Luxury Alongside Poverty: The Other Side of the West Bank Palestinian Story

In communities throughout the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, a surprising degree of luxury exists alongside the poverty. This study includes “A Photo Album of Palestinian Luxury in the West Bank,” offering a more complete picture of living standards there. The truth is that alongside the slums of the old refugee camps, which the Palestinian government has done little to rehabilitate, a parallel Palestinian society is emerging.

Researchers: Yael Kaplan, Ryan Hartney, and Andrew Felsenthal..
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs..
05 November '15..






...The Other Side of the West Bank Palestinian Story

There is more to this story, a side often overlooked. In communities throughout the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, a surprising degree of luxury exists alongside the poverty. After receiving billions of dollars in Western aid over many decades, major improvements are visible in the standard of living in the West Bank, as seen in newly-constructed buildings, late-model cars, and luxury items.

This study offers an often overlooked window into life in the Palestinian Authority. The empirical data, together with the photographic evidence sourced here, provide a more complete picture of living standards in the West Bank. The truth is that alongside the slums of the old refugee camps, which the Palestinian government has done little to rehabilitate, a parallel Palestinian society is emerging.

Marwan Asmar, a Jordan-based journalist with a PhD in political science from Leeds University in the UK, described this phenomenon upon returning to the West Bank after 30 years:

There has been a total transformation since I was last in Howara in the West Bank in 1985. One can see a buzz of activity at the shops, restaurants, offices and cafes. This wasn’t the sleepy village I saw long ago. Buildings, villas, mosques and rest areas have been constructed everywhere. There is even a swimming pool.

This was certainly not the picture I had in mind. This was not the picture the media presents – of Palestinians surviving on daily wages of $2 as pointed out by the World Bank, of high unemployment and pockets of poverty. The people I spoke to here said many worked as laborers in Israel and were paid high daily wages. This is how they could build their houses, they told me.

(Click here to read the full study)

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Increased Israeli entry permits for Palestinians - Conflicting views in the PA

Itamar Marcus/Barbara Crook..
Palestinian Media Watch..
04 September '12..

Israel's decision to allow 180,000 Palestinians to enter Israel for the Muslim holiday of Eid El-Fitr has drawn different responses in the Palestinian Authority. While the official PA daily newspaper said that the move was intended to hurt the Palestinian economy, the independent Al-Quds argued that more contact should be encouraged.

Since the Palestinian Authority terror campaign (Intifada, 2000-2005), in which more than 1,000 Israelis were murdered, mostly by suicide bombings, Israel has restricted Palestinian entry into Israel. The Palestinian Authority has condemned this policy.

But due to the improved security situation, Israel granted increased access, and 180,000 Palestinians entered Israel for the Muslim holiday in late August. Rather than expressing appreciation for the increased freedom of movement, the official PA daily newspaper quoted sources that accused Israel of granting the entry permits to deliberately hurt the Palestinian economy, because Palestinians would spend their holiday money in Israel instead of in the PA.

The article in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida said that Israel "profited economically and enhanced its image in the press and internationally, as a state enjoying security and tranquility and easing [restrictions] on the [Palestinian] residents." [Aug. 23, 2012]

The independent daily Al-Quds, however, questioned the negative reaction: "If the Israeli decision had entailed the slightest bit of a security risk, Israel would not have agreed to place itself in danger merely in order to acquire what the residents of the West Bank might spend during their visit to Jerusalem and Israel."

The Al-Quds article did see ulterior motives in Israel's actions - to have direct contacts between Palestinians and Israelis in order "to convince Palestinian citizens that the Palestinian Authority is useless." The op-ed argued that this was also positive for Palestinians, and that more contact should be encouraged "to permit our people, on both sides of the fence, to make contact and to mingle in a natural manner, since this is preferable to living in a great prison that is called the West Bank - or, more precisely, the Palestinian Authority areas." [Aug. 26, 2012]