نحو سياسة وطنية للإسكان في فلسطين

The Palestinian people, after decades of continuous struggle, must now, by accepting their austere chances and disabling current condition, commence their efforts to Fulfill the dream of establishing an independent Palestinian state upon a fraction of their historical territory, i.e. the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The hardships facing the Palestinian people can be traced back to the thirty year Israeli occupation of the above mentioned territory, whose effects, reaching all aspects of the human conditions, still hinder the development and evolution of social, economic, political, and psychological institutions. The Zionist ideology, inherently associated with the replacements of uprooted Palestinian communities with immigrant Jewish settlers, while affecting other facets of daily life, had a distinctively negative consequence upon the Palestinian housing sector. The signing of the 1994 "Oslo" agreement between the Palestinian Liberation Organization (P.L.O) and the state of Israel lead to the emergence of the Palestinian National Authority (P.N.A) as the Palestinian governing body, with the ultimate goal of establishing the first independent Palestinian entity within the territories outlined in the agreement. With the return or the Palestinian people, who had previously been driven from their homes, efforts began to be taken towards fulfilling the vision of an independent Palestinian state as a home for all Palestinian nationals. As one of the fore-mentioned Palestinians returning from forced exile, my initial joy was overwhelmed by the poor, if not pathetic, condition of the Palestinian infrastructure. This poor condition, a direct consequence of years of an occupation that neglected what the United Nations recognized to be an inalienable human right, led to a situation where most families were without a safe and/or suitable home. This, coupled with my education as a civil engineer and my job with the Ministry of Housing, led me to attempt a true comprehension of the housing sector as a concrete step towards solving the crisis. As a graduate study researcher in the field of housing I sought to gain a scientific understanding of the Palestinian housing crisis and all its aspects. I sought to develop a plan by which to solve the housing crisis by, firstly, grasping the concept of a home and of housing. This research studied past experiences of people in a parallel and/or similar situation to the Palestinian people, and explored the housing situation in Palestine between the years of 1976 and 1994, prior to the emergence on the P.N.A. Additionally, this research researched the effects of the factors of production upon the housing sector. Within the framework of this research also studied the World Bank and United Nation indicators of human settlements (habitats). Both the housing experiences of different countries and the specialized studies conducted in the field of housing pointed towards the enabling method as the best and most feasible solution to the Palestinian housing crisis given the limited capabilities of the housing authority in terms of financial resources, technical aptitude, and managerial expertise. After recognizing the enabling method as the most well suited method for the re-construction of the Palestinian housing, this research delved into the realms of its stages, tools, and methods of application. Finally, this research examined the need to implement, evaluate, strengthen, and modify this policy in order to enable it to respond to the changing factors and constant challenges of the housing sector. I hope and pray that my paper will contribute in a positive manner to the intellectual discourse surrounding the solution to the Palestinian housing crisis. My primary concern throughout the paper was to shed light upon the most feasible path to solving this dilemma in our long awaited Palestinian State.