PALESTINIAN SOCIETY - Fafo

dunums would be used for subsistence and marginal farming. Hence
the extent of agricultural disparities is less than would seem to be
indicated by the figures. Ownership ofirrigated land, on the other hand
(which constitutes less than 5% of total arable land), would indicate
greater disparities.
There is considerable urbanization among Palestinians by the
standards of developing countries. Our survey suggests that 60% of
thePalestinians in the three regions under study live in urban areas (see
also chapter 2 on Population). But there are significant contrasts
within the three regions. For the West Bank, 1987 Israeli data suggests
that 47% of the population live in urban areas, distributed in 11
townships, the average size of which is 43,000 inhabitants.7 The
household survey identifies 62% of West Bankers as 'rural' (living in
over 400 villages and rural refugee camps). However, there is an
uneven dispersal of the urban population, with fully 75% of those
concentrated in 3 major conurbations: Nablus, Hebron, and the greater
Jerusalem area (including Bethlehem and Ramallah-Bireh). Almost
all West Bank towns act as centres of services and retail trade for their
rural hinterlands, and are noted for their small, and weak, manufactur­
ing sector (with the average employment per establishment amount­
ing to 4 .28 persons). 8 Over the last few decades there has been a steady
and even growth in the size of rural and urban localities due to the
proximity of district centres to satellite villages.9 The main social
divide within the townships continues to be the one found between
refugee camp dwellers and residents outside these camps.
By contrast Gaza is overwhelmingly urban, with 75-80% of the
population living in the Gaza-Khan Yunis-Rafah conurbations. Gaza
is also distinguished by the preponderance of its refugee population,
constituting 2/3 of the total, of which about 1/3 are camp dwellers.
Within all of the Palestinian regions only 18% of the population live
in refugee camps.
Poverty, Migration,
and Living Conditions
The soeial and economic trends which emerge frqm this survey could
suggest both a higher rate of soeial homogeneity and a lower rate of
soeial mobility than has been perceived in the existing literature on
Palestinians.lO This may be, in part, due to the proeess of selective out­
migration and depletion of resources which preceded and was accel­
erated by the GulfWar. In 'Household Income and Wealth' it appears
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