PALESTINIAN SOCIETY - Fafo

Chapter 6
Household
Income and Wealth
Geir 0vensen
Introduction
This chapter will discuss the type and amount of econornic resources
available to Palestinian households. Access to economic resources
affect living conditions both directly and indirectly. Most assets, in
particular consumer durables, yield immediate and tangible welfare
benefits for users. The distribution of economic resources over
households and individuals is also highly correlated with the distribution
of other livingcondition components. On the one hand, economic
resources, in the strict sen se, can be transformed into living conditions
benefits such as health, education and leisure activity. On the other
hand, income-generating activities may be conditioned by education
and good health.
Econornic resources may, of course, have both private and public
origins. In many countries an important goal in public policy has been
to break or modify the connection between private economy and other
crucialliving condition components through the establishment of asocalled
welfare state. In the fields of health and education, there has
of ten been a public desire to secure minimum standards for all persons,
regardless of access to (private) econornic resources. In this context,
identification of deprived socio-econornic groups with regard to
economic resources should be considered a prerequisite for public
compensatory measures. In Palestinian society, as well as in other
Middle Eastem communities, kinship structures, however, play a
dominant role in the allocation and distribution of economic resources.
Local authorities have usually lacked an adequate financial base
for financing public welfare. In the occupied territories, the lack of
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