Construction and Housing in the West Bank and Gaza

Simcha Bahiri

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9780429714467
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Middle Eastern Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

The West Bank Data Base Project is an independent research group established in 1982 to study and analyze demographic, social spatial, legal, economic and political conditions in the West Bank and Gaza. The project, which is directed by Dr. Meron Benvenisti, is funded by the Rockefeller and Ford foundations and administered by The Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C. A continuously updated, computerized data base and its own research are the basis for the project's publications, including maps showing present and projected developments in the region.

1. Introduction, Acknowledgements And Objectives Of The Study

1.1 Introduction

The State of Israel has reached a fairly high standard of housing and construction activity on a per capita basis as compared with the remainder of Mandatory Palestine - e.g. the West Bank (WB) and Gaza Strip (GS) (or both WB/GS). Nevertheless, the gap has narrowed since the occupation in 1967. Prior to that they had been under Arab occupation (Jordanian in WB, Egyptian in GS).

It is the intention of this study to review both past housing and construction developments, and their present state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as to assess under various political-economic scenarios the potential for developing this sector of the economy over the coming decade: 1987-1997.

There has been a paucity of reports dealing with housing and construction activities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This is in marked contrast to industry, in which a sister-report'¹ by the author was partially based on other studies. No research works involving independent field work have been identified apart from reports of the statistical offices of Jordan² and Israel³

With the exception of the pre-1967 period covered by the Economic Planning Authority⁴, the majority of the data has been based on statistical samples compiled by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics⁵. As their data deals only with building and construction for the Arab residents (i.e. excluding Jewish settlements and "military installations"), some distortion results from the period of the initial occupation to the present. Furthermore, most works⁶ involving the extrapolation of economic potential published over the last decade have been based on a single scenario (Bahiri, 1984 and 1987 is an exception⁷) of a continuation of occupation or of the establishment of a Palestinian state with an economy separate from that of Israel⁸. This study will deal with several options and sets of data.

1.2 Acknowledgements

The author wishes to acknowledge the assistance provided by the director of the WBDP, Dr. Meron Benvenisti, who made many useful suggestions, and his contribution based on previous studies published by the WBDP. The author also acknowledges the help of his typist, Mrs. Sally Maroko, who corrected many errors, and of his wife, Doreen, both for her patience and her help in proofreading.

1.3 Objectives

The objectives of this work are therefore:

1. To outline the state of the construction sector of the economy and its part in development in the WB/GS based on statistics from various sources;
2. To describe both barriers and catalysts to development of housing and construction;
3. To assess the dependence of the construction sector of the Territories on Israel;
4. To determine present housing conditions and future needs;
5. To project potential economic development scenarios and their consequences for construction under various possible political-economic options; and
6. To provide Israeli and Palestinian planners and/or decision-makers with information to assess consequences of various alternatives.

2. Methodology, Projections And Statistical Notes

As in all research projects, a variety of approaches has been used in meeting the objectives of this study. Broadly these have included both inductive and deductive methods.

Statistics for the pre-1967 situation in the Territories were mainly based on the 1967 reports of the Israeli Economic Planning Authority¹. The main source for developments from 1967 to the present is the publications of the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS)². Little else has been published. Note, however, that we will concentrate only on relevant data pertaining to the indigenous or Arab sector in the West Bank and Gaza both for their actual state and their potential development. East Jerusalem will be excluded because Arab building there is not listed separately in Israeli statistics³. While there is some question as to the accuracy of the statistics, particularly as regards population, official statistics of the CBS will for the major part be used⁴. Whenever useful, data will be combined or separated to generate more meaningful indicators.

One of the major ideas in this work is the generating of alternative economic, population and construction projections for 10 years hence. These are based on the most optimistic outcome of three different but possible scenarios, namely:

1. a continuation of the pre-uprising (or pre-intifada⁵) situation and occupation, and hitherto existing trends in the territories - e.g. no major change of policy by Israel (or Jordan) and no major local major demographic or building shift (i.e. a conservative scenario);
2. a continuation of the occupation, albeit with a granting of some degree of autonomy and/or a renewed Jordanian participation, and an easing of restrictive economic barriers and constraints with a consequent improvement in the "quality of life" (i.e. a reformist scenario);
3. a separation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip from Israel, either in the framework of a Palestinian-Jordanian confederation or as an independent Palestinian entity (i.e. a radical scenario).

The 1987 data was calculated by extrapolating 1986 statistics and by available recent partial indicators. Thereafter three separate projections are generated for the following decade to 1997. All three projections involve the maximum growth-rate possible for each scenario over a 10-year period. The present "intifada" was ignored for this illustrative purpose.

There has been no special report on construction either by the CBS or others in the WB/GS, Many of their tables have been combined and/or "creatively" analyzed⁶. Original tables have been checked by and discussed with other economists and specialists for their coherence, reliability and objectivity - particularly those dealing with various future scenarios. While there were differences of interpretation with other analysts, the author is reasonably sure of the validity of the (possible) overall trends shown, given a relatively surprise-free (e.g. other scenario) future.

A full list of bibliographical sources can be found in the reference notes for each chapter.

3. Background: 1948-1967

3.1 Israel

Even prior to the establishment of Israel in 1948, Jewish and Arab areas of what was then Palestine were largely split into two semi-autarkic economies¹. With the establishment of the State, despite a total hiatus with the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel was left with a sizeable Arab minority (170,000) in areas under its control. As most of the Arab population in the early years of the State was in areas under military government, the degree of economic integration (labor, trade, services) was initially limited. From the late '50s to 1966, with the lifting of military government, the Arab sector of Israel become increasingly united with that of the Jewish economy - despite the continuing social hiatus².

Under various pretexts, Arab agricultural land was taken over by the Jewish State and settlers and the Arab laborers reduced to wage labor in the Jewish sector, often physically distant from their homes. This influx of wages was to aid in gradually raising the economic status of Israel's Arab population.

Quite early in the State's history, Arab labor began to replace Jewish labor in the construction sector. In the 1950s and early '60s, this reached some 30 per cent of total Israel Arab labor and of total labor in the construction industry³. The percentage of Arab labor in the construction industry was double their percentage...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• List of Tables
• 1. Introduction, Acknowledgements and Objectives of the Study
• 2. Methodology, Projections and Statistical Notes
• 3. Background: 1948-1967
• 4. Housing and Construction Under Occupation: 1967-1987
• 5. Barriers to Construction Development
• 6. Ten-Year Alternative Construction Scenarios
• 7. Concluding Remarks
• Notes
• Appendices