FAFO Report 151

Forms of Ownership

Property ownership is highly emphasized among Palestinians for a range of reasons. Real estate has traditionally been a favoured form of investment throughout the Middle East. Moreover, in the occupied territories there is a lack of alternative targets for investment and uncertainties about the future place an additional break on investment. Additionally, fathers have been under obligation to provide a house for their sons upon marriage. 24% of the households report that they have taken up loans to finance house construction. House construction is the second most important reason reported for household indebtedness. The first is support of daily consumption.

In the occupied territories there are few credit institutions which extend loans or mortgages for house building. Consequently, the extended family continues to be a principle financial base for construction although survey data suggests that loans from individuals who are not kin might be playing an increasing role in house financing, particularly in Arab Jerusalem. Nonetheless, because financial resources mobilized through kin groups or personal relations are usually fairly limited, this form of financing has clear implications for the quality of the housing stock and the size of units constructed.

Table 3.10 Forms of ownership by type of locality

Resident owned Owned by extended family Leased Leased UNRWA Other

Greater Gaza city 58 28 9 4 23

Gaza towns/villages 37 33 5 22 2

Gaza camps 13 12 2 72 1

West Bank towns 59 18 23 - -

West Bank villages 81 14 5 - 2

West Bank camps 31 7 5 35 22

Arab Jerusalem 40 26 28 2 5

All households 56 19 11 12 2

The nature of house ownership varies with locality, indicating in part the differential availability of land for construction in the areas concerned and in part a trend toward a more fragmented family structure with urbanisation (table 3.10).

Survey data on forms of ownership is both complex, rich and merits a detailed study. A full consideration of this issue has not been possible within the confines of this baseline report. However, it should be noted that UNRWA housing is probably even more widespread in the camps than indicated by these figures since many refugees regard the homes they have leased from UNRWA for several generations as their own and may report them as such.
As mentioned, house building, both in terms of capital invested and labour expended, tends to be a family affair. Except in large urban areas, it is relatively unusual to find multi-household buildings occupied by households that are not part of the same extended family. Even in large cities, families tend to live with non-related households only in large apartment buildings with four floors or more. What is almost non-existent outside Jerusalem and the large West Bank towns is multi-household buildings where kin and non-kin live together. This reflects, among other factors, the role and expectations of the kin group in house construction. Historically, the head of the household was obliged to build, if not an adjacent house, at least an adjacent apartment for his sons. This patrilocal pattern persists in the "large building" type of architecture in which the family builds a number of self-contained apartments for themselves and their sons' future families.

However, there are notable regional variations which partly relate to the impact of urbanisation on family structure.

Table 3.11 Kinship relations between households in multi-household buildings

Brothers Other kin Not kin Both kin &
not kin

Greater Gaza city 46 39 13 1

Gaza towns/villages 63 30 7 -

Gaza camps 38 51 12 -

West Bank towns 39 23 34 4

West Bank villages 46 48 7 -

West Bank camps 38 53 10 -

Arab Jerusalem 18 30 45 7

All households 40 36 22 3

al@mashriq                       960715