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PALESTINIAN SOCIETY - Fafo

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Gaza West<br />

Bank<br />

centers which remained under Arab control after the 1947-48 war.<br />

Today, most of the urban camps may be characterized as "urban slum<br />

areas" due to their physical and socio-economic resemblance to slum<br />

areas in other so-called developing countries. Rural refugee camps are<br />

situated in rural areas, and offer, in contrast to urban camps, the<br />

possibility of some agricultural activity for their inhabitants.<br />

Particularly in Gaza, the population composition was dramatically<br />

changedas a result of the 1947-48 war. Ahugeinflux of approximately<br />

200 000 refugees tripled the population in the area that came to be<br />

known as the Gaza Strip8. The high population dens it y in Gaza is thus<br />

to a large extent due to events in 1948. Today, approximately two out<br />

of three persons in Gaza are UNRWA refugees. About one out of two<br />

refugees live in (mainly urban) refugee camps.<br />

The 1947-48 war had much less dramatic effects for the population<br />

composition of the West Bank. Today, one out of four persons in the<br />

West Bank is an UNRWA refugee, and more than two out of three<br />

refugees live outside camps. In Arab Jerusalem the refugee share is<br />

approximately the same as for the occupied territories in total9• Figure<br />

2.3 show the distribution of the total population in the occupied<br />

territories according to refugee status.<br />

Type of Locality<br />

In contrast to most developing countries, the occupied territories are<br />

marked by a very high degree of urbanization. In total three out of five<br />

persons live in urban localities. Largely due<br />

Figure 2.3 Distribution of population by to the massive influx of refugees in 1948,<br />

rejugee status fouroutoffive persons in the GazaStrip live<br />

r;:;iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii:-iiiiiiii�_iiiiiiii.---<br />

-1 in urban areas. In the West Bank only two<br />

out of five persons live in such urban areas.<br />

Greater Gaza City is, by far, the largest<br />

urban area in the occupied territories. Greater<br />

Arab Jerusalem (Arab Jerusalem and its<br />

West Bank suburbs) is the major urban<br />

conglomeration in the eastem part of the<br />

occupied territories, but comes out only<br />

second to Greater Gaza City in populationlO•<br />

Perhaps surprising to some observers, the<br />

Occupied<br />

territories<br />

third largest urban area in the occupied<br />

territories is constituted by the towns of<br />

Khan Y ounis and Rafah and adjacentcamps,<br />

41

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