Housing characteristics In the Palestinian Territories A comparison study between the West Bank and Gaza Strip

Abstract

This study aims at analyzing the special data concerning the subject of the research “Housing Characteristics In the Palestinian Territories which according to the present concept refer to those in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, both of which are geographical zones separated by the 1948 Palestinian occupied lands. Several previous studies in various topics showed differences in the data of many characteristics of housing and inhabitants in both zones. Such studies were analyzed and commented on with the aim of explaining the nature of the differences that make up the overwhelming feature of the data of each area. This was done to formulate suitable proposals which eliminate the range of differences between the two above mentioned areas. The most important characteristics of housing that the study included were: the type of housing, the building material being used in the house ground, the number of the rooms, the level of congestion in the house, the source of drinking water mainly used in it , the drainage disposal method , including the one used inside it , and finally the number of available commodities in the house. In the light of those results, the researcher put forward the recommended solutions so that the differences in the housing characteristics between the two studied zones would be reduced. Gaza Strip and the camps in both zones have received more attention so as to improve the housing characteristics and even out the differences between the west bank and Gaza strip , between the city and the country or the camps so as to promote harmony.