Degree of Green Line Influence on Population and Housing Characteristics in Qalqilya Villages

Qalqilya has been a governorate since the advent of the Palestinian National Authority in 1994. 1 low ever, Qalqilya has always received the interest of all political governments that had governed Palestine. This importance of the city has remained until it became a governorate. The Qalqilya Governorate was chosen as the target population of this study because it is the most targeted Palestinian area by the Israeli colonization policy. It's a matter of fact that Qalqilya, like Tulkarm and Jenin, is one of the important border cities separating between the lands of 1948 and the lands of 1967. Further, in the researcher's opinion, the city has not been studied before. This study focused on the rural areas belonging to Qalqilya Governorate. The areas have been chosen on the basis of the geographical distance from the Green Line. The researcher selected Habla Village, bordering the Green Line, Jayyous Village, 10 Kin from the Green Line and Kufr Qaddoum, 20 Km away from the Green Line. The three villages were chosen to measure the extent of their closeness and remoteness from the Green Line also called Truce Line. In this research, the researcher used a variety of research methods. The statistical descriptive method was used to make data processing. Chi-Square was used to test the study hypotheses. The researcher also conducted a field study. He designed and distributed a questionnaire tocollect data from subjects of the study in addition to personal interviews and reviews of literature. The researcher used the SPSS statistical method. The reliability of the study hypotheses were proved. It was proved that the Green Line had an influence on traits of family members in terms of A- Age, number of family members, years of schooling, monthly income, age at first marriage. This is attributed to the variable of closeness or remoteness from Green Line. B- Marital status is attributed to closeness and remoteness variable from the Green Line. It was also proved that the Green Line had an influence on characteristics of housing and home conveniences. The differences between Green Line houses and those in the West Bank may be attributed to closeness and remoteness of these from the Green Line. The study found there was an influence of the Green Line on building materials used, size and shape of windows, red roof tiles used, landscape (green areas), guest room entrance, kitchen, number of floors, different levels of the residence ground, window protection bars, special bathroom for major bedroom, and the house electricity supply. The closer the houses were to the Green Lines, the more they were influenced by what was inside the Green Line. However, no influence of closeness and remoteness of Green Line was found on the guest room. Another proved hypothesis was that the Green Line had an influence on nature of family breadwinner's work, place of his work, reason for joblessness of the unemployed, the family financial difficulties and percentage of income spending. Pertaining to the nature of the family breadwinner's work, it was found that work in the public sector would increase as the area got far from the Green Line. Work in construction increased as the area got closer to the Green Line. Concerning place of work, it was found that the work, in the West Bank, would increase as the area got far from the Green Line. Work in Israel would increase as the area got closer to the Green Line. Another proved hypothesis was that the Green Line had an influence on social characteristics: lifestyle in the first year of marriage, presence of relatives inside the Green Line, social relations among the 1948 Arabs, and standard of living among these Arabs. This means that closeness to the Green Line had an influence on social ties. Finally, this study also proved the validity of another hypothesis which maintained that the Green Line had an influence on demographic characteristics such as family fertility in the year past and using Hebrew in daily communication. Concerning fertility in the year past, it was found that the more the Green Line was far, the higher the fertility was. And concerning speaking Hebrew, it was found that the percentage would increased as the area got closer to the Green Line. This means that influence of cultural aspects existing in Israel would increase as the area got closer to the Green Line.