengers and goods on the first day of Eid holiday which will be Saturday, Dec.30. The Bridge will remian closed to transportation of goods on the 2nd and third days of Eid, and will be reopened on January 2nd, 3rd and 4th all day long in order to receive pilgrims. • 25 Dec 2006 The Palestinian authorities have followed the controversial Saudi anticipated announcement of the Eid Al Adha Muslim holiday, which was called to begin on 30 December, 2006, in the West Bank and Gaza. For more details on the controversial Saudi anticipated announcement of the Eid Al Adha, see our December 25 news story at . • 17 Dec 2006 Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, will present a speech on Saturday and is expected to keep the Hamas-run government in power for a short period before calling a referendum in March 2007, the Maan News Agency reported. The agency said that Abbas is also expected to announce that presidential and legislative elections will be held two months after holding the referendum. • 08 Nov 2006 The Palestinan government announced general national mourning for three days (Wednesday to Friday November 8-10) in all Palestinian territories following the deaths in the Gazan town of Beit Hanoun. • 23 Oct 2006 All financial institutions will be closed from October 22 to October 28, 2006, inclusive. • More News Updates For the full version of the summarized news items above, and older news items not displayed above, go to the West Bank and Gaza public holidays news and updates page, or worldwide public holidays news and updates page, or subscribe to one of our free email newsletters.

Weekends are Fridays only, but there are some variances depending largely on religion and the region, including Gaza. Most places close on Friday, some on Saturday, others on Sunday, and some not at all. • The Palestinian Authority made Christmas an official national holiday in 1996. • Western Christian, Orthodox Christian, and Jewish holidays are also observed by some. • The public holidays presented here are largely those reflected by businesses in the area. Documented agreements actually present a much wider range of public holidays and tend to include many more Christian holidays, including some that are not even observed public holidays in predominantly Christian countries. • Other Sources of Information For information not covered here, see the following specialized websites: ASI Hot Spots (security-related world events: terrorist threats, political strife, strikes, criminal activity, aviation incidents and health outbreaks), CIA World Factbook (maps, demographic and economic statistics), Copp Clark (financial markets' trading hours, settlement holidays and currency non-clearing days), and the IFES Election Guide (information covering upcoming elections, referenda, electoral structures and past voter participation).

Observance : Any entry in the Observance column indicates that, in West Bank and Gaza, the holiday may be regional or non-official or limited to certain religious and/or linguistic groups, or begin at a time other than midnight. Note that religious holidays are included only if they are national public holidays, or if the national labour code has specific holiday allowances for employees of specific religions. For more information, see our pages on the religious calendars of the world. Aft=Afternoon, Arm=Armenian, Bah=Bahai, Bnk=Banks and most financial institutions, Bud=Buddhist, Cat=Catholic, Chr=Christian, Cop=Coptic, Eve=Evening, Gov=Government services and civil servants, Hin=Hindu, Jew=Jewish, Lin=Linguistic or ethnic groups, Mor=Morning, Mun=Municipal, Mus=Muslim, Orth=Orthodox, Othr=Miscellaneous partial observances (usually described in the Additional Information section of this page), Prt=Protestant, Reg=Regional, Rel=Other Religion, Sch=Schools and universities, Sik=Sikh.

Religious Holidays : Public holidays in West Bank and Gaza that are based on certain religious calendars may be subject to local variations due to differing interpretations between different religious authorities, or to seemingly arbitrary changes in the date a holiday is celebrated because it conflicts with another holiday that is based on another calendar, or because the day of the holiday is deemed inauspicious (bad luck). To find out more about these uncertainties, see the footnote below, if any, for each specific religion.

Muslim Holidays : Muslim bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for West Bank and Gaza were evaluated using the Umm al-Qura Calendar of Saudi Arabia which is used in Saudi Arabia and in most of the Persian Gulf States. Holidays may occur a day later in countries outside the Gulf region. The sunrises, sunsets, moon phases, moonrises and moonsets used in these calculations are based on the location of Mecca (latitude 21.42°N, longitude, 39.82°E, GMT+3 hours, no summer time rules). For more details on Muslim holidays, see Muslim Calendar Holidays. For Salat (prayer times) calculations, see our Freeware page.

Disclaimer
In many parts of the world, holidays are subject to arbitrary, last minute, changes by local authorities. While every effort has been made to present an accurate list of 2008 bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for West Bank and Gaza, we cannot accept any responsibility for any error or omission in the data presented above. You are therefore advised to verify the above dates with the embassy or consulate of West Bank and Gaza, before planning any trip to West Bank and Gaza. For last-minute updates to worldwide public holidays, visit our blog or subscribe to our free email newsletters.