PALESTINIAN SOCIETY - Fafo

Table 2.1 Head of household'sfather's birthplace by head of househo/d's
present residence
. .
Head ol household's lather's birthplace (1992 Geographical areas,
all numbers in residenee percent of present region of residenee
Head ol Households Gaza West Arab Israel Other Arab Total
present residence .
Bank Jerusalem country
Gaza 40 . . 59 1 100
West Bank . 80 2 17 1 100
Arab Jerusalem 1 18 62 15 4 100
Occupied territories 13 49 7 30 1 100
been roughly parallel since 1987. Rough estimates of population
growth indicate an average absolute population growth in the occupied
territories between 20% and 25% from 1987 to 1992.
Figure 2.1 shows the geographical distribution of the population
ofindividuals over the three main regions covered by the FAFO liv ing
condition surveyS.
The dislocation of the Palestinian population since the 1947-48
war has already been diseussed above. In table 2.1 the geographical
distribution of the households interviewed by the FAFO survey is
presented together with the p lace of birth of the fathe rs of the Head of
Households in these households.
In 99% of the households the father of the Household Head was
bom inside the borders of the pre-1948 British Mandate. A little less
than one third of the fathers of the Head of Households were bom in
the area presently constituting the State of Israel. The table reveals a
great differenee with regard to local roots between, on the one hand,
the West Bank and Arab Jerusalem, and on the other, the Gaza Strip.
In the West Bank and Arab Jerusalem the vast majority of the fathers
of the Heads of Household were born in the area of present residence.
For Household Heads presently residing in Gaza, on the contrary, only
two out of five had fathers who were bom in the region.
Characteristics of ·Population
in the Occupied Territories6 .
What are t he characteristic features of the population composition in
the occupied territories? A straightforWardanswerto this question can
hard ly be gi v en because the occupied territories, as already stated
above (and further documented in the following chapters), comprise
three main regions of substantial geographical and socip-economic
heterogeneity. This section will give·an overview of the three regions
39