Port Said

Port Said is a major port city in the Palestinian Arab Republic, one of the 20 republics of the Arab Union, located on the northern end of the Suez Canal where it meets the Mediterranean. Home to approximately 2.21 million people, Port Said is the most populous Palestinian city; similarly, the Port Said Metropolitan Area is the largest urban agglomeration in the republic with over 5.38 million people, nearly one-sixth the total population of Palestine. The city's namesake port is the largest seaport in Palestine, primarily serving container ships/freighters and oil tankers but capable of accommodating all types of ship; the port is almost twice the size of the namesake port of Port Fuad, a city located directly across the canal from Port Said, on the canal's east bank and the northwest end of the Sinai Peninsula's Mediterranean coast. While the two ports are considered separate and located in two separate municipalities, they are jointly operated as a single port by the Ports of Fuad and Said Authority, a state enterprise owned by the Palestinian government; together, they form the largest industrial seaport in the Arab Union.

Port Said proper (the central and most populous municipality) is located on an island at the end of the Suez Canal where it meets the Mediterranean, on the canal's west bank; it is the only place on the canal's west bank which is part of Palestine, as it is an island. The rest of the canal's west bank, which is located on the African mainland, is geographically located in the neighbouring Egyptian Arab Republic; the portion of the Port Said Metropolitan Area located in Palestine (other than Port Said proper), which is most of the metropolitan area, is thus located on the east bank of the canal, starting at Port Fuad (located at the end of the canal on its east bank directly across from Port Said) and continuing south and southeast to include five other municipalities. Two municipalities in Egypt, located on the mainland west bank south of Port Said, also constitute the metropolitan area; however, with a combined population of just over 550,000, only about 10% of the metropolitan area's population is in Egypt. Added up, including Port Said and Port Fuad, the Port Said Metropolitan Area consists of nine municipalities, seven in Palestine and two in Egypt.