PALESTINIAN SOCIETY - Fafo

which in turn were subdivided into separate extended families.
Members of each hamuleh lived in a group of adjoining houses
grouped around one or more interconnected court yards. J To a certain
extent the spatial relationship between houses was an indication of the
kinship relation between households. The more distant the kinship
link, the further separated the houses.2
The arehiteetural and soeial unit y of the traditionaI eompaet
Palestinian village has undergone major transforrnations. The
marginalisation of agrieulture and the massive shift toward wage
labour has splintered family groups and introdueed new arehitectural
styles and spatial distributions, reflecting, on one hand, an inerease in
economic prosperity and, on the other, a trend toward a more
nuc\eated family organisation.
Because arehitecture and internal environment mirror eultural
preferenees, speeifie soeial struetures as well as proeesses of eeonomic
and soeial transformation, eomparisons ofhousing standards aeross
eultural boundaries ean often be misleading. Different eoneepts of
privacy, for instanee, imply different thresholds coneeming physical
human separation and thus aceeptable levels of human density.
Different and changing notions
of status affeet pattems of do- Table 3. 1 Main material used in house construetion
mestie eonsumption sinee items by region
that give prestige in one set of
cireumstanees may differ radically
from items that mark status
in others.
Nonetheless, the house, its
fumishings and amenities, the
nature of its ownership and the
CE;lment/cement rool
Cement/zinc or
asbestos rool
Stone/stone lacing
Other
Gaza
68
32
-
-
Arab
West Bank Jerusalem
53 22
1 1
protection and eomfort it pro- Table 3.2Type of dwelling by region4
vides, is a critical dimension of
living eonditions. In the oeeupied
territories the house has
gained an uncommon importance
because people tend to spend a
good deal more oftheirtime within
it. Modem public soeial arenas,
sueh as einemas, theatres,
restaurants, parks and play
grounds, are either relatively undeveloped
or have in recent years
82
Villa
Independent
small house
Terraced house
Mansion block
apartment
Apartment in
large building
Apartment in high
rise building
Apartment above
workshop
Other
Gaza
7
22
29
13
20
4
3
3
43
3
76
Arab
West Bank Jerusalem
6 4
49 17
13 11
9 9
17 39
3 12
3 1
1 7
-
Camps
33
64
2
1
Camps
1
26
58
7
3
1
5